Building Hobbycraft's 1/32 International Nieuport
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History
The Nieuport 17 is perhaps the most famous of all the Nieuport V-Strutters
produced during World War I. In addition to supplying many French Escadrilles,
the Nieuport was used by the British, Italians, Russians and Belgians.
The Nieuport 17 was also used by many air forces still in an embryonic
state during the Great War. The Dutch, Finns, Poles, Latvians, Rumanians,
Serbians, Czechs, Ukrainians, Americans and Estonians, just to name a
few, all used different versions of the Nieuport to help equip their air
services. The Germans even flew a captured Nieuport 17 in combat.
There has been a lot written about the Nieuport 17 that does not need
to be repeated here. The references listed at the end of this article
are a good starting point for anyone interested in researching this important
World War I fighter.
THE NIEUPORT COOK-UP:
The folks over at the World War
One Internet Modeling Group decided to do a "cook-up" of as many Nieuports
as we could manage. The results will soon be posted to a web site. I'm
sure a link to the site will appear on the Group Links page once the site
is up. Anyway, I had the Hobbycraft kit sitting around collecting dust
and decided it would be a quick easy build to help with the cook-up. Spurred
on by Diego Fernetti's encouragement, I decided to do the Nieuport in
the kit-provided Estonian markings. The markings are unusual and stand
out nicely against the overall silver airplane.
The Estonian Air Force, however, was a complete mystery to me prior
to starting this project. In all honesty, it remains pretty much a mystery.
There is not a lot out there that I was able to find that was written
in English. Estonia declared its independence from Russia in February
of 1918.
 The
formation of an air force didn't happen until the end of the year. Fourteen
wrecked German and Russian aircraft were the starting point. By February
of 1920, there were forty airplanes. Included in this number were two
Nieuport 17s that were intended for the White Russian Army before its
collapse. The two Nieuport 17's were assigned # 45 and # 46.
The Nieuport Datafile Special Volume 1 contains a nice color profile
of # 46 and a photo showing it at Tallinn in 1925. By then it was pretty
well worn and no longer had any armament. A photo in Sanger's book shows
a Nieuport 11 in similar markings that didn't have the Black, Dark Blue,
White triangles on the underside of the top wing. So, I decided that was
the way it was done on # 46. With the research out of the way, it was
time to see what was inside the box. (OK, I had already looked inside
and touched the plastic, but the preceding sentence makes for a better
transition.)
THE KIT:
 Hobbycraft
has put out a few versions of their 1/32 Nieuport 17 kit. The one I chose
to do for the project came from the International Nieuport version. It
contains decals for 1 Russian Nieuport and 1 Estonian Nieuport. The same
kit is also put out by Academy in French markings.
 So,
other than 2 choices for decals, what does Hobbycraft provide inside the
box? There are three flash free sprues of injected plastic done in light
gray. There is also a clear plastic windscreen. The instruction sheet
is large and sets up the sequence of building in a picture without text
format.
The cockpit is very visible in a model this large. Unfortunately, the
kit provides very little in the way of details. Most of the gauges and
other cockpit equipment on the Nieuport 17 were attached on a random basis
to the supporting frame inside the cockpit. The only aftermarket addition
for this kit that I am aware of is the brass French Interior set from
Tom's Modelworks. For those of you out there into cockpit detail, the
set from Tom's is a must unless you prefer scratch-building. There will
be plenty of room to show off your skills in the large open cockpit.
CONSTRUCTION:
The build began with attention to the very visible (for World War I
standards) cockpit. While the exterior of the airplane is silver, the
interior is a combination of wood paneling and clear doped linen, the
base color of the Nieuport before the silver was applied. I started by
painting the interior of the fuselage with Model Master's Modern Desert
Sand from a spray can. For those of you afraid to use a spray can, or
refuse to condescend to use them, you can airbrush Polly Scale's acrylic
Dirty White or, for an enamel, either Model Master's Radome Tan or Light
Ivory. Any of these colors will work fine for the interior. The fuselage
has some of the formers built into it. These can either be painted a dark
brown to simulate wood or an artist's ink pen in brown can be used. I
chose the artist's pen since my skills at painting such a fine line are
minimal.
