Wingnut Wings has singlehandedly sparked a resurgence in WWI large scale kits. Their quality and engineering have set a standard by which all other model kits, regardless of scale or era, are judged. Sometimes the biggest problem is what markings to apply – or is it how many kits to buy? Well, Lifelike can help you with one of those problems and hinder the other.

Lifelike has consistently produced first-rate decals for a variety of aircraft. This time they have turned their attention to the latest from Wingnut Wings, the Fokker D.VII. WNW has produced no less than four different versions of the greatest WWI fighter plane, those produced by Fokker, OAW, Albatross, and the Fokker F. Well, you will need some marking help.

The instructions are printed on two single-sided A4 pages in full color. The thing I like the most about Lifelike is that they aren’t afraid to tell you when they know something or when they’ve had to make educated guesses. This means a lot to me. You don’t have to take their word as gospel.

The decals themselves are exceptional. There are two large sheets with the stripes and national markings that are printed by Microscale. There is a third smaller sheet that contains a beautiful swan with beautiful blending. This sheet is printed by Cartograf. Decals by Microscale and Cartograf indicate the level of quality of the decals. You know they will both react well with the Microscale system.

The first aircraft is a beautiful machine with the Bavarian white and blue checkers on it. It is an early Fokker-built aircraft from Jasta 16b in June, 1918. The beautiful blue cowling and wheels add just the right amount of color. The tail has a black and white stripe on it for just a little more color over the four-color lozenge pattern.

The second aircraft is the one flown by Ernst Udet. His all--ed aircraft sports “LO” on the sides. This aircraft is not the “Du doch nichts” machine. This aircraft is a BMW powered Fokker F that he flew in Sept, 1918, with Jasta 4. This aircraft is so popular that WNW did include this aircraft in their D.VII F boxing.

An Albatross-built machine is next from Jasta 23b, flown by Lt. Josef Mueller. It sports a five-color lozenge design with a beautiful swan on both sides of the aircraft. With a black and white tail surface and light blue nose and wheels, this aircraft is quite unique and colorful.

The final aircraft is an Albatross-built aircraft with Jasta 18 in the summer of 1918. It is red and white, period. It is quite a unique and fun-looking aircraft, with barber pole tail surfaces. It does have a raven on the side of the fuselage sides.

World class decals printed by the two great decal manufacturers along with excellent research is all that you can ask for with decals. Now you have four new aircraft that you can model. That doesn’t help you with how many to buy…but at least they will look great with these decals.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Lifelike Decals for the review copy and IPMS-USA for the review opportunity.