Hi Roberto, thanks for checking in! You do certainly provide some food for thought, and a few of the issues you mention I have considered, tried to research and simply guessed at already... Those floor boards, or heel plates you refer to are depicted as wood in most models I have seen on line, also in most kit instructions and in most reproduction aircraft... not that this means much! The only surviving Nieuport a 23, (Belgian and obviously rebuilt) has... wooden, straight boards as far as I can tell.. The 7000+ Nieuports were built by 5 manufacturers at least, so no-one can really tell today what was used for sure... Wood looks pretty to me! There is something, somewhere about the falcon insignia that claims on light coloured aircraft the background oval was blue and the falcon yellow but I can't find it now. The only photograph of this aircraft shows a white background (Almost for sure) and I don't think a yellow or gold falcon would provide much contrast, I think black is not a bad call on a dark background.. I'm happy to accept the kit decals. I agonized a long time over the camouflage, and looked at many prints of this photo - eventually I persuaded myself that there were camouflage demarcation lines (feint) on fuselage and tail - I will go for 5 colour. Why the silver wheel covers and metal panels around the nose? And then it hit me - these are actually personal markings, these are all panels easily replaced and paint removed or doped silver, and the aircraft would look very different in the air with a basically silver nose... does this make any sense? I'm also happy with silver undersides, although this may not be the most common option.. Anyway, I do like discussing the options, research is never finished and I do enjoy hearing other opinions!
Regards,
Marc