New (to me, anyways) 1/72 Nieuport 11 and 16 kits

[RC Boater Bill]

While researching the (sparse) release history of the Toko/Eastern Express N.11/N.16 kits, I discovered that KP released a quartet of new kits in May 2024.    I embraced the “combined shipping lowers the per unit cost” philosophy, and ordered all four last night.

 

What have I gotten myself into?

[Flamingo]

Just have a look.

 

Click on the kits and study the pictures of schemes, sprue, decals and instructions.

 

Joachim

 

 

[JackG]

Let us know what the quality is like.  In 2021 their Sopwtih Dolphin was described as nice but something that would have been expected some 20-30 years ago.  Also found a posting where you had sold your KP Sopwith Triplane.

 

 

[Torbjorn]

A review here:

 

https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=14477.0

 

 

The details look better than other new Kp offerings (except the 80hp engine) but I’m passing due to the ribs (9 instead of 11). If I hadn’t been asinine about that sort of thing I would definitely have bought a couple.

[Paul Thompson]

Build up okay. Crude small bits, wrong number of wing ribs. Decals are a lottery. I seem to have a talent for buying highly pixelated out of register versions with very wide carrier margins and dubious colours. Others like them. I don't. If you can overlook the rib issue and somewhat crude small parts (and fictitious cockpit contents), then they build okay, and are relatively cheap. I gave one to a friend who built it OOB with no complaints and it looks like a Nie 11 alright. I'll build the other one I have, but am not ditching my old Tokos.

 

Paul.

[JackG]

Looks like soft molds as opposed to metal which would explain the short run look with all that flash.  

[CarLos]

I corrected the wings of mine using the thinnest tape I could find. Also increased the sweep back to match the plans in the datafile. As you may notice, forget the ribs at the center...

 

It's a tedious job, but very effective in my opinion. The tape is Filmoplast P, I doubt you can find anything thinner. 

[Paul Thompson]

4 hours ago, CarLos said:

 

It's a tedious job, but very effective in my opinion. The tape is Filmoplast P, I doubt you can find anything thinner. 

My knee-jerk solution to re-ribbing these days is to replace them with decal strips. Those by Xtradecal have hard and straight enough edges for my somewhat lax standards, but in 1/72nd only the thinnest of them will do, really.

 

Paul.

[CarLos]

1 hour ago, Paul Thompson said:

decal strips

 

I had a go with the decal method (Pedor tried to convert me...) but for me it's simply too hard. May be I used the wrong brand, but every time I tried I made a mess with the strips curled or torn. 
 

Thinner than the thinnest tape is John Adams method of using a drafting pen with acrylic paint, but it is so subtle that it almost disappears under a couple of primer coats. Here is my Rareplane Gotha test wing:

 

 

 

Not bad, easy and fast to do once we practice a little.

 

 

Carlos

 

 

[Paul Thompson]

    I'm trying to come to terms with a drafting pen but haven't yet got the knack. Either Tom Morgan or Lance Krieg used to mask off the rib locations and build up a layer of Mr Surfacer, then remove the masking and sand it back to where they wanted it. My attention span is too short to try that.  I suspect the brand of decal tape is indeed key to success with the method I use method. I've never had much trouble but always put them on a freshly glossed surface 'cos I was taught that decals don't stick for long on unpainted plastic (or resin), and up until now that's been achieved with my dwindling supply of the original European version of Klear/Kleer/Future, so never had curling happen. That's with Xtradecals, the oldest of whichI have  are 15 years. The older they are, the more brittle, but when out of them I've made do with self cut strips from various lozenge camo sheets, using the ribtapes as a cutting guide. The scalpel has to be fresh to avoid or at least minimise curling. Pegasus, Blue Max, Almark, even some really old Microscale and Roden (which you'd think would be asking for trouble).

 

    The reason I've persevered with this method is dissatifaction with my attempts of using plastic strip (5 thou) on a Sopwith Cuckoo and a few other things whose identity I've forgotten. I could never get it as fine as you have, and in later years the tapes sometimes lifted at the trailing edges, which is down to me not gluing them well enough. Never happens with decals if you use enough varnishing coats on top. Slightly off topic but what I have got to work is stretched sprue glued into the grooves on some vacforms (Joe Chubbock had a phase of designing wings like this) and then sanded to within an inch of it's life.

 

    Nice job on the Gotha BTW.

 

Paul.

[RC Boater Bill]

Three of the kits arrived today:

 

 

They look nice at first glance - I wasn’t aware of the wing rib issue.  I will be testing the decals soon, as I am building the Toko kit for the “Made in Ukraine” GB as Guynemer’s blue plane, and plan to steal the “Vieux Charles” markings from this kit…

 

 

 

[Flamingo]

Ribs with a ruling pen should be applied as late as possible, with clear gloss acrylic after painting and decalling so only a final matt coat follows.

A "side opener" is way more comfortable to clean while keeping the setting. A flexible ruler with an "inking edge" is needed.

 

Greetings Joachim