Another attempt at a Nieuport

[DaddyO]

Ahem! after a false start of this thread in the wrong place (Sorry Mods)🥴 Here's a quick update on what I've been up to

 

I bought a dual combo of Eduard's lovely Nieuport 17 and started one as my 'first' model, but after a few goofs I ended up using it as a test bed to get used to cleaning up plastic, painting and decaling before having a proper go at the DR1. Since the early Nieuport was sitting there mocking me I decided to have another go at one using the second kit. . . .

 

I'll spare you the blow by blow commentary on these, but the struts and u/c are all scratch built from sanded brass rod and I added a few finer details to the cockpit (not that any will be seen) I beefed up the cylinders with some jewellery wire. Wing struts ahd the detail sanded off and were then subjected to a session with the sanding stick to get them thinner (they may be too thin so I'll need to go easy when rigging this one)

Painting is all in acrylics (Vallejo air mainly) and I'm gradually learning how to fight the airbrush to do what I want.

 

Enough rattle here are the pics

Paul

 

Edited July 3, 2022 by DaddyO
spelling error

[DaddyO]

Well got the camo done using my own mixes based on the windsock profiles. Pleased with the effect although there was some overspray most noticeably  through the aileron gaps. A bit of nifty brushwork sorted that out though 😃

 

 

A coat of gloss varnish and it was on with the decals. Wasn't happy with the rudder stripes which I couldn't get to wrap around the edge properly (The decal kept snapping) so decided I'll mask and paint the stripes later and stripped them off.

 

When I was looking closely at the roundels after they had dried I noticed there was a slight mismatch on the red outer rings which really bugged me and I thought the inner blue was much too light so thought I'll strip those as well. Grrrr. . . .soaking in water and decal fluid had no effect so I ended up scraping and sanding with the inevitable results 😭

 

 

A bit of a hiccup as they say!

 

After I had calmed down a bit I decided it would be easy and neater to start the top wing again using the spare from the other kit 😀

 

Onwards and upwards

Paul

[AdrianMF]

Lovely work!
 

I’m sorry it’s giving you some grief - I had the same issue with the roundels but over silver they didn’t look so bad so I let sleeping dogs lie.
 

Eduard do seem to have issues with blue! I didn’t think their blue in the Nieuport was too bad (I had the boxing with the big dragon markings), but I ended up repainting the blue for both US and French decals in their Spad XIII because it was an icky turquoise.

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

 

[DaddyO]

Thanks Adrian

 

To be fair I didn't notice the problem on the wing undersides and of course I applied the top ones last so when I saw how they appeared  on the darker background

 

The roundel blue's a bit pale IMO, but I appreciate there would be variations so had the red been in register like you, I'd have left well alone. 😀

 

New Printscale decals are winging there way to me as we speak.

I'm now wondering about using some clear resin for the central area. I'll have a play with this wing to see what it's like and I can then get the windows done and mask before painting 😉 

 

Onwards and upwards as they say

Paul

[DaddyO]

Okay plenty of progress on this one over the last couple of weeks 😀

 

I decided to resurrect the original, sand off the finish and repaint so that I'm now working on a brace of them . . . 

 

 

Which meant making a second engine with wrapped cylinders, cowl with cooling slots, struts sanded down etc. . . . .

 

 

 

So here we are now -

 

 

New Printscale decals added to the replacement top wing of the camo version (which meant remaking all the centre section details again🥴) Struts all sanded and painted and red section of the silver one painted in. This one is going to be an Italian version so I'll add the green section when I've mixed a green to match the decal colour . . .

 

Looking forward to having a bench without Nieuport bits all over it 😆

 

TTFN

Paul

[AdrianMF]

I do like the Italian schemes! Looking forward to seeing them both. Good to see you resurrected the first one - it’s too good a kit to waste!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[DaddyO]

Cheers Adrian

Not sure which to pick yet. 3 versions on the replacement decal sheet including Baracca's one with it's prancing horse, but I'm rather tempted by the plain one with a red heart on the side and no upper wing roundels . . .

 

Paul

 

ps Have a 17 on the shelf too so maybe a Belgian version in the future 🤔

 

[DaddyO]

Okay slow progress on these, but still moving in the right direction . . .

