Yet Another Academy Nieuport 17

[ebergerud]

Good Day to All
guyen2 by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

This is my humble build of the venerable 1/32 MiniCraft/Academy Nieuport 17. When I built my first biplane a few years back (the 1/32 Academy Camel) I looked the much less populated internet as it existed in c. 2011 for WWI modeling sites, and up comes worldwarIaircraftmodels.com. I didn't know the site but Des had already made a knock-out place for a visit which many of the big tutorials that grace the homepage already present. I sent Des a query about something. He was kindness itself and gave me some tips that helped me through the Camel pretty well. He also told me I had a good kit and should pick up the Academy Nieuport while I was at it. And so I did. And three other 1/32 scale bipes. It's about time to build another biplane and the Nieuport is a neat plane and a straight forward model, so I'm giving it a proper shot.

I think the Camel and Nieuport are still sold by Italeri, but in any case have been around for some time. They are a very simple build. There is essentially no interior to speak of and the part count is probably shy of 50. That said, it strikes me that the model is well shaped. The instructions are very spare which means there is a lot of fitting done with the eyeball. (For rigging etc I downloaded the Eduard 1/48 Nieuport 17 which is a real help.) In any case I doubt there's anything I've done so far that would interest anyone. Here's the kit and my photo detail will be filled by a little pic of the engine.
kit by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr
engine by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

One quirk of the Minicraft/Academy kits is that they come with rigging thread and holes drilled in the fuselage. That means unless you're going to close the holes you've got to put some rigging line in very early. As the rigging from the fuselage to the tail was attached on real aircraft on the inside, having the rigging line coming out the rear is a pretty good idea. I did dump the sewing thread in favor of 2lb PLine monofilament which I do believe is proper scale (great fishing line too if trout show up in San Francisco Bay). I haven't quite decided how to approach rigging so we'll leave that aside for now.

I do like the challenge of weathering military models and judging from the megaton of weathering products streaming out of companies like MIG, AK etc I'm not alone. A fabric covered, rotary engine powered fighter in intense frontline service offers a very interesting subject and I want to try some things I have been using on other subjects. Failure is a real possibility, but it should be fun and the stakes aren't really very high. Some of these approaches may be of interest to others.

I have decided to construct Guynemer's Nieuport as it appeared in fall 1916. It has an interesting camo scheme. The top of both wings is a irregular pattern of light chocolate brown and a light green. The bottom of the wings and the fuselage will be various shades of natural metal colors. It will be an interesting scale - and has the bonus of eliminating major decals on the top of the wing. The pic above clearly show the camo pattern wings - and also show that the more than one metal finish will be needed for the fuselage.

I will be applying the base color for the model using a technique growing very popular among WWII and jet aircraft builders called "black basing." The idea of black basing is to create a base coat that shows tonal shifts and irregular saturation. The idea here is that any service aircraft (or ship or tank for that matter) will show an irregular surface because of fading, wear, exposure to the elements, fluids, dust, mud etc. Obviously the degree of distress would vary greatly depending upon the age and condition of subject. But even a relatively new aircraft or vehicle in service conditions would be developing a "patina" of fluids and dirt. (The eye also imparts a good dose of tonal variation on any object.) A lot of this is subjective - and that's fun.

The nuts and bolts of black basing are simple, but it takes some practice. First you want to prime the model in black - this is essential. In my case it gives me an excuse to use an automotive product Duplicolor "Hot Rod Black" (#1698). I got this tip from veteran modeler Paul Budzik who hosts the astounding "Scale Model Workshop" on YouTube. Duplicolor makes dozens of colors but only this type is "sandable", "fillable" and a true lacquer. (I apply it from the can which works very well - it would require a booth if decanted and applied with an airbrush.) The Duplicolor lacquer is true to the breed but not so hot as to damage plastic at all. This means it melds with the styrene's surface, leaving detail clear as a bell. It also sands better than any enamel or acrylic primer. But for we mortals the "sandable" and "fillable" properties are a real bonus. Because it melds with the plastic, it will eliminate scratches and "ghost seams" better than any product I know of. The fuselage of the Nieuport fit nicely and I was able to treat the small seams with Tamiya's great "Light Curing" putty very nicely. After priming the kit is genuinely free of seam. The texture of the primer is very slightly grainy to allow auto painters to use fine sanding products to get an extremely smooth surface. If I was doing a very gloss natural metal finish I would have sanded the primer likewise - but I don't want super gloss. Anyway, it's a good place to start.
primed by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

As we shall see, the technique is different to natural metal finish, but standard black basing is perfect for the brown/green camo scheme on the wings. In this case I put 1/32" chart tape over the ribs on the wings after priming. Then I did a quick mask for the green. After the mask was in place I gave the surface a "mottle coat." The idea here is to cover it with two or three light shades of the base coat done well thinned and done very "small." It looks like a bunch of squiggles. Here's a mottle coat for both green (top) and brown (bottom).
grmottle by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr
mottle2 by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

