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Hello to all, The decision to begin a new thread dedicated to this aircraft build has not been easy, for several reasons. - First, because of this f... virus, that poison our lifes: was it decent, while many people are suffering in their flesh, to debate around such futile things? - Then, because my last thread, Indianapolis 500 Ford Mustang 1964 1/2: has been interrupted because it began really to turn boring, with a lot of parts that needed to be scratchbuilt (and often using 3D CAD/CAM, while I am totally dependant of competent people to model the parts). I don't despair, however, and hope I will find the courage and faith to end this very complex build... - Then because many ideas of this Nieuport 11 build are not mine, but either Juan Manuel Villalba's ones (in the great "Guide du maquettisme aéronautique", Histoire et Collections, 2011), either bughunter alias Frank's ones (see his amazing build here: But well, the desire is too strong, and being confined gives me more time than usually to share on my favorite hobby. I have to precise that I have built a first version, directly inspired by Villalba, following his steps like a pupil who tries to imitate his master. In particular, he gave me hints - in the book or through our frequent e-mail dialog on how to give a transparency effect on the wings, represent the rigging, paint the rosettes and so many other details. I like very much this first version and had a lot of fun building it, but I want to go a bit farer, and improve it on many aspects, using the wide documentation that JMV could not get when he wrote the great article in the book mentioned above. Here are some pics of this first version: This new thread is dedicated to Juan Manuel Villalba, and also to all victims of this awful disease. I have a particular thought for our Italian brothers (I live not far from Italy and we love this country), while the virus causes so many suffering there, especially in Lombardy... Olivier, 20/03/2020 P.S: I will detail in the next topic the many points I want to improve from this first version...

Hello to all, On last March 20, I decided, while I had just finished a first build of this beautiful WWI airplane, to build it again. For the first build, I followed strictly (but with less talent) my master Juan Manuel Villalba. For this 2nd, I wanted a more personal, and more faithful build, with improvements in many aspects compared with my first version. The WIP is visible here: I took advantage of the confinement (I never had before as much time for my favorite hobby, about 5 h/ day, sometimes more) to realize this project, and you will find below the pics. I want to thank very warmly all modelers who followed my thread in the WIP section, and especially the most encouraging ones: Biggu, JeroenS, limeypilot, FPDPenguin, RichieW. But also Alfisti, shortCummins, Ex-FAAWAFU, QuietMike, and many other ones... Without their "likes", kind comments and encouragements, I would certainly have been much less far. I also want to thank very much Marc Chassard and Selwyn, experts whose knowledge was very helpful to get a faithful replica. And, as usual, a special dedication to JMV, who learnt me so much and always encouraged me along my skills acquisition. For those interested, after the pics, I will come-back (in another post, in the next days) on the context of this airplane and the De Turenne pilot. All the best to all, and a long life to Britmodeller, that allows me to also improve my english! 1) my both versions: all the ones who followed with care my WIP thread won't be long to see which one is the first, and which one the second: 2) I clearly improved the propeller for this 2nd build, but many other aspects too, such the step (just painted Dark Grey on the 1st build) or yet the Lewis gun and its supports, mainly self made. Notice the small impacts on the engine hood: 3) For this "ultimate" version, I also tried to represent in a more realistic way the rosettes visible through the canvas, a challenging step but that was worth it imho. The cockpit, pity not very visible, was also improved a lot, with the will to be as faithful as possible, in the image of the seat cushion, the seat belts, the side panels colors etc: 4) On my 1st build, I had not represented the vertical wood structure visible through the linen canvas on the fuselage. The kind of detail pleasing to the eye. I also decided that this time, the wings and empennage hinges would be represented. The end of the build was dedicated to the machine gun and its supports. I gave the best of myself, with a strong will, to represent faithfully these very visible elements. The wires are stretched plastic and even the trigger tiny one is represented: 5) Like most of my models, this one will be presented in my dental cabinet, placed on a mirror, the latter being fixed on a motorized tray, that allows to look at the model under all views angles. The mirror allows to see the bottom details too... On this pic, we may see the interest of using the great Uschi standard rigging, and the great too Gaspatch One End metal turnbuckles: 6) One of the modelers who followed my WIP thread, Jochen Barett, said with right that, only if there was more light coming from behind the canvas, the rosettes had to be slightly visible through the latter. By placing my model on a mirror, I solve partially this question: as much light on both upper and lower wings is coming. But I agree with him, if the model was inserted in a diorama, the rosettes should certainly not be represented on top: 7) Not many improvements on the bottom side of the fuselage for this 2nd build, but the metal plate in front (just behind the engine) was missing on the first: And, to finish, 4 BW pics: It has really been a pleasure for me to share this build with you. I leave you for now, but will, in a second post, as I said above, give some interesting infos about the Nieuport 11 and the pilot, Armand De Turenne. Cheers, take care of you and yours Olivier, May 21, 2020