This post is related to the new Fokker D-7's from KC. Under the thread 'Andy's talk at the 2012 West Coaster', Andy has made reference to airplane camo patterns and how complexity plays a part in the decision of which plane/pattern gets manufactured. This statement relates directly to the new D-7's and my concerns about the paint patterns on them. As a matter of interest, all 3 of the subject Fokkers can be found as color illustrations in the Osprey book "Fokker D-7 Aces of World War 1; part 2", book #63 in the Aircraft of the Aces series. Only the all-black Jacobs Fokker with the devil on the fuselage appears to be strictly correct. Jacobs flew with Jasta 7 and it was not uncommon for these machines to be black. It is illustration #1, on page 50 of the book. Auffarth's green Fokker is inaccurate in that it should have the standard 5-color lozenge on both surfaces of both upper and lower wings. The KC version has a solid green upper surface on both wings and light blue undersurfaces. This plane is illustration #12, page 52. The last plane, Raben's red Jasta 18 Fokker, looks largely correct except the lower wing surfaces are light blue on the model, when, once again the lower wing surfaces should be the lozenge camo. This plane is illustraton #38, page 59. The lozenge camo was standard factory fabric on all but the earliest D-7's, which came in a streaked camo. The complexity of the lozenge camo to replicate on a model must have proved too time consuming and expensive for KC to overcome, thus the simple, but incorrect, light blue. I am guessing that KC had chosen to bring the models to the public with these inaccuracies in order to keep price and production problems down, rather than not do the models at all. The rivet counters,like me, will have to make their buying decisions accordingly. To the collectors who just plain likes them and wants them, they are handsome looking aircraft and the accuracy problems won't bother them. At any rate, this is my take on the paint schemes, and coupled with Andy's explanation about complexity, answers my concerns as to why the Fokkers are painted the way they are. -- Al