1:48 Eduard Nieuport 17

[SoftScience]

At long last. After 30+ years of modeling, and about half a dozen failed attempts, I have finally successfully built a biplane model!

 

This is Eduard's Nieuport 17 in 1/48 scale. It was built straight out of the box. Paints used were Tamiya flat aluminum, various Vallejo for the details, and some nameless artist oils on the wood bits.

 

Markings are for the American Volunteer squadron (Escadrille Lafayette) in French service. This aircraft was flown by Edward Hinkle in the spring of 1917. 

 

Unbelievablethat it was 100 years ago!

 

The Eduard decals performed flawlessly. I didn't use any softeners.

 

The clear wing cellules were made using Micro Crystal Clear PVA.

 

Rigging is Ezline. Blue! See below.

 

There are plenty of rookie mistakes on here. I admit to having rushed to finish this. I just wanted to finally have a biplane in the collection, and having fun trumped getting things perfect.

 

I didn't add any turnbuckles, which I guess is kind of a no-no now, but they looked oversized when I tried to do them. I thought .3 mm tube would work, but it looked like the plane was wearing cow bells.

 

I'm also not sure about the blue rigging lines. I got that by reading something related to the WNW salmson, where they said the French lines were blue. That lot seem to know what they're doing, so why not?

 

Here are some admittedly mediocre pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Excellent Nieuport 👍 ... I say that in full confidence because my one attempt at a biplane in 31 yrs. isn't even rigged. 

[spruecutter]

There is a useful saying in our business that "Done is better than perfect" - our CEO was getting fed up with people making excuses that they couldn't launch a new product because it wasn't quite A+++ grade.

 

Well done for seeing off your biplane demons - you have made a very good job of the Nieuport.

[SoftScience]

Perfect is the enemy of finished..that's true.

 

 

And thank you.

[Spitfire31]

She look very convincing to my eyes. Excellent work, and the blue stays sound like an interesting talking point!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim