Eindecker E.II and E.III from Eduard

[Sreiko]

Nice words Stephen He also have chance to interview many of the aviators still alive in Germany during the '50 and '60 and this is invaluable material.

So what you said Stephen- are you going to be pioneer with me and paint your sample in grey green or I will be lone rider?

Cheers

[StephenLawson]

Originally Posted by Sreiko

Nice words Stephen He also have chance to interview many of the aviators still alive in Germany during the '50 and '60 and this is invaluable material.

So what you said Stephen- are you going to be pioneer with me and paint your sample in grey green or I will be lone rider?

Cheers

Well I have done several builds already in the simulated unbleached linen fabric. (By the way the 1/48 Jacobs Fok. E.III recently was given to a fellow who donated 450.00 USD to the Lafayette Foundation). If I find something that catches my eye we may go for something a bit different. The early Eduard kit was the subject for two of my builds.

This is Jacob's 608/15.


Here is Imelmann's 246/16.

[Gregvan]

Hi,

I agree with Stephen about dear old Heinz Nowarra. For its time, Eisernes Kreuz und Balkenkreuz was a terrific book, and I still treasure my dog-eared, well-worn copy. Yes, Heinz made more than a few mistakes, but he was instrumental in preserving a great deal of the photographic archival material that the rest of us have been 'feeding on' for decades. Plus, as has been stated, he interviewed quite a few old airmen and I (amongst many others) have really benefited from his work.

Marty O'Connor's reference for the green Austro-Hungarian Eindecker color was based on: (A) his interview with Gottfried Banfield, who had flown several Eindecker purchased for the A-H Navy, and (B) a now-discredited piece of fabric from the Rodney Gerrard collection (I believe Rodney simply made up a piece after Marty may have mentioned the possibility of green Fokker Eindecker to him, and then supplied it to Marty as a genuine piece). If one chooses to put good faith in the esteemed Banfield's recollections (and not everyone does), then go for a green Eindecker.

As Rowan has stated, there is lots of pictorial evidence that some German Eindeckers were not a semi-translucent clear-doped linen. A "L'aerophile" article on Fokker monoplanes stated that, "the fabric of the Fokker wings was generally of beige color in 1916." However, there are British combat reports which indicate darker colors were also evident. McCudden's well-known description of an Eindecker as "a long dark brown form" is one. Another RFC combat report described " a single-seater monoplane, with dark brown wings," and one even described a Fokker Eindecker as "painted a butcher blue with white crosses on it."

Several pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille described having seen an Eindecker painted black, with white crosses! They believed it was flown by Boelcke, but that's unlikely.

On the other hand, there are several contemporary German color paintings of Eindeckers (flown by Boelcke, Immelmann and Bavarian Eduard Boehme) which show the monoplanes as a straw yellow color; it's unknown if the artist ever saw a real Eindecker up close (maybe he just worked from photos?). If I'm not mistaken, there is at least one (and probably more) Henri Farre paintings that show Eindeckers as a yellowish color as well.

So take your pick.

Greg

[Sreiko]

Thank you Greg So it look that it will be best weay first to find out the image or real plane and then go for color. Hard to use any green so this will be more logical chioce beige or... golden ochre? This is something like brown, mentioned in few reports as well Aerophile article.

All right- this will be interesting build at all.

Cheers

[StephenLawson]

Originally Posted by TeamStewart

Didn't they experiment with some covered in "saran wrap" to try and make them invisible? That would make an interesting challenge.

Here is a bit of fun on the subject of clear covering.

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Gentlemen:
On one of my visits to Peter Grosz, he discussed the cellon covered aircraft. He showed me a number of photos of a Fok.E.III, I think an Aviatik C.I and the huge Linke-Hoffman R.I and several IdFlieg documents, which he read to me in English. (Text was in German). This was to be the solution to making the aircraft invisible, however, cellon (we called it celluloid) was shiny and reflected light more greater than the clear doped linen. Other problems were, in the hot weather, the cellon covering expanded and sagged which deteriorated flight performance. In cold weather or at altitude, the cellon contacted and fractured with an explosive sound the scared the crap out of the pilots flying them. It was one of those experiments that did not pan out!
My visits to Peter's home was an adventure, I miss him and our talks.
Merry Christmas,
Dan-San

[TeamStewart]

Thanks for the cellon related replies.

Would be a real challenge, especially at 1/72 scale.

Intersting concept, though. Did the Allies ever try it out?

[SCMc]

Here is a link for a 1/72 Fokker E.III in cellon based on an Eduard photo etch set.

Steve

[Rhinocerus]

Sreiko, it is very early aircraft with very early, flawed engine. According to memoirs, these engines been extremely "sleazy" because of constant leaking fuel and oil. My opinion - it's just dirty spots. For this reason, Fokker - monoplane in some memoirs, called "Schmierfink" (in German - grub, slattern, "pig")

[Sreiko]

Thank you and Spasiva friends/ tovarish Today I going to spray first two coat of the paint. First will be dark cream for inside and the another one will be chrome silver over the some parts which are look semi polished. I will make one experiment with metal effect. I have never do that so this will be challenge for me.

Interesting that I have seen some "invisible" project in Soviet Union after the WW1 and that was pure Soviet project. Excellent image Stephen and Dan San- thank you for memories!

Cheers