Coronavirus Lockdown Stalled Build: SH 1/32 Nie.11-Jean Navarre No. 872

[rhallinger]

With the paper Parasol complete, it's time to get a shelf queen up onto her throne.  I have worked on this project off and on over the past year, more off than on.  Pretty far along though, but the ambiguous instructions and lack of clear attachment points for the struts, etc., have just prompted me to put it aside.  Now's the time to finish it!  (Thanks for the motivation Dave!)

Here is where things stand as I re-engage in this build:









The national markings are masked and painted.  I made the blue edging around the wings too small, so you can barely see it, but I just can't bear to do all of that masking again for another 1/64 of an inch!  It will stay that way.  Need to paint the fuselage and tail feathers red to match the Ronny Bar profile for 872.  I'll figure out the struts.

Take care everyone.

Best regards,

Bob

[Radarman]

Bob,
It's good to see a Nieuport 11 on the go. The colours you've used look great.

                                                                                 Kevin

[Borsos]

I am also very happy to see such a nice Nieuport being build. The camouflage colors look great! One little thing: For a very long time now the WNW 80HP Le Rhone sprue is not available any more. But meanwhile there’s another source: Maybe you can contact Edgar from Copper State Models and buy a Le Rhone 80HP rotary. The thing in the Special Hobby kit hasn’t much to do with the original.

[rhallinger]

Thanks Kevin and Borsos!  For the colors, I followed the Tamiya acrylic mix recommendation for French camo in the WNW Salmson instructions.  I am happy with the results.  I will do rib-shading with chalks later. 

Borsos, thanks for the tip on the LeRhone.  I'll contact Edgar. 

Best regards,

Bob

[rhallinger]

Oooops!  I'm getting my numbers mixed up.  This will be Navarre's No. 872, not 852.  Not sure where the wrong number came from!

Cheers,

Bob

[Monty]

Hi Bob!

It's really great to see you joining in and with a Nieuport too! The 11 is one of my favourite all time aircraft, and you have made a stunning job of it so far! I do like your neat blue outlining of the wings, not too thin for me, rather just right! I'm sure you will get the struts figured out, I'm pretty sure it will be a challenge on my 24 as well! A big welcome to the Group Build! Marc

[jeroen_R90S]

Looks very nice so far! I'll be watching closely, as I have the Nie.16.
Does anyone know if the resin engine is correct for that one, or does that come with a different engine?

[Borsos]

Looks very nice so far! I'll be watching closely, as I have the Nie.16.
Does anyone know if the resin engine is correct for that one, or does that come with a different engine?

It’s a 110HP le Rhone, it looks differently from the 89HP and the resin engine in the 16 kit is also another one which looks way better.
Andreas

[rhallinger]

Thanks everyone!  I have managed to get the fuselage painted red, and I've trimmed the struts and started painting them.  So far, so good.

I thought about the suggestion of a Nieuport engine sprue from Edgar at CSM, but then realized that even if he sold me a spare, it would probably take 2-4 weeks to get here with current shipping constraints.  I'm not that patient, and trying to watch my modeling budget, so I looked around for what was on hand.  I happened to have a donor kit of a HobbyCraft Nie.17, and the engine was still there and looked passable, so I got right to it without doing any research (after all, it was a Nieuport 17 engine, so how could I go astray, right?).  It was done in no time:



Looks okay, but the copper intake manifolds don't connect up, and something just didn't match photos of the actual aircraft, so I looked into it a little further.  Turns out that the Nie.17 engine is a Le Rhone 9j 110 hp, and what I need is a Le Rhone 9c, 80 hp.  There is an extreme visual difference, as those copper manifolds are on the front of the 9c and very visible, but on the back of the 9j I had just built and painted in my haste.  Grrrr!  

I studied my 9j a bit and, being a frugal and impatient so-and-so, decided that I could convert it to a 9c with a little surgery.  Nothing has been easy about this kit anyway!

I decided to cut off the manifolds and push rods from the back of the crankcase, and craft the new manifolds from Evergreen styrene rod, like so:





I need to fashion new rocker arms and push rods from strip styrene and then paint them to complete this.  We'll see how it turns out.  At least I'm saving time and money, and making it more challenging in keeping with the theme of this group build.  Honestly, I am rather enjoying tinkering with this engine to see if it will work.

Cheers,

Bob   

 
 

[smperry]

That is one fine bit of scale modeling Bob. St. Harry would thoroughly approve.
sp

[rhallinger]

Thanks sp.  Got the engine pretty much completed this morning.  The details are not exact, but I am satisfied with the result and will move on to further areas.  Here is the progression:







I've also made some decals for the rudder markings on the copier at work (shhh!) and painted and stained the main wing struts, so at least I am moving the ball forward on this one.  Hopefully I can maintain the mojo and see it across the finish line this time.  Thanks for your encouragement!

Cheers,

Bob

[RLWP]

Clever stuff, Bob

Richard

[smperry]

Bob
I really like the little flanges you put under the intake pipes. I also like the valve rockers. They take the whole thing up a notch. Were those rocker arms pinned with plastic rod or sprue? Both rockers and flanges appear amazingly uniform. A few words about how you accomplished that would be of great interest.
sp

[rhallinger]

Thanks guys.  Sp, all of the bits are styrene rod, strip or angle stock from Everygreen, much of it in extremely thin sizes.  The flange bases for the manifolds are thin flat strip, maybe .30 x .10.  After I glued them in place I tried applying a little liquid cement to soften the ends so they would curl down to match the curve of the crankcase.  Didn't work as I had hoped, but still ok.  The crimp in the bottom part of the copper manifolds (apparent in prototype photos) was made before painting with a pair of flat needle-nose beading pliers.  Works well with soft styrene.  The rockers were hand cut from some narrow thin strip, and they are actually far from uniform if you could see them up close!    Paint, weathering and attached parts must contribute to that uniform appearance!  For the visible rockers below the cowl, I drilled out the wide end of the rocker and the support, and attached those parts with .015 plastic rod.  Too lazy to do that for under the cowl, where I just glued the rockers to the supports.

I enjoy the noddle work involved in trying to figure out what materials will work to achieve a certain appearance.  Always nice when you have the correct materials on hand too, particularly if you are an impatient cuss like me.

Thanks for looking in.  More to come, as I have now discovered that the Alkan syncrhonized Lewis gun mounted on the deck forward of the cockpit will require some minor surgery on the fuselage deck.  More fun!

Cheers,

Bob       

[smperry]

Thanks for the details Bob. Just great work. Spares box parts and stock rod and card looks better than most kit engines.
sp