 The
front side portion of the fuselage in front of the seat had a dark wooden
panel. In order to match this effect, I decided to use the wood wrapper
from a cigar. I cut it to size and glued it to the fuselage using white
Elmer's glue. This takes some time before it is dry. Once everything was
dry, the rest of the cockpit pieces fit in without any real difficulty.
The seat in the Nieuport was ventilated with a lot of holes to reduce
weight. The kit supplied piece, in addition to being the wrong shape,
is solid. However, it does have some slight guide holes. There is a nice
brass seat from Tom's, but I could never get the hang of gluing it together.
So, after three failed attempts, I decided to drill out the guide holes.
The result is all right, but if you can handle brass, I would suggest
using the Tom's seat. The seat belts are from Tom's and are easy to apply.
We now interrupt this discussion to talk about rigging. As for me,
I like rigging World War I airplanes. I enjoy the mechanics of figuring
out where to drill the holes and how to use as few strings of thread as
possible. (I also enjoy banging my head against the wall.) This is an
easy kit to rig. The fuselage holes are already located on the model by
slightly raised entry points. All you have to do is drill them out. On
the wings the holes are partially drilled to help you find the right location.
The only holes the modeler needs to locate are the ones on the landing
gear. The holes need to be drilled all the way through the front 2 cabane
struts, the inverted "v" shaped rear cabane and 2 holes on the top of
the fuselage slightly off center to the right and left, in line with the
front cabanes. I used a silver thread I found at a sewing supply store.
It gives the impression of wire.
I pretty much use the "hole and through" method I learned from reading
Bob Laskodi's many builds. First, locate where the starter holes should
go before any gluing takes place. For this build, the starter holes are
on the top wing. Then, with a pin vise using a small drill bit (#78 or
#79), drill holes partway through the plastic. This will be where one
end of the rigging starts. Apply a small amount of CA and insert the thread.
If you can figure out how to locate more than one rigging wire from the
same hole, all the better! Once the glue hardens, drill a hole all the
way through where the wire ends up. That is usually the bottom wing. Try
to use the same end hole for as many rigging lines as possible. Apply
a weight to the end of the thread(s), use CA again, wait a few minutes
and cut off the end. Voila!, a taut line.
 OK,
back to the fuselage. There are two rigging holes about 2/3 of the way
from the front of the fuselage. After they are drilled out on each side
of the fuselage and before gluing the halves together, slide the thread
into one hole and out the other hole. I used one string of thread for
each side of the fuselage. Glue the fuselage halves together, making sure
not to get any glue on the rigging. One more small drilling job that is
not related to rigging is next. The aileron activating rods go from the
top wing through a hole in the top of the fuselage slightly in front of
the inverted "v" shaped cabane. Drill the holes all the way through the
fuselage and make sure it is larger than the circumference of the rod
to make attachment later easier.
Next up is the attachment of the lower wing. There is no fit problem
and no need for any putty. After the glue has had plenty of time to dry,
it is time for some painting. With biplanes it is much easier to paint
the fuselage and lower wing before the top wing and struts are attached.
I also paint the top wing and tailplane at this time and set them aside
to dry.
 Somewhere
around now, while the paint is curing, would be a good time to work on
the engine. The rotary engine comes in four basic pieces plus a propeller.
I painted the engine with Testor's Metallic Silver and then gave it a
wash of watered down Polly Scale acrylic Grimy Black. The rest of the
engine was painted Model Master's Rust. The engine cowling can also be
painted with Model Master's Aluminum Plate Buffing Metalizer now and set
aside.
So, how do you go about making plastic look like wood? I have a pretty
simple, quick and easy technique that I use. For dark wood, like on the
Nieuport, I first air brush with Model Master's Wood enamel. After it
dries, I then use a painting sponge. This can be found at any hardware
store. It is basically a black sponge at the end of either a plastic or
wooden stick. It is designed to paint in tight corners and hard to reach
spots. Anyway, take the sponge and dip a small corner of it in acrylic
Burnt Sienna. Take the sponge and smear it in one direction on the wood
parts. Smear it so that it lightly covers the light wood color. It will
give a nice grain effect. Once it is dry, seal it with a coat or three
of Future. The large "V" struts were wrapped with linen/tape at intervals.
