Nieuport IV, Amodel, 1:72

[Brandy]

This is not strictly a WIP as it was done a few years ago, but while updating all my old threads to replace the PB pics, I noticed it hadn't been posted here. Since the primary aim of my posts is to provide a (hopefully useful) guide to anyone wanting to know what needs doing to these old kits to make them accurate, I have decided to copy and paste the posts from the other forum I am on, so at least it will be here if anyone wants to reference it.

 

So without further ado.....the posts from late 2012.....hope you find them useful.....

 

 

I know I have 2 on the bench already, but I needed to make sure I had the relevant info to do this, so I've made a start...
I'll be building the Amodel Nieuport IVG with PART PE and Aeroclub engine/prop - hopefully this will add the weight necessary to keep it sitting on the skid properly......

 I wasn't too sure of the dimensions, but found some drawings online, and references to a wing span for this model of 10.9/10.7 metres. Since 1/72 of 10.7m comes to 148.6mm I took this as the correct span and measured the drawings. The span on those was 248mm so I reduced the drawings by 60% to bring them to scale.
 As can be seen, the fuselage is too short but otherwise good. The wings are near perfect, but the tail...hmmm....must have been Friday afternoon when they made those moulds! Needless to say the fuselage will be lengthened to the correct length, the wings will be thinned as they are way too thick, and I will probably scratchbuild the tail surfaces as they are so far off. Other parts will be offered up to the plans as needed and corrected is necessary.

 

 

I made a little progress today on this one. The fuselage mouldings don't mate down the middle as normal: the left side includes the top, and the right side includes the floor. Unfortunately no allowance seems to have been made for the additional width of the extra side when the pieces are mated, which makes the fuselage too wide by the the same amount as the thickness of the plastic! The top and bottom were therefore narrowed so that when mated, the fuselage had the correct width and all interior moulded detail was removed. Of course having narrowed the fuselage there is absolutely no chance of the PE interior fitting, but that was never going to be used anyway. I will add detail with stock rod and maybe cut the PE for the bracing wires.
 The fuselage was cut along the line of the rear undercarriage brace (just aft of the cockpit), and the front part was thinned extensively as this was sheet aluminium on the real aircraft, not a brick wall as the moulding would seem to imply! I added small fillets to the top of the fuselage sides, just forward of the cockpit and a piece of sheet stock under the nose to correct the profile. The upper nose/engine cover was also thinned. 
 I've added scrap plastic to lengthen the fuselage and am waiting for this to dry completely before attempting any further work on the fuselage.

 A new rudder and horizontal tail surfaces have been made from stock sheet. I'll finish detailing these when I get closer to needing them.

Ian

 

 

 I'm still working on the fuselage. The kit part for the firewall is too long (front to back) which would mount the engine too far forward, and if trimmed it would then make the engine sit too low. A new firewall and lower front fuselage was therefore made up and fitted with a piece of plastic rod to serve as engine/prop mounting. I decided to test fit the PE interior just for the heck of it, and was very surprised to see it actually fits despite the fuselage having been made narrower - this must be because the front end was also moved forward (by 7mm!) so is actually a little wider than the original! Another surprise is that all the formers actually line up to the plans (even though they are a little too thin), so it appears that the PE was made to the correct size, and not to fit the incorrect kit fuselage. These formers will be beefed up a bit with plastic rod anyway to give a bit of depth so the incorrect width isn't an issue.
 I've also done a little more work on the front upper decking. The edges immediately in front of the cockpit have been filed flat, at an angle to the forward cabane struts, the curve of the front cockpit rim was made more pronounced and a new "windscreen" was made from sheet stock. This piece still needs to be drilled for the filler caps but I'll do that later.  

 Next up will be finishing the insides of the fuselage halves and painting them, then installing the PE and starting on the interior detail.
 I must say, I'm enjoying this one!

 

 

A quick update - sorry about the quality of the pics: I just put brand new batteries in my camera and they're already running low after about 5 attempts to get the damn thing in focus!

