1/48 Classic Airframes Fokker D.XXI |
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Gallery Article by Robert-Jan Willekens
on Aug 2 2003 |
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This is my first
mixed-media kit. Being Dutch myself, I went for Classic Airframe's Fokker D.XXI.
The aircraft first saw service with the Dutch Airforce (Luchtvaart Afdeling)
after its first flight in 1936. Initially, the aircraft had the
red-white-blue roundels, which were replaced with the orange
"neutrality" triangles and rudder in 1939. The Dutch had 29 airworthy
D.XXI's when the Germans invaded the Netherlands on the 10th of May, 1940. My
model shows an aircraft of the 1e Ja.Va. (Jachtvlieg Afdeling - fighter
squadron) based at De Kooy airfield near the naval base of Den Helder in the
north-west of Holland. They had eleven operational fighters at the time of
the invasion... There were many heroic exploits by the pilots flying their D.XXI
fighters, but by the third day of the German invasion the surviving aircraft
were out of ammunition and could not participate any longer in the closing
stages of the campaign, which lasted from May 10th until May 16th in 1940.
The
model has no special modifications, it's OOB. I did have quite some difficulty
in creating the complex interior which represents the tubular welded frame of
the aircraft. Not much weathering, since these aircraft were partly fabric and
partly wood covered. Colours are by Humbrol, applied with a Badger airbrush.
Robert-Jan Willekens
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