1/48 Testors Nieuport Type 17 C.1
Last winter, I dug my one and only World War One build out of the cabinet, and thought, what the heck, take some pics of the old girl. It has never been photographed before, and it looks pretty rough in many ways. It is the ancient Testors (ex-Hawk I assume?) kit of the Nieuport Type 17 C.1 sesqui-plane built probably around 1994 or so. It has my first attempt at rigging, using fine guitar string. I did scratch-build an entire cockpit, including sidewalls,floor, headrest and instrument panel. The exhaust is drilled out solder and I added some oil filler caps. The bungee cord shock-absorbers are thread coated with thinned white glue. I also made the elevator horns and added the control cables, again from fine wire. The gun sight ring is copper wire.
I believe the paint is Floquil Old Silver and the engine cowl is probably Humbrol polished aluminum (just can't recall for sure). The cockpit sidewalls are painted in some linen enamel. I used the kit decals. That pilot figure is probably close to 60 years old and originally came with the old Aurora Spad, iirc. I added him just to give a sense of scale and of course he still wears the paint job I gave him all those years ago.
The base is something I threw together after I got home from work. My usual piece of "tarmac" just wouldn't do for this WWI plane. I really would like to have a base that features a dirt runway for some older aircraft. Maybe a project for this winter? We bought a Nikon D3300 last Christmas and this is the only model I've photographed with it, and I don't really know what I'm doing, lol. I experimented with the macro mode and automatic and one can see why I usually take my pics outdoors. None of these are that great but I had fun shooting them. With a wee bit of trepidation, I'm posting this genuine "blast from the past" (in more ways than one, lol) and I hope you take a look...just not too close!
Gary