These are marked on the struts. A good brush and a fairly steady hand
gets the desired result using acrylic Dirty White.
The fuselage lacing decal should now be applied along the front of
the fuselage between the cockpit and the cowling. After snuggling the
decal down with Future, it is time to think about attaching the top wing.
On Nieuports I start by attaching the two large "V" struts to the top
wing. I then attach the front cabanes to the top wing and dry fit the
assembly to the fuselage to make sure the alignment is proper. Next attach
the rear small inverted "v" cabane to the fuselage. Dry fit one more time
and then glue the bottom of the interplane "V" struts to the bottom wing
and the front cabanes to the fuselage. I usually don't apply glue to the
back inverted "v" cabane until everything else has hardened into place.
 Next
up are the two aileron activating rods. They come in one piece. I have
found it simpler to cut them into two pieces right where the oval loop
joins the straight rod. I glue the oval loop into the top wing. The rod
then slides down into the fuselage hole part-way. Attach glue to the top
of the rod and then, using tweezers, raise it until it reaches the small
rectangular cut-out where the oval is. You won't be able to notice it
isn't attach to the oval.
Once this is all done, attach the tail plane and then the rudder. The
rudder is a flush fit to the end of the fuselage and breaks off a lot.
So, I drilled a small hole into the rear of the fuselage and to the corresponding
spot on the rudder. I glued a small piece of wire into the rudder hole
so it would slide into the fuselage hole. Then I put super glue into the
fuselage hole and onto the wire and slid it into the fuselage hole. A
nice strong bond results and the rudder is unlikely to break off.
 Almost
finished. All that is left to attach are the engine, cowling and landing
gear. I do it in that order, since the landing gear attachment point is
at the join of the cowling and the front of the fuselage. Then finish
the rigging and apply the decals. The decals are very fragile, especially
the rudder and tailplane stripes. Even using a lot of Future to soften
them up, the rudder and tailplane decals still chipped around the edges.
Luckily, the decals for the Russian Nieuport provided in the kit use the
same colors. So, with a little judicious cutting, I used small decal pieces
to repair the damage.
PAINTING:
Painting a Nieuport 17 is pretty simple, as long as you don't mind
a lot of silver. I used Testor's Metallic Silver from a spray can for
everything except the cowling. For that I used Model Master's Aluminum
Metalizer from a spray can. I then buffed it with a soft cloth to get
the nice shine. I used Polly Scale Deck Tan acrylic to paint the tires.
Tires during this period of time were not the black we are used to. The
colors mentioned run from gray to pink! I think that this shade of tan
is very close to what someone could call pink. Finally, I used Model Master's
Brass for the propeller face plate.
CONCLUSIONS:
 This
is a very easy kit to build. If you have a fear of biplanes, a Nieuport
in this scale is especially easy to align and rig. Plus, if you are one
of those anal people who love to detail cockpits, there is a lot to work
with, as long as you don't mind using brass aftermarket parts or scratch
building.
I would like to thank all of the members of the World War I Internet
Modelers Group for their help in this project. I would especially like
to thank my friends, Diego and Shane for all the work they have done getting
the Nieuport Cook-up started. Finally, thanks to Amber Beckers for taking
the great photographs of the finished model. You can see more of her work
at https://www.amberbeckers.com/ .
REFERENCES:
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J.M. Bruce, "Nieuport Aircraft of World War One", Arms and Armour
Press, 1988 ISBN 0-85368-934-2
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J.M. Bruce, "Nieuport Datafile Special Vol. 1 & 2", Albatros Productions
Ltd., 1993, 1994 ISBN 0-948414-54-5,
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Norman Franks, "Nieuport Aces of World War I", Osprey Aviation,
2000 ISBN 1-85532-961-1
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Thomasz J. Kowalski, "Nieuport 1-27", Kagero Publication, 2003
ISBN 83-89088-09-6
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Ray Sanger, "Nieuport Aircraft of World War One", The Crowood Press,
2002 ISBN 1-86126-447-X
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