1:32 Amodel Nieuport 16c

[Dutch522]

Always an exciting moment in any build when you can finally envisage the different bits becoming an aeroplane (masking tape and all):



Dave V.

[RichieW]

As if by magic (well Tamiya tape which is pretty magical) a fuselage has appeared. That is indeed exciting!

Richie

[AngryJazz]

Always exciting to see the fuselage take shape 

[Dutch522]

Thanks Richie and Ben, been making progress over the past week but a lot of it has been experimental stuff, playing with different techniques and materials. I think, though, after at least a dozen attempts, I've finally produced a Levasseur prop that I'm satisfied with. These were the first ones:



... and this is the latest, with a coat of clear drying oil wiped on and the Proper Plane hub plate test-fitted:



There's still some finish work to do on it, particularly around the hub, but all in all I'm pretty happy with it. I love the grain, it's a piece of quarter-sawn cherry... too bad it'll nearly all be hidden by the final Levasseur red-brown shellac finish!

Dave V.

[pepperman42]

That and the seat both look great! Practice makes perfect.

Steve

[RAGIII]

Both the seat and prop look excellent ! Your persistence is paying dividends!
RAGIII

[RichieW]

That was time very well spent Dave, the seat and prop are superb.

Richie

[AngryJazz]

Think you are cheating and using magic somehow!

Really well done props!

[Dutch522]

Richie, Steve, Rick, and Ben, thanks much. When I set out to do this build log my goal was to produce a model that was about 1/3 as good as most of your guy's work, so the comments and support are greatly appreciated.

Forging ahead with the interior, trying to strike a balance between satisfying my urge to do every little thing to the best of my ability against the realization that most of it won't be seen once the fuselage is closed up. But I remember reading in Stephen Fry's autobiography that when still at Cambridge he had a bit part in "Chariots of Fire", and he wrote about the production crew's attention to detail...  they'd complete the backs of sets and supplied props that were most likely never going to be seen just in case the director changed his mind and went with a different camera angle (you can actually see him, briefly, in the scene at the University bazaar).

Thanks again!

Dave V.

[kensar]

Kudos on the seat and prop!

[pepperman42]

The "But I know it's there" is always valid.

Steve

[KiwiZac]

The "But I know it's there" is always valid.

I scratchbuilt a battery for a 1/72 biplane so you'll never catch me criticising someone doing stuff like this!!

[Dutch522]

Thanks, Ken & Steve! And Zac, I'm with you 100%, I spent at least four hours scratching an elevator-cable pulley for the back of the box the seat is mounted on, knowing full well that you wouldn't be able to see it. And the rear bays of the fuselage are semi-detailed as well, but it's been a while since I've done any rigging and I'm just doing that for a warm-up.

I'm well into l'intérieur at this point. Mine is probably going to differ in some respects from other builds I've seen, since I'm basing it on the only three photos I've been able to find of indisputably French Bébé's (two are of the sole surviving N.11, currently hanging from the rafters at Le Bourget). Rather than the diagonally-laid mahogany laminations in the N.17, it has cockpit sides constructed from single panels of mahogany ply with the grain running fore & aft.

About 1999 my late brother was throwing away a Griffin's Robusto cigar tube, and, knowing my predilection for materials that might be useful for scratchbuilding, pulled out the cedar wrapping and said "Here, I guess you might be able to use this..." So I added it to my wood stash, and, twenty years later, realized it was the perfect color for those ply panels:



Thanks, bro'.

Dave V.

[kensar]

Well, you never know where modeling materials may come from.
Looks very good.

[RAGIII]

Excellent interior work Dave. That wood from the Cigar tube really looks terrific. The grain is good, not too pronounced for the scale!
RAGIII