Nieuport 17bis conversion 1/72

[DaddyO]

What a lovely little conversion. The weatheringon the underside is truly impressive - very realistic and not overdone. The rigging and turnbuckles are also very good - Epeeman also uses the paint method and they really look the part.

Stephen.

Thanks Stephen - glad you like it 
Weathering is all in my usual artists oil paints and I tried to build it up gradually. One thing I have found is that a lot of acrylic varnishes aren't quite durable enough if you use oil paint with thinners (turps) after a bit of work it tends to lift the varnish coats so for my last couple of builds I've mixed an oil colour close to the base paint and use this a starting point to get a thin layer on the surface and then I can use dots or streaks of colour to give a variation in tone. Bit of a work in progress as a technique, but its pretty easy to go slowly towards the effect you're after

Paul

[torbiorn]

Cheers Torbiorn.

I think the bases make such a difference when these little uns are displayed so always make something suitable. There's a photo in the datafile showing a line up of No6's Nieuports with a duck board in the foreground which thought would make a nice change from the usual scrubby grass field. There's a bunch of different materials used to get the mud/grass effect, but nothing unusual; pollyfilla shaped roughly which is painted and then the ground built up with ground up garden soil and compost mixed with pastel chalks and PVA. Extra layers of watered down gloss varnish and chalks to get the final effect before adding a mixture of very fine dyed sawdust in a mix of different colours.
The rigging is 1lb monofilament with turnbuckles added with paint (acrylic) as a last job.

Hope that helps

Thanks ,it does - I?m toying with the idea of setting up a production line for finished models. Do you buy the wooden part of the bases or make them yourself from e.g. mouldings?

[DaddyO]

Hi Torbion

I've made them myself (cut from oak planks with a routered edge), bought them from eBay unvarnished and still needing to be finished (search for model display bases) or from Oakwood Studios who makes bespoke bases at a very reasonable price. The owner, Richard, is always very helpful will make exactly what you need if one of his standard bases isn't quite the correct size and they arrive very quickly beautifully finished. They are also work out very good value compared to the cheaper eBay items

Cheers
Paul

[macsporran]

Oh that's a wee cracker!
Can't ever have too many Nies - and this one's a bobby-dazzler!
Sandy

[DaveB]

 Nearly missed this one, Paul -

I'm glad I found it because you have created a real gem there - looks fantastic.

Regards

Dave

[DaddyO]

Oh that's a wee cracker!
Can't ever have too many Nies - and this one's a bobby-dazzler!
Sandy

Hiya Sandy and thank you 
(Bobby Dazzler's a phrase I haven't heard in years) 

Nearly missed this one, Paul -

I'm glad I found it because you have created a real gem there - looks fantastic.

Regards

Dave

Thanks Dave 
I was surprised that it wasn't already available when I started the work since there are a few nice RNAS schemes for them
(I've since found that Choroszy might make one?)

[P.P.]

It looks great !

[RAGIII]

Beautiful little conversion Paul! I would like to do this in 1/32nd someday. Just out of curiosity, Is the 17 Bis a Clerget powered bird?
RAGIII

[DaddyO]

It looks great !

Cheers P.P.

Beautiful little conversion Paul! I would like to do this in 1/32nd someday. Just out of curiosity, Is the 17 Bis a Clerget powered bird?
RAGIII

Thanks RAGIII - Yep it used a Clerget engine in a characteristic 'short' cowl. Would look nice as a 32nd model and there were a few of these Naval ones with variations of red stripes; some with and some without the upper wing Lewis.