My 1st build for 2025 will be Nieuport 16c S/No. A134 as flown by Albert Ball VC. Ball was allocated this A/C and consequently tuned it to his requirements by having it rigged to fly tail heavy and re-arranging the cockpit to his taste .
The kit has the Le Pieur rockets , which were for shooting down balloons and Zeppelins, sadly Ball missed them, but did find that when fired at enemy aircraft it tended to panic them and thus enabled him to down a target. It is recorded that 2nd Lt. A Walters while on a sortie with Ball actually hit a LVG with one of his rockets and so caused it to crash in flames. Maybe this was the 1st air to air missile strike?
The kit is fairly basic as far as detail goes and the fit of many parts could be better, will see how it goes. Kit contains 9 sprue sheets in a plastic bag with the decal set in a separate bag and a basic instruction sheet. Painting codes for minor parts are non existent other codes ok and there is no rigging diagram, so some research is required.
So begins a new project.
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
