Pheon Decals 1:32 Fokker D.VIIs (OAW & Alb) of Jasta 18

[James H]

1:32 Fokker D.VIIs (OAW & Alb) of Jasta 18

Pheon Decals
Catalogue # 32045
Available from Pheon Decals for £12.75
Pheon Website: www.pheondecals.com Email for purchase.

 

 

There's no doubt that with a set of Pheon Decals, you can indulge yourself in more than one scheme for your investment, and in many cases, you could perhaps build every machine depicted on the sheet. Things are no different here, except that you could actually build pretty much all ELEVEN schemes, including a Fokker Dr.1 that has crept into the Jasta 18 mix. Yes, of course, you would need to have almost a permanent hotline to Wingnut Wings in order to buy their D.VII kits, but just think what an amazing feat it would be to display a range of machines from the same Jasta! Let's take a look at exactly what Pheon have supplied us with here, and the various options available.

 

 

Pheon's decals arrive in a large zip-lock wallet, with a regular, colour printed A4 sheet depicting 8 Jasta 18 profiles. Inside the wallet, another FIVE sheets of high gloss printed profiles are supplied, with sectional data given for the various tailplane and wing marking paintwork. One of these sheets includes something I don't think I've ever seen included in a decal sheet, and that is a MASKING TEMPLATE SHEET. Whilst Jasta 18 markings don't vary much, you will of course need to know where the demarcation between the red front and white rear fuselage begin and end.

 

The fuselage masks are printed as such, with the double red banding for the rear fuselage also marked out for you. Correct....these are NOT given in decal form, and it is intended that you airbrush these as you would with the forward fuselage. Not that that's a bad thing, as at least you'll know you have exactly the same shade of red for both areas.

 

 

Another set of fuselage masks is given to help you locate the fuselage corner stripes which apply to some machines. For me, these are perhaps the most attractive of the Jasta 18 schemes, and help to neatly break up the sold white rear fuselage of these aircraft.

This sheet also contains both upper and lower tailplane plans, with the sections to be painted white and then masked, greyed out so you know exactly which stripes you should paint (work at this as a negative: grey = white, and white = airbrushed stripes). Another sheet contains the cross templates for the Fokker Dr.1. I really wish Wingnut Wings would release this particular kit. I dream of it.

 

 

Pheon have wonderfully depicted their profiles in sharp, full colour, which of course highlights the common raven emblem. Most machines wore this as a black raven with the exception of the D.VII whose red fuselage extended rearwards to finish where the tailplane begins. In this case, it was white. This also applied to the extra Dr.1 scheme present here.

 

Each machine carries either an extra personal emblem, extra to the raven, or as one machine depicts the raven picking off a line of chicks. Definitely one to consider! Each scheme also tells you whether that machine was an Albatros or OAW-built machine. A no-brainer. Looking carefully too, you will see that some machines had red upper and lower wings, whilst utilising lozenge on the lower panels. Check the profiles carefully.

 

 

 

 

Pheon's instruction booklet is another highlight of their releases, and this one has had special attention to detail levelled at it. More on that in a moment. This booklet opens with a history of Jasta 18 covering FIVE pages, plus a list of references and acknowledgements that Rowan has supplied. This makes me realise I really do need to expand my own reference library. After a page explaining the best way to apply your decals, we arrive at a section regarding the Jasta 18 livery, and an explanation as to the various depictions of these scheme, with the raven colour being singled out too. Wing cross use is also explained, as is something I know took Rowan a lot of time to get right; the various cowl panels. Rowan told me that as WNW had gone to such pains to explain the various cowl options in their manual, then he needed to do the same here, except we have some extra modifications to make for every machine. This could include removing louvre detail, and indeed adding it too. Drawings are supplied for this, with note as to which machine they pertain, complete with the relevant WNW part number too. There is also another element of cowl modification that needs to be carried out for some machines, and that is the inclusion of two ventilation openings in the port side upper cowl. Again, explanation is given, along with a photograph of a completed modification. Cheers Rowan!

 

 

 

Each machine is now given a few paragraphs of explanation as to the pilot, particular scheme variation and notes on the cowl and exhaust format. The notes are both informative and very useful.

The schemes supplied in this set are:

1. Fokker D.VII, early OAW-built, Ltn. Kurt Monnington, Montingen, Summer 1918
2. Fokker D.VII, OAW-built, Ltn. August Raben, Montingen, Summer 1918
3. Fokker D.VII, OAW-built and Albatros-built, serials unknown, Ltn/ Heinz Küstner, Montingen, Summer 1918, and post-war.
4. Fokker D.VII, serial unknown, Albatros-built, Ltn. Gunther von Büren, August/September 1918, Montingen
5. Fokker D.VII, Albatros-built, serial unknown, Ltn. Hans Müller, Montingen, September 1918
6. Fokker D.VII, Albatros-built, serial and pilot unknown, Montingen, Summer 1918
7. Fokker D.VII, possibly Albatros-built, serial and pilot unknown, Montingen, Summer 1918
8. Fokker D.VII, Albatros-built, serial unknown, Ltn. Wilhelm Kühne, Montingen, Summer 1918
9. Fokker D.VII, OAW-built, possibly flown by Vzfw. Glatz, Montingen, Summer 1918
10. Fokker D.VII, OAW-built, pilot and serial unknown, reference photo data unknown, but probably summer 1918, Montingen
11. Fokker Dr.1, 479/17, Ltn. August Raben, Montingen, October 1918

The Decals:

 

 

This single, A4 sheet is absolutely CHOCK FULL of decals, and the inclusion of so many ravens does indeed prove that you can indeed do pretty much every scheme available, if the inclination takes you. The sheet is full of personal emblems/insignia/flashes, rudder crosses, tailplane decals, including trim lines, and also fuselage stripes. Normally, I would mention that things are in register, but that doesn't count here as the decals are either black or white, with no combinations. Printed by Fantasy Printshop, the decals are superbly thin, solid in colour (with non-vivid white), and contain minimal carrier film. Some notification is given as to direction of decal and whether they are applied to the left or right.

 

Conclusion
Yes, these schemes might be fairly similar, but what an iconic scheme! The D.VII is white and red is simply stunning, and the sheet simply cries for more than one to be built. In fact, that's just what I'll do. Jasta 18's scheme is simple enough for a modeller who isn't perhaps too adept with masking, yet wants to create something very eye-catching. I'll build mine with a combination of Aviattic and Old Propeller decals over the two I have planned for this sheet. Watch out on the Large Scale Modeller forums for those results.

 

Very highly recommended.

 

James H

 

Our sincere thanks to Pheon Decals for the review sample used here.

 

 

[Typhoonattack]

I've purchased Pheon decals in the past, and they're really quite nice. I'll have to add these to the "must get" list.