 

Bits are now all pre-assembled and I think we're ready for assembly after a dose of weathering with the old oil paints. (I even replaced the entire tail of the silver one after I kept breaking the elevator off)

Eventually chose Baracca's aircraft because I wanted to try the lightly sprayed over roundels - worked well, but I'd forgotten to add the hinge details and the roundels almost disappeared after another couple of coats of silver to blend these in 😬

A bit of wiping and rubbing bought the roundels back into view and the upside was a heavily worn appearance to the silver (I'm leaving it at that because these aircraft were well used and whilst the fus might receive plenty of loving care with a wet wipe, but I can't imagine ground crew spending a lot of time above the wing - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) 😉

 

I added a couple of tubular wheel hubs to the silver wheels because I was a bit over zealous with the drilling for the axle; the hubs on the green wheels have a spot of black in the centre to give a similar effect.

 

Nothing more to do now before I satrt to assemble and rig these - wish me luck . . . .

 

Paul

 

[AdrianMF]

They are looking super!

 

The barely-visible roundels look great too - a very subtle addition.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[DaddyO]

Cheers Adrian. Hopefully I won't bugger them up when putting them together 😁

[DaddyO]

Well I did bugger the silver one up a couple of times getting the wings square and lined up, but they're now tickity boo (well at least as good as they are going to get)

 

Sadly I realised that I've used the wrong sized mono for the rigging so it's actually much thicker than intended🙄 One things for sure I'm not attempting to replace it all now that it's fitted - onwards and upwards . . . .

 

Paul

[DaddyO]

Oooooh rigging going on 😎

 

 

Which leaves us with a hairy biplane!😃

 

 

And if that isn't enough excitement here's a start on a couple of pilots. Having put them together I decided to change the left arms of both and then obviously the uniforms need scraping off to create what I'm after . . . .

 

 

 

[Brandy]

Rigging's looking good!

 

Ian

[DaddyO]

Cheers Ian. 😃

Needed to replace one of them, but that's done now (I tightened the U/C ones up with an incense stick after I tweaked it a bit to straighten it up and thought that worked well so tried bringing a touch too close to the others with predictable results)

 

Anyway added some control wires this morning before the sun got up too high - can't work during the day because it's in direct sun so restricted to evenings and early mornings only. Baby steps . . . .

 

 

[Marklo]

Both looking very good so far, I think The green camo one has a slight edge over the silver one. I’ll definitely borrow that one if I ever get around to the Nieuport I have in my stash ( funny how I didn’t remember that one for the French Fancy GB last year !)

[DaddyO]

49 minutes ago, Marklo said:

Both looking very good so far, I think The green camo one has a slight edge over the silver one. I’ll definitely borrow that one if I ever get around to the Nieuport I have in my stash ( funny how I didn’t remember that one for the French Fancy GB last year !)

Yep that's my feeling too Markio (The silver one was resurrected after I'd progressed a fair way with the camo one) I managed to 'pull back' the camo colours to closer the original shades with some nifty oil paint weathering so it almost looks okay now 😉 Given I've still got a couple of 23's in a box on the shelf and several other decal options there may be another one in the future . . . but not soon!

 

Paul

[DaddyO]

Right ho for those following this thread here are a few finished pics.

 

 

 

 

Pretty pleased with how it turned out after all especially given a couple of months back it was been broken up and added to the spares box. I managed to snap a couple of wires which needed replacing and dropped it on the table which meant re-gluing the small struts which came loose 🥴 I also forgot to add the windscreen till it was finished and inserting that without getting glue everywhere was 'fun'. Prop is from carved plywood laminations and I replaced the wheel axles with tubes after drilling through accidentally. Lovely little kit though and I'm pleased to have resurrected it.

 

Thanks for all the comments and encouragement. Next up the camo version and pilots 😀

 

Paul

[AdrianMF]

That’s a beauty!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[DaddyO]

36 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

That’s a beauty!

 

Regards,

Adrian

Cheers Adrian 😁

[Dave Slowbuild]

Fantastic result Paul, I really like your style!
Very impressive (and intriguing) jig from a few post ago too.  Do you use it for setting the top wing position too, not just as a support while rigging?

 

Dave

[DaddyO]

49 minutes ago, Dave Slowbuild said:

Fantastic result Paul, I really like your style!
Very impressive (and intriguing) jig from a few post ago too.  Do you use it for setting the top wing position too, not just as a support while rigging?

 

Dave

Thank you Dave 😊

 

Jig is a self concocted thing made from Perspex, Mecanno pieces and threaded brass rod. It kind've works, but on these tiddlers is a bit of a struggle because the nuts work loose too easily so in the end I used it for checking the position of the top wing against the struts, but actually glued the wing on with a Mk one eyeball. 

 

I'll probably Araldite the rods into position for single seaters and make a second one for larger aircraft (Got a Junkers J1 lined up in the near future . . . .

 

Paul