Eduard 1/48 Limited Edition Nieuport 16 By Marc Flake

History

The Nieuport 16 was the up-engined version of the Nieuport 11, using a 110 hp Le Rhone in place of the 80 hp used in the earlier version. It was assigned to frontline units in early 1916. The extra horsepower allowed the N.16 to carry Le Prieur rockets for use against balloons. Four rockets were attached to each interplane V-strut.

According to "French Aircraft of the First World War" (Flying Machines Press 1997), N.16s were never used in large numbers, acting as a supplement to N.11s and as an interim aircraft between the N.11 and the N.17. Besides France, other nations that used the N.16 were Belgium, Great Britain and Russia. The latter built a few N.16s at the Dux plant.

The Kit

This "Limited Edition" kit is a repackaging of the Nieuport 11 Profipak with new decals and new color profiles. One drawback to this is that the engine included in this kit is the 80 hp Le Rhone, not the 110 hp engine. The kit includes 50 tan parts on two sprues, a clear windscreen, 50 photoetched parts, a decal sheet with markings for four aircraft, a set of painting masks, a four-page color profile guide and a 10-page instruction booklet.

The casting on all the parts is crisp. Care should be used in removing the smaller parts from the sprues. I laid the upper wing and one fuselage side on top of the Ian Stair drawings in Windsock Datafile on Volume One of Nieuport Fighters. They match up perfectly.

The photoetch parts are essential in accurately portraying the interior of this aircraft. The interior detail cast into the plastic parts are the bare minimum -- pretty much just the wood frame. Besides additional framing, the interior photoetch parts include various instrument casings and a seat with a perforated back. There's also an instrument panel, which was unusual for early Nieuports. In most cases, instruments were merely distributed around the cockpit. Among other things, the fret contains three different access plates, connector rods for the engine and detail for the Lewis gun and its mounting hardware. The photoetched windscreen can be used to replace the clear injected plastic part with a little clear-drying glue for the glas portion.

The Express Mask is designed for use on the tops of both wings and the horizontal stabilizer so that a narrow edge the same color as the bottom of the flying surface can be applied. Masks are included for the wheels, too. The four-page color profiles will be very useful in the painting of the chosen version of the model and the placement of the decals. The decal sheet is comprehensive including not only national and personal insignias, but also data stencils, fuselage stitching and metal reinforcing straps for the struts.

Conclusion

This is another exceptionally detailed and crisply molded model from Eduard. The only complaint I have is that it does not have the 110 hp Le Rhone that made the N.16 what it was. The good news is that I have the Eduard Nieuport 21that has been sitting on the shelf because it has a 110 hp Le Rhone instead of the proper 80 hp engine for that aircraft. Now, I can perform a little switcheroo and get the right engine for the proper aircraft.

Thanks to Eduard for this kit.