The Great War GB: Nieuport 17, Eduard 1/48
Although I do like the looks of multi-wing aircraft, they are not my favorite ones to build due to their complexity, especially the rigging. After receiving an invitation to participate in the wonderful "The Great War: a Tribute to those who served" group build, which already revealed several excellent builds, I decided to tackle this 1/48 Eduard bi-plane kit of the Nieuport 17. Not exactly a bi-plane but a one and a half wing aircraft, this because the lower wing is approximately half the size of the upper wing. Not my first multi-wing aircraft, but the first time I built one from the WWI era.
The kit is a real pleasure to build, the only challenges were the provided PE parts which are really small, especially the control levers, and of course the rigging. To make it even more difficult I bought turnbuckles from GasPatch, even in 1/48 those parts are quite small. For the rigging wire and control lines I used EZ-line (fine). For the wooden interior I made use of thin wooden strips which glued to the sides of the fuselage and thinned them even further so that the control panel and seat would still fit. Maybe not fully accurate. I tried to replicate the laminated propeller by painting it one brownish color at first and with small strips of masking tape, applying the darker brown color.
For the triple colored propeller cone, I first painted it entirely blue, placed a piece of straw, with diameter of the blue ring, on top and painted the white, next a cap of a pencil, with diameter of the white ring, was placed and the red paint applied. Not an easy explanation, my apologies for that .
Like always there are areas visible which could have been done better, clearly some improvements required on my side because the fitting of this kit is really good. Definitely not the best aircraft presented in this group build but it helped me in getting a bit familiar in building multi wing aircraft of WWI.
Building thread can be found here:
https://imodeler.com/groups/the-great-war-a-tribute-to-those-who-served/forum/topic/nieuport-ni-17-1-48-eduard-profipack/
Thanks a lot to all who commented during this build.
Every feedback on this build and how to improve are always welcome.
What a beautiful model, John. That looks awesome!
@fjs3, thank you, Frederick. Glad you like it.
You did a wonderful job on this, John. Agreed. Even at 1/48 they are small.
@gwskat, thanks a lot, Gary.
John @johnb, this is a fantastic build. Great scheme with the colorful spinner! Looks truly spectacular.
@fxrob, thank you, Felix. The spinner does indeed draw a lot of attention 🙂
Congratulations, John! A wonderful result and a great contribution to The Great War GB. Your build thread was a pleasure to follow!
@fiveten, thanks a lot, Spiros. It was a pleasure to have you onboard this build.
Great result John! I shy away from 1/48th or smaller biplanes due to a lack of space to install the rigging. I struggle with turnbuckles, so I appreciate your work with those.
@jsummerford, thank you, John. I delayed the rigging as long as possible but when I started the process, it worked pretty well to my idea, also with the turnbuckles. Incredible how small they are and still have a lot of detail.
I agree with the others John (@johnb). The Nieuport 17 looks great. You did a wonderful job on this. And as for the turnbuckles, that is something I have not tried yet. It was all I could do to get my Gladiators rigged a couple of years ago, so I have some knowledge of what you must have gone through.
@clipper, thanks a lot for liking it, Carl. It was a pleasure to have you following the build process. The Gladiator is an aircraft which is still on my wishlist as well.
An excellent little sesquiplane. The rigging is nice and believable. Great work on the propeller as well.
@christopher, thank you, Christopher. Although there is always room for improvement, I'm pretty happy with the outcome.
Looks great to me, @johnb. You also got the memo about shortening the landing gear legs. I like this a lot.
@tcinla, thanks a lot, Tom. Forgot to mention that in the headlines, but indeed, I got your memo and shortened the landing gear. Thanks for that. It is mentioned in the building thread though.
Really well done, John (@johnb). It was fun to follow along the build.
@gblair, thank you, George. It was a nice build, glad you followed along. Maybe I will try a triple wing aircraft, like your beautiful Dr.I, next.
Great work, John. I enjoyed watching this take shape!
@j-healy, thanks a lot, John.
Excellent - nice work on that prop!
@chasbunch, thank you, Chas. At first I wanted to buy an after market one but decided to give it a go and paint those laminates myself, not the best result, but acceptable to me.
Excellent Nieuport. One of the most beautiful "scout" planes of WW1 in my opinion.
@dbdlee, thanks a lot, Dan. You are fully right about that.
An excellent result John, enjoyed following the build.
@firelockg, thank you, Ian. It was a pleasure to have you following the build thread.
Your Nieuport is a real beauty and the rigging looks perfect, John @johnb. Give yourself a well deserved pat on the back!
@eb801, thanks a lot, Eric. Even though not perfect, I'm pretty happy with the outcome. At least it was learningful for a next one.
Your rigging success has given me the courage to push on with the Albatros I’m working on using those turnbuckles and EZ line. However a holiday trip to visit our daughter and 15 month old grandson and family in Costa Rica postpones any further bench time until I return. Happy Holidays to you! Here’s to a whole new year coming up soon of gluing things together.
@eb801, sounds like a wonderful trip. Visiting your family is much more important. Modelling can wait. Wishing you all the best while visiting your daughter and grandson. Happy holidays to all of you.
Beautifully done - looks like you have a knack for this subject! 🙂
@gkittinger, thank you, Greg. Bi-planes are not the easiest aircraft to build, but I'm pretty sure I will do another one soon.
John @johnb, this is an excellent build. I really like the paint scheme and the colorful spinner makes it even better! This is a great looking build.
@v1pro, thanks a lot, Bob. This combination of camouflage, and the red/white/blue color combination was the main reason to go for this scheme.
That is a real beauty, fantastic work.
@alistairfgauld, thank you very much, Alistair. Glad you like the result.
Very good job John. A joy to watch. I think it would be worth considering for you to continue building the planes of the great war. Any such building pleases my heart.
@milantesar, thanks a lot, Milan. After finishing my first Great War model, I'm pretty sure it will not be the last one.