 Anyway, the fuselage interior is almost done. I've scratched a new oil tank as the kit one is way too small (surprise!) and added a fill piece to the upper fuselage to cover the extension that was needed. Once the oil tank and engine are fitted I'll attach the upper front decking and scratch the upper cockpit (sides and rear) to get the correct shape for the cockpit opening. The wings have also been drilled and the front and rear spars added to the fuselage to hold the wings in their correct position. I was going to use an Aeroclub engine but it's way overscale, so I've used the kit part, removed the moulded push rods and added the PE.

 

 

A little more progress today, and a small hiccup too.... at some stage during the trial fitting and refitting of the top cowling, the small gauge on the left side of the cockpit jumped out and fed the carpet monster! Oh well, it won't be seen when it's all in the display cabinet but it does p*** me off as it looked pretty good! 
 The oil/fuel tank was fitted this morning, followed by the engine, front engine mount (PE) and top cowling. They were all filed to a proper fit and the PE representing the overlap of the top cowling piece was fitted. I also made and fitted the upper cockpit surround from plastic sheet. All has been filled and sanded ready for paint. 
 The wings and tail were also marked out with the ribs and spars drawn on in pencil and then sprayed with Testors dullcoat  to stop any smudging. 

The next step will be to start painting....

Ian

 

 

 

Hi all, a little more progress on this one, but it's slow.... I've got the PE wheels and undercarriage done but I'm not sure if I'll keep the wheels - I made the tyres from plastic tube, and although this aircraft did have very small wheels, these are a little too small. Unfortunately the other PE wheels I have are all too big, so I may stick with these...we'll see. The PE undercarriage struts have been beefed up a little with plastic card, the centre ones have been replaced completely. The main longitudinal strut has been replaced with brass rod and the kit "spade' at the front has been reshaped. I still have to make and fit the warping mechanism.
 The tail surfaces are on and the king posts (brass rod) and upper rigging attachments are in place - the latter will be trimmed off once the rigging is done. I tried drilling out a couple of pieces of .020" rod for the upper warping wire sleeves and then thinning them to scale but couldn't sand them small enough, so I've gone for a drilled piece sitting vertically and I'll just paint the warping wires to simulate the metal sleeves here....hopefully that will look good enough.....

I've also made my first effort at weathering with pastels - at first I didn't like it, but it's growing on me so I may leave it as it is....

Antonio - here is a link to some great detail pics...

http://www.wwi-models.org/Photos/Fre/Nie4/index.html

Ian

 

 

I had a good day on this one yesterday thanks to Sandy, and the fact we didn't lose power! Decals in this kit are, I have to say, excellent! They went on very nicely and with a little Micro set, conformed well to the surface. they are all on, and the wings have been fitted. Now just the rigging to do, plus fitting and painting the control horns on the tail. It took a good few hours to make up all 16 rigging points from the PE set. Each one had two parts: the mount, which needed to be folded twice, and the tensioner, which was fitted to the mount with .010" brass wire. Needless to say it was a little fiddly, but worth the effort! A start has been made on the rigging and this is where it will rest for the next 2 weeks while I visit the UK for my Father's 80th birthday...

 
I do hope to get to Telford while I'm home, so maybe I'll see one or two of you there...if not, see you all in 2 weeks!

Ian

 

 

That was it for the build, the RFI post was added at the time and can be found here.

 

I hope this proves useful at some point!

 

Ian

Edited July 15, 2017 by limeypilot

[TheBaron]

Truly scrumptious Ian!

Wheels and PE interior are just bellisimo.

Tony

[TonyTiger66]

Very nicely done Ian. The rigging is really nice; the mounts and tensioners must be ludicrously small   !

 

When I see photoetch parts like those and control horns in 1/72, I can never figure out the best way to cut them from the sheet, and/or file off any excess material. 

 

Whatever I do, they ping off into oblivion, stick to my finger....

 

Well done.

 

The pastel on the fuselage is really effective.

 

 

TonyT

[RidgeRunner]

That's a great build. I wish I had those skills and patience!

 

Martin

[Martian]

A great build and that fuselage framework is amazing!

 

Martian