Fokker D-VII - Arrival and Assembly - Kermit Weeks 

Sitting inside the cockpit behind those big machine guns leaves no doubt that this was one of the most feared combat aircraft in WWI.

One thing I appreciate about Kermit is he is very aware and appreciative to be able to do these things. He seems like a happy warrior who knows how to enjoy being....well, being Kermit!

The level of detail is astounding in the assembly of this Fokker D VII. I can only imagine the crews in Northern France in 1918 working under so different conditions in an open hanger with a dirt floor and possible in foul weather. Thank you again for sharing these wonderful educational videos Mr. Weeks.

very nice plane congrats i use to drive by you place all the time 80-90's never got to go glad your still going.........

What a gorgeous re-production, even the prop is a work of art. Perfect inside and out. Congrats Mr. Weeks on your "new" A/C.

Love the old "Lozenge" camo and the Ernst Udet markings. Beautiful!

Du Doch Nicht translates to Not You, Never. It was painted on the tail of the plane of a German ace of WWI. It was for the benefit of any enemy who tried to shoot him down.

"When I grow up, I wanna be me!" You're awesome Kermit! :)

Thank you for keeping vintage planes alive... wait for cam video!

Love the WW I fighters. It is amazing how far aviation has advanced in the last 100 years. Can't wait to see this one fly.

Ernst Udet was married to Eleanor Lo Zink (1920 - 1923).

Impressive. Really makes me appreciate the courage and ingenuity of the first flyers. Very awesome engineering and so cool that you're bringing this to the people to see what's involved. One can only imagine what it was like for the people who first made and flew these things! Thanks for what you're doing!

That’s pride. Well deserved pride, Kermit saying he wants to be me when he grows up. Well I hope you never grow up and yet do grow up. Stay as awsome as you are Kermit

ARTF. Scale 1:1. Some assembly required. Batteries not included.

"Du Doch Nicht!" An exact translation from German to English is not possible, but it means roughly "no you don't!!". German WWI fighter ace Ernst Udet had this slogan painted on the horizontal stabilizer of his Fokker VII aircraft.

Beautiful airplane!!!! Interesting how they are put it together. I'd love to see it fly!!! Thanks for sharing this with me!!!

There are so many period correct WW1 fighters. It'd be nice to see an expert, like Kermit, fly the different models and give an estimate of their combat performance.

It's fascinating watching how they put it together!

Fascinating to watch. It is so incredibly well made!

Absolutely Awesome. I can't believe how skinny the struts are! Much moreso than on my 1/4 scale model!

Love WW1 Airplanes and the the D7 my Favorite

Thanks for this video, It makes me so happy. I've always loved WWI planes. I like hearing your opinions and stories. . . .signed old guy in Pittsburgh.

Why on Earth would anybody dislike this video? - Thanks for posting !

One of my favorite airplanes at Fantasy of Flight! There is something beautiful about those WWI planes......

Thanks guys please keep them coming.

looks like pretty awesome workmanship on the details and snug fitting, happy landings!

FAntastic!!!!!!! What a beauty. A truly great aircraft design.

Congrats Kermit! Keep up the good work, can`t wait to see more videos of it! Greetings from Brazil!!!

wow loved watching this being put together I have an original propeller from the DV11 had it since the 70's :)

Amazing attention to detail even painting the aircraft with the lozenge paintwork (Presumably only where it could be seen? or all over?) & then that lovely Maroon colour on top. I could definatly understand your smile on your face, must of been like Christmas again. thanks so much for these videos has renewed my interest in WWI aircraft. I'm gonna have to get back into a Tiger Moth again to dream of the past aircraft (unless there are any 2 seat WWI aircraft I can hitch a ride in!)

Awesome. Simply awesome. Wish I had a nice Fokker D.VII, and SPAD XIII to compliment it.

Great! A wonderful reproduction! While assembling, I would think that some of these parts would need torquing, like the propeller, but I guess not

this plane is beautiful, with that color was even better

Extremely nice guy to talk to

I've build the old Revel kit and your right it looks sim. The attention to detail is amazing, congratulations.

Beautiful!

Put this same livery (Udet homage) on one of my RC planes that I built (though I did the top stripes in red). So cool to see this full-scale one! Hope you get those fuel tank issues sorted (even if you have to put a modern tank in there) so we can see it fly.

You got my boy hood dream ! Lovely.

Always thought the D7 was the best looking of the German WW1 aircraft.

Gorgeous

Two things I looked for in this video that I first noticed at the WW I fly in at the U S Air Force Museum at Dayton: #1 Even the late WW I aircraft were basically box kites w/ engines. #2 there is really not much holding the wings in place. Just what physical strength did that handful of bolts possess? Those pilots were either VERY brave, or needed their heads examined. Like others who have watched this video, remained me of putting together the old plastic model kits of the DVII. Have built only one of the wooden kits...

Thank You!

Work Is Art

My rc fokker dvII in LO! Came in a box from a UPS truck. And went together in a few hours. Yours took up the whole truck and went together in a few hours!!

Wow! Can't wait for the Kermie Cam Video!

My god, it's beautiful

EXCELENTE. Hermoso pájaro.

Excellent spectacular Saludos desde Buenos Aires 👋😎

Too cool, beautiful Fokker.

Outstanding D-7 ! Its good to be you!

D-VII and next D-VIII ! Amazing!

