Stoppel
Kramme and Zeuthen KZ. VII in 1/72 scale: building the Stoppel kit
The Kramme and Zeuthen KZ. VII "Lærke" was developed by Scandinavian Aero Industri in Danmark, which produced aircraft from 1937 to 1954. The KZ.VII was designed just after the end of the Second World War. About 10 of them were flying from 1948 in the Danish Air Force for military observation tasks and they remained in service until 1977.
The small model company of Jacob Stoppel came with a small 1/72 injection kit in 2014. Before that he had a resin kit. which is short run but neat. The plastic kit is comparable in technique with MPM kits. Several kit releases of the KZ.VII came with different decals. They are not cheap (about EUR 33, =) but unique. There are about 40 parts and the transparancies reasonably clear.
Construction is no problem but the 2 glass parts are 1 mm too wide. I solved this by sanding them carefully at the middle edges before installing these.
The interior got a light brown and light gray color and the seats some straps made from tape. Within the cabin I also added some plastic rod to suggest the frame work, you can see those clearly.
After that, hardly any filler is required. The fuselage got a base grey with Revell 75 "steingrau" aqua as primer to check for any errors in filling.
The interior has the steel tubes and 4 seats. The fit of the wing halves is rather tight, the tabs are very small. After some sanding it was possible to fit the wing . But first....
... the fuselage was masked and the not yet installed wing halves were given an aluminum dope color finish using Revell Aqua 90 with airbrush.
The model was to be made as KZ.VII in a Danish Air Force scheme with registration O-620. It was seen still flying as a civilian aircraft from Karup in 1991. This particular aircraft also has a bright orange nose and wing panels for which I used Revell aqua 30 orange followed by the black anti-glare area. I also airbrushed a spare decal in this orange just in case I would need to repair anything.
The kit decals are very vulnerable. My modelling friend Peter pointed this out so to make sure I applied a layer of Microscale decal film with a wide brush and he gave me also some spare decals from kit #72114E. Then neatly cut out each decal and apply. The black orange panel outlines were made with black decal stripes. I also put some missing small black texts on the model with a tooth pick.
The wing halves were now fitted in symmetry with a light V-position / dihedral. The wing struts were painted black.
To get an even sheen, the model got a gloss coat of varnish airbrushing Johnson Future / Pledge.
The 2x6 flap hinges are missing in the kit, I made them from very thin black stretched sprue. The small entry steps were also fitted as well as a towing brace at the tail wheel.
There is a choice of propeller parts, this model was completed with propeller #B25.
A nice rare model of Danish manufactured aircraft is now in the World Air Forces collection.
For info about the Danish Air Force, check out the F-16 page here...
The KZ.VII, registration O-620 as it was still flying as a civilian aircraft from Karup in 1991.
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References:
- The history of the Danish military aircraft, Ole Nikolajsen, 2017.
- IPMS Danmark magazine: "Nyt" 143 of February 2014
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Created this page February 14, 2019