Baumer's 204 nitpicks

Hello, Aerodrome,

I'm considering building a Roden 1/32 Dr.I in (one of) the states of Baumer's "204" and have some questions about what the actual photo evidence is for various representations.

1. The first (?) ex-factory scheme with Eisernekreuz, including those on the top of the lower wing:

a. The rear view printed in Imrie and elsewhere shows only the right-hand side of the rudder with the partial thin outlining of the cross. Are there any photos of the LHS?
b. This photo gives a view of the RHS of the top of the stabilizer (the black side), but the deflected rudder obscures the LHS. Are there any photos that clarify what's happening on the LHS?
c. Does anyone have thoughts about the reason for the incomplete outlining of the Iron Cross on the rudder?

2. The "chubby" Balkenkreuz state:
a. The line-ups in which this state is visible do not permit seeing whether the lower wing crosses were deleted at this point, but the profiles to hand assume they were -- on whaat basis? If they were, were they overpainted in a soilid color (olive)?
b. There seems to be some disagreement about whether the stabilizer cross was deleted at this point -- Imrie says not, Rimmel's artwork in the original Dr.I Datafile shows it incompletely blacked out. If overpainted, why shouldn't white have been used on the LHS?

3. The "thin" (Korrect) Balkenkreuz state:
a. Same question about the continuing (?) existence of the stabilizer cross.
b. There appears to some disagreement about whether the top of the upper wing striping included the inner red band: the Osprey Aces profile shows without, the Rimmel shows with.
c. Were the outer struts also in black by this point?

Thanks in advance to all,
A-h

[StephenLawson]

Greetings air hed; I suggest contacting member Dan San Abbott directly. Also here are a few details from the search engine

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=22485

http://www.fokkerdr1.com/

Also see;
Cross & Cockade USA Vol.23 #4 Pp.318-334 "Baumer & Dr.1 204/17", 1982.

[Rick]

It could also be that the photos were taken at various times as the aircraft underwent various 'decorating'. I suppose to be correct, you could start with a factory fresh paint job (call it "Bäumer's aircraft as delivered"), and then make models illustrating the various colorations as it underwent change(s). Just a thought R.

[Taz]

Air-hed- Sounds like you already have a pretty good collection of books. One you might consider adding is Paul Leaman's The Fokker Dr.I Triplane, which has five photographs of 204/17 and a color profile. It also has photos of Baumer's other Dr.I 209/17, with the "B" on the fuselage side.

They may have stopped outlining the cross whan the edict came down to return to white rudders and Balkenkreuz markings. There is an early shot of a Jasta B line-up with204/17 from the port side with the bottom wing crosses and no outline of the rudder cross.

The bottom wings crosses were definitely deleted during a later paint job as seen in a photo in Leaman's book.

Tailplane cross looks painted out, but make your own call once you have seen the photo.

Hard to tell on the red stripe. Most color profiles show the black wingtips were too far inboard for red stripes on top.

The interplane struts are definitely a very dark color in the latest date photo I have seen. Probably black, but could have been red, dark green, etc. Look black to me.

Taz
Terry Phillips

Terry,

Thanks for the reply.

You wrote, "Sounds like you already have a pretty good collection of books" -- Not a sufficiently large library to preclude my posting here, though!

"They may have stopped outlining the cross whan the edict came down to return to white rudders and Balkenkreuz" -- It's a strange little irritating but elegant detail. One would think it wouldn't have taken very long to complete the cheat line, but perhaps it was meant to be like that? But for what reason.

"There is an early shot of a Jasta B line-up with204/17 from the port side with the bottom wing crosses and no outline of the rudder cross." -- Reference?

"The bottom wings crosses were definitely deleted during a later paint job as seen in a photo in Leaman's book." -- And in other sources too, but those to hand are unclear about whether the overpainting is solid, whether they were scraped off and the streaky finish imitated.

"Tailplane cross looks painted out, but make your own call once you have seen the photo." -- In which image? Imrie calls it still in place at one of the later stages.

"Hard to tell on the red stripe. Most color profiles show the black wingtips were too far inboard for red stripes on top." -- Here's a link to an image showing the tricolor banding on the lower surface of the top wing. It certainly looks like they're all turned up onto the upper surface, no?

http://www.fokkerdr1.com/Dr1-204-17_04.jpg

"The interplane struts are definitely a very dark color in the latest date photo I have seen. Probably black, but could have been red, dark green, etc. Look black to me." -- I'd think black, like the cabane struts.

Signing off,
A-h

[Taz]

Air-hed- All photos mentioned are in Paul's book. In general when wing markings and white cross fields were painted out, solid olive paint was used. Exception would be Jasta 12, where black was used. The Jasta painters had no interest in factory paint jobs and scraping paint off would have damaged the fabric. All the photos I have seen of the top wing are from too low an angle to see where the bottom stripes on the top wing end. The photo from Lloyd's site fits that category. I just looked at a higher res image of the same photo and it is impossible to see whether the stripes end or continue on the top of the wing. Make you own choice. Nobody can prove you wrong. You already have my opinion that they did not extend to the top of the top wing.

Paul Leaman's book is a treasure trove of Dr.I images, many never before published. I wish they were larger in most cases. He drew on a huge number of sources most of us will never be able to access. Keep haunting abebooks.com and one will turn up at a reasonable price. Amazon also has multiple sellers for around $52.

Taz
Terry Phillips