Beautiful acquisition ! Congrats ;)

Man, that is one beautiful plane. I love the gauges especially: very steampunk! :) You are indeed a lucky man, Kermit, to restore and fly these wonderful birds. I can't wait to see the video of when you fly this D-VII.

Unbelievably beautiful aircraft! Fred is truly a master and an artist! I'm wondering about man hours involved in the build/restoration and the uhh, cost?

... what a beauty :-) ... well made!

Awesome 😎

looking good

VERY GOOD JOBs.

Congrats!!!! Please do a video on the engine run up and taxi please!!

One notes that WW1 machines often had flat planes for rudders and stabilizers, and that they worked very well

I really want to be you to. WOW! Great collection of aircraft!

That is REALLY nice.

Ha, yeah if I had a cool net 100 million, I'd prolly be happy being me to! No doubt I'd have a hanger a lot like yours. Keep it real Kermit, the aviation world needs you. Your taste in planes is excellent

Its Amazing anything gets done with the FAA barking around.

Oh sweet....I'd love to fly it!

I remember building Red Barons model plane when I was a kid.

Sehr cool 👍

Absolutely magnificent. Does it have an original engine?

Really fab airplane. Thanks for the video Kermit. One piece of constructive criticism that even the folks in New Zealand don't get right at least not in their models. While the empty belt tubes are beautiful , the very visible empty cartridge trays that caught and guided the cartridges off the top of the decking into the slipstream to the left and right which attached to the guns are never shown and don't appear to be used on your guns either, or maybe you have not completed that dress up . I wish they would not be forgotten. When you look for them you can see them in the old photos. The Fokker DR 1 and DVII's ALWAYS used these curved trays including the OAW and Alb. built DVII's. Goering actually put deflectors on his fuselage to keep rounds coming from coming into the cockpit. The most clear view of these trays can be seen on MvR's machine guns of which a little film was taken during the war. We put rather bad but hopefully renditions of the trays on our DVII at Kingsbury in order to illustrate their existence for an educational moment and hope to improve them as well as put them on new guns for the DR1 when our Spandau project is completed. I presume you are using the 30mM two hole parabellum belts. We made up a passable repro of those and put it in the DVII.

PARABÉNS PELO ÓTIMO TRABALHO, BRASIL OK.

The DVII appears to perhaps have a design "flaw" or "trait" in the fuselage tubing design that caused the top part of the fuselage to crumple the upper side tubing at the cockpit throwing the pilot in his seat forward and down even if well strapped in if the gear broke or hit a trench. I have seen this crumple on pics of DR1 115/17 that appears to have crashed landed (the pilot died but I don't know if to wounds or the crash landing--I think it was Vontermann?) and also on the DVII that crashed landed in Canada belonging to the Great War Flying Museum. I have always thought it might be good idea to reinforce that tubing on replicas in that particular area.

What i would give to fly a plane like that ;(

I want one too!!!

Now do that on a modern warplane!! Assemble in an hour in effect ready to fly.

WOW!

That's awesome, Kermit. And I mean that inspires Some Awe :)

Wow! When he grows up he wants to be Kermit! Sounds cool to me. Ed

Beautiful airplane Kermit. What a cool life you have going. Do you use go pro cameras and no others? You get great footage. What movie edit program do you use. Thanks and keep the cool airplanes coming.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood!

Kermit, you are getting great footage from your Go Pro camera. How do you have them set up? 1080-30fps wide ? That is where I have mine set and I am not getting the quality you are getting. Thanks Dwain

Will your facility be open Oct 25th through Nov 1st this year? My family is going down to Disney World for the week and I'd like to come see your gorgeous collection!!

too cool!

Oh man this is a beautiful plane! I hope he gives us some Kermie Cam!! That fabric on the inside is awesome too!

I don't get how the propeller attaches... Nice plane!

I love this channel. lol

"Du Doch Nicht!" :-D. I love it. Oh, no you don't! I wanna be Kermit when I grow up. I just wouldn't want the many headaches he's had along the way. I'm happy for you, Kermit. Blue Skies.

Cool plane

Can't believe this place isn't open

When I grow up, I wanna be Kermit too.

Kermit lives the dream

KW that is cool.

Wow! Really nice aircraft! Does it have an elevator trim? I didnt see any.

is this bird a reissue i think I'm in love

6 years later... 😪 (apparently the leaky fuel tank was an issue even back then)

Que aviao lindo aki no brasil nao tem aviao assim.

Metal struts! Was it the first WW1 plane with metal struts?

Yeah... nothing like some good old armored cloth around your cockpit to stop them machine gun bullets! Those pilots had some balls back then!! Beautiful awesome plane, looks really gorgious in these colours! Makes my Dutch old heart beat a little faster... the Dutchman Fokker built the most iconic WWI planes, imho. BTW: 'Lo!' was short for Eleanor - Udet's sweetheart during WWI. And the text on the tail reads 'Du doch nicht!'", which means something like 'Definitely not you!'... I suppose it was meant for the enemies on his tail, jokingly defying them: "it's definitely not going to be you who's going to shoot me down!"... some morbid sense of humour :-)

This guy enjoys his airplanes...you can tell that they are not just an investment for him :)

Kermit, you can't have it; that's my Mother's Fokker!

looks like Ernst Udet's plane but I think the stripes were red.