After the "mottle" comes the "blending" coat. The blending coat is a thinned rendition of what you want for your base color. It must be applied well thinned and at low PSI - you do not want to eliminate the impact the mottle coat had. (When black basing I always stop before I think I should - as the paint dries, it darkens and I'd rather have more tonal variation than less. If one isn't careful you will cover the mottle coat completely and make it pointless - the same thing can be easily done with preshading.) Because I have the tape over the ribbing I did a quick intermediate step: when the base was about half down I removed the tape. Below is this intermediate step when starting the green blend:
intermediate by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

Finally we get the green/brown base coat applied. The uneven effect given is easily seen on the green patches.
base by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

The paints used here are Gold High Flow Acrylics. High Flow is made for the art crowd but I think it's the best water based acrylic paint out there. In my house space is confined and I can't have a spray booth. That pretty much means no acrylic/lacquer paints (like Gunze, MPR, Tamiya) much less enamel weathering stuff. (The primer is applied outside - it lays down fast.) High Flow doesn't have military colors but among the 35 or so colors available are the basic "mixing" colors like "plathalo blue." With a little patience you can make a 
 Actually I'm pretty happy now. Black basing always looks a mess at the start - it's really a kind of way to start weathering during the basic build. Still to come are oils, filters, washes and probably some pigments. The green has a little too much yellow in it I think - there will be lots of ways to fix that.

Of course the next step is getting the natural metal colors down - I'll be using three Vallejo Metal Color types for that. (Metal Colors are the only really good metallic water based acrylic paints. Lacquer brands like Alclad are a little better, but I just can't use them.) There's a little black basing there too - but it's different.

And after that, I suppose I'll finish building the plane. And rigging it.
Best
Eric Bergerud
Berkeley CA/St. Paul MN

[RAGIII]

You are really making that old kit shine! The black basing and pre shading looks like a lot of work but your results show it is worthwhile!
RAGIII

[Alexis]

This is shaping up nice so far , looking forward to the next stage 


Terri

[smperry]

Eric:
Thanks for the demonstration of black basing. I hadn't heard of it before, but I like the effect. I can see it working well on some Albatri with green and mauve wings.
sp

[ebergerud]

guyen2 by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr
The humble Academy Nieuport is moving along. Most of the base coat is down. The black basing is going to help add to some interesting weathering on the camo portion of wings. As both the instructions from Academy and Eduard call for a fringe of natural metal around the camo on the wings I assume this reflected constructions technique. It took a lot of masking, but here's where we are.
base2 by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

It also looks like I'm going to have to live with a major inaccuracy of the kit. I'm not really sure where the Guynemer plane chosen fits into the "late/early" continueum. The photo shows it carriers a forward firing MG and no weapon on top. As I understand it, the earliest Nieuport 17s carried a wing mounted mg but were not yet confident enough in the interrupter gear to mount a forward firing weapon. A gun on the top looks neat, but losing that is no problem. It does appear that the plane should have a clear section in the top of the wing as modeled in the CopperState "Early" kits. There's no question of doing surgery of that scale on the one piece wing found in this old kit (new tool 1994) - at least not by me. I could rig up some kind of frame if I knew what effect I was aiming at - obviously, "see through" isn't possible without a gaping hole in the wing. I may just leave it alone. I suppose I should have done a "late" version - that solves the center top wing problem, but would have eliminated the camo altogether. At this stage, I'm not stripping paint and starting over. Also, early camoflauged Nieuport 17s had their lower wings painted light blue. But my plane clearly has camo only on the wings, and sports an NMF fuselage: so the under side of the wings will do the same. I'm not going to let "very good" get in the way of "okay." The real purpose of this kit is to get myself thinking biplanes again and if some history aviation history gets filtered, so be it.

Fortunately rest of the plane appears adequate. As the fuselage of the Guynemer plane is clearly painted some kind of natural metal finish. I used the very good water based Vallejo Metal Color paints for all NMF surfaces. On the photos it's very clear that there are three shades of NMF on the body. From the tail to the cockpit the color is dull. From cockpit to cowl, brighter. The cowl is metal and is true NMF. Vallejo sells "silver" colors for fabric. I used "Dull Aluminum" on the tail. I think this is simply the Vallejo Aluminum cut with some matte gray: I mixed in a tad of matte varnish. The result is muted but definitely metallic. I used "Semi-Matte Aluminum cut with some satin varnish for the cockpit - it's brighter, but doesn't look metal. The cowl is Silver and turned out very well. I don't doubt brands like Alclad or K Colors make a better metallic paint, but as noted earlier, my modeling is done without solvent based products, so these fine Vallejo metallics have opened up a big door for aircraft modeling at my house. (The tail decal is on because I wanted to know if the kit's decal would do that job - if not, there would have been trouble. It's okay.)
base1 by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr 

Next comes decals and then weathering. I'd rather weather at the end, but when the rigging gets underway I don't want to handle the model any more than needed.
Eric
 

[RAGIII]

Continuing to look Fantastic!
RAGIII

[Alexis]

Continuing to look Fantastic!
RAGIII

Second this 


Terri

[kensar]

I like the different silver colors on the metal parts and doped fabric parts.
Your painting technique gives a realistic hand painted appearance.

