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Christian WERY
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Nieuport XXIII from Belgium

December 30, 2021 · in Aviation · · 31 · 1.9K

This aircraft was flown by Belgian pilot Kervyn de Lettenhove in 1916. He would have shot down 4 confirmed enemy planes and 9 "probable".
This the 32-004 kit.
Rigging: Modelkasten wire (0.13mm) / Gaspatch Models resin turnbuckles : 1/48 (structure) and (wings) / Albion Alloys 0.5x0.3mm tubes.
Tamiya paint, AMMO oilbrushers .

Reader reactions:
19  Awesome

9 additional images. Click to enlarge.


31 responses

  1. This is really excellent, Christian @christw
    The open airframe clearly shows how fragile those planes were at that time.
    Rigging looks amazing as well.

    • When building it, I thought of pilots who climbed in these so frail machines, and in wartime, to say bluntly : they had balls. Thnak you for commenting John.

      • @johnb and @christw, to add to the conversation, I had read that some early WWI planes hod NO seat belts!
        Now, how about that!

        • It's likely. In addition, some had to get up to fire the machine gun.
          Many thanks Spiros !

        • @christw

          NO seat belts, and for the majority of the Air War NO parachutes either ! Toss in an airframe that could collapse or suffer catastrophic failure by simply becoming airborne, or it could easily catch fire, suffer engine failure, AND they had NO armor for protection from "Archie" shrapnel or bullets... Standing up to swap out an ammunition drum,or in some cases to even fire the weapon as mentioned above... Yes Sir, these guys had BIG BRASS One's 🙂

          • As far as I understand the Germans thought it wise to save the pilot´s life to fight another day, the British thought it more motivating not to have that option but to fight on...thus no parachutes for the RAF boys. True?

      • The bravery of these pilots and of race car drivers of the early era never cease to impress me.

  2. Amazing job, Christian!
    Congratulations!

  3. Très beau travail Christian.

  4. Well done, Christian. Wonderful detail.

  5. Nice work, Christian. What kit is this?

  6. I presume the whole skeleton structure is scratch build, no?
    C’est un brilliant maquette! Outstanding in every aspect. Thank you very much for sharing here

    • Thank you Pedro.
      It is scratch, yes. In fact, in the CSM kit, the skeleton sides are embossed on the internal walls of the fuselage. By cutting, I got the bare structure, and I had to add top and bottom spacers. Main problem is to make correct control cabling.

  7. Love the contrast of the warm colours of the wood works and roundels to the cold silver dope.

  8. Amazing work, everything is great on your build. I love the way the cables can be seen and done so nicely!

  9. Yeah, everything is done as close to perfectly as is possible, with a great looking result.

    • Thank you, Tom, for appreciating it. I received elsewhere a remark concerning the black tires, the carbon generally was not present in rubber during the war. I corrected that and it is true that we see more clear tires on Nieuport photos at the time.

      1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

  10. It is one of the best builds I have seen in this year, simply excellent, and respect for the rigging!

  11. @christw
    This is an INCREDIBLE build ! If we still had the "Model of the Month" award, this one would be a serious contender. I have built a much larger 1/6 scale electric powered flying RC Nieuport, and I followed the scale airframe and wing structures as closely as I could. I can tell you from first hand experience, this is not an easy thing to do, much less in a much smaller size like you have done. My Hat's off to you ! Well done, and I definitely pressed the "like" button for this one...

    I'm thinking that as soon as some of these current group builds wind down, maybe we should have one called "The Great War". I have a good selection of Wingnut Wings, Rhoden and Meng 1/32 scale kits that would fit the bill.

    What say you ? 🙂

    • Many thanks for kind words, Louis. Yes these are tiny pieces and control cables are a challenge.
      I'm fan of biplanes from the Great War, a GW group woud be a nice idea !
      I don't usually post my works in progress so far, but all i can do is invite you to create this group, it lacks here.

  12. Excellent work, Christian, a great way to spend your retirement.

  13. Just Wow Christian @christw! MAGNIFIQUE, Amazing build. Thanks for sharing. Et surtout une très joyeuse année 2022 et beaucoup d'autres maquettes.

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