[ebergerud]

The humble Academy Nieuport 17 moves toward a landing - I hope it doesn't crash.

I've got the weathering more or less done. I'm not really sure how to approach this on a WWI plane. If you dig around you can get a pretty good idea of how a WWII plane was weathered but the photo evidence is much greater. Of course you're also dealing with fabric and dope. And naturally one size would not fit all - by late 1916 aircraft were in use by the thousands and new planes entered service every few days I'd guess. And I doubt many WWI aircraft stayed in service over a year - something surprisingly common in WWII.

So I make a few assumptions to guide things along. Air bases were crude affairs and there's lots of rain in Europe. So, depending upon conditions, there'd be mud or dust - probably snow sometimes - and this debris would have been kicked up by the aircraft itself and all of the other planes using the strip. Airmen and aircrew would have been climbing around the plane and servicing it more or less daily - that would have meant fluids, scuff marks, fuel stains etc. Above all there was the engine. As I understand it, a WWI rotary went through a gallon of castor oil per hour of flight - so figure at least a couple of gallons per sortie. And the rotary is going to be throwing this stuff all over, especially underneath. (Years back a guy I knew raced hydroplanes and their high performance fuel had castor oil in it - the smell is utterly nauseating. But my friends motor was behind him - so it was the fans that got it more than the driver. I'm not sure how I'd grade working conditions in a WWI cockpit.)

So I'm thinking that a plane with a few weeks heavy service (I do believe the Storks were quite busy in 1916) would have developed a kind of patina due to exposure to the elements, a lot of dirt, dust and mud, and all of it mixed together with a good dose of oil, fuel stains and exhaust. I'd guess that an inline engine aircraft wouldn't have been much better off. Any engine designed circa 1916 would have run with what would be in our terms miserable efficiency (great for the time of course) and they would have been running hard. Lots of exhaust and fluids. But maybe no castor oil. Anyway, in my mind's eye you have a very soiled aircraft especially underneath or just behind the engine. This would have made surface uneven in tonal quality and well stained. I think this is easily enough seen on photos of WWI aircraft with a linen surface. I'd also guess that many planes had repairs done to their fabric and partial repaints done, but I'm not sure how to replicate that. On the other hand, while I think aircraft would have been well soiled I'm not sure you'd see a lot of really extreme weathering. Hope I'm close to the right balance.

I gave the base coat a Vallejo Metal Color varnish seal - it's rather satin but more subtle than a standard clear coat. I used oil washes for shadow and stains. I did some fading with oils on the camo wings. On the fuselage I applied a light coat of Iwata Com.Art "transparent smoke". Com.Art is widely used by airbrush artists that work on paper and canvas. I find the many transparent colors more useful than the opaque - normally I apply by hand but they airbrush incredibly well. I also kind of dabble on splotches - it makes a very nice stain. You'd have to see it in person - the texture is actually very grimy - just what you want for grime. I also used Com.Art "old oil" with an airbrush underneath the plane. Luckily there are some very films of rotary powered planes on YouTube and a kind of brownish-green stain appears almost immediately when the plane is in flight. There would have been a lot of it under a well used plane. I also used some pigments to show dust/dirt underneath and along the sides.
w-fuselage by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr
w-wingdet by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr
w-bottom2 by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

Next up is final assembly and (gulp) rigging.
Eric

[RAGIII]

Your Nieuport looks suitably oily and dirty to Me! Nicely done!
RAGIII

[ebergerud]

I think the Academy Nieuport 17 is done. It wasn't what I'd call a good kit and had some ugly errors. But the basic fit was decent and it came out ok. This forum reminds me of Model Warship where the bar is very high, and this effort is far from the bar. But it's my second biplane and it was fun. I'll post a few pics on the completed builds section and hope for some pointers from wiser heads. Below are the basics.
Eric
right - Copy by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr
lft-ft - Copy - Copy by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr
rt-r - Copy - Copy by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr
Top - Copy - Copy by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

[RichieW]

I'd be very pleased with that Eric, I think it looks great. The rigging looks great and the weathering is very realistic. Crash landing skillfully avoided!

Yes, I find the bar scarily high too but it makes me want to improve on my rather more modest efforts. I didn't know it was possible to make models to the standard often seen on this forum. Inspiring to say the least.

Richie

[Alexis]

She turned out really nice , like the weathering on the underside . Very convincing , well done !


Terri

[RAGIII]

Outstanding results from that Old Kit! Like the others I am impressed with the weathering in particular! Well Done all around!
RAGIII

[kensar]

This result looks very good, Eric.  Especially for a second effort.  Overall it has the right look.