G'day.
I started this kit when my club, ACT Scale Modelling Society, had a build table set up at the Canberra show, last February. I'd be tinkering with it while working on my now-defunct WNW J.1. After that went Tango Uniform, I decided to work on the Nie.28 in preference to having an expensive bonfire!
So far this build's been everything the J.1 wasn't. The parts fit is not as good as the J.1 and the detail is nowhere near as good, either, but this kit hasn't been fighting me every step of the way. Currently the cockpit is assembled, minus the seat which is still drying. The fuselage has been put together and the lower wing and elevator assembly has been attached. Mush fitting, filling and sanding was involved,m but it's coming together. I've also finished off the basic engine, including replacing the single spark plugs with Taurus twins on the three cylinders that are visible through the cowl slots. I'm still tossing up whether to weather the engine (and airframe, once completed) or do the kit as pristine.
Here's where I was at after the day at the show. The fuselage halves joined and the engine assembled and base painted. The seat has been carved up, ready for my attempt to replicate the "Peach basket" style of construction.
It didn't turn out too badly in the end. I used 1mm X 0.25mm Evergreen strip for the basket slats, once I'd sanded the chair down to about half its thickness. I've now painted the seat and I'm waiting for the oils to dry. The slats look a little bit too brown, so I may touch them up with a mix of Naples Yellow and Chrome Yellow, if they done lighten when they've dried.
The Roden Vickers guns are pretty bland, with soft detail. I decided to use the spare Vickers from my WNW Tripe for this build. Apparently a lot of the USAAS Nie.28's only had one gun mounted, preferring better performance over extra firepower. If anyone knows whether Rickenbacker or Huffer used one gun rather than two on his N.28, please let me know, as it's one of those schemes that I want to do (I like the contrast of the white cowls with the cam'd airframe).
Roden doesn't give you the nice, positive locating pins that WNW does. Once I'd got the cockpit pieces painted and the initial rigging done, I looked at a way to make the structure more robust. A few tips from Dave (Epeeman) and reading different reviews convinced me that pinning the structure was the way to go. So I drilled out the ends of the formers and glued in some 0.25mm wire. These would serve as pins for the 0.3mm holes I drilled in the floor frame and rear frame.
These two shots show the cockpit assembled and awaiting touch-up painting. After tracking down some photo's of an Nie.28 being refurbished, I felt comfortable about how the cockpit was rigged. I added the last of my BvB eyelets and used invisible thread for the wire and MFH microtube (0.4mm OD, 0.2mm ID) to simulate turnbuckles/swaging clips. This time I used the Clear Brown rather than the (opaque) Cream. The brown seems to have slightly thinner walls and is more flexible, but grabs the thread very well, making it very easy to get the tension right. There's a few loose bits of thread that you can see. The rudder cables will pass through holes drilled into the sea, then get glued to the rear bulkhead. The front tension wires will get glued to the fuselage interior, once I fit the cockpit.
I also replaced the fuel bubble (what
is the correct terminology?). A couple of attempts to paint the kit part, so it looked like a glass bowl, hadn't worked. So I stretched some clear sprue over a candle, until it was the thickness I wanted, and carved the moulded bubble off the kit. I sanded one end of the sprue, to round it off, and drilled a hole, which extended about 1/4 of the way into the clear sprue, at the other. I then used a very fine brush to smear a mix of clear yellow and clear red paint in the hole, before gluing the new bubble in place. While not perfect, it's a lot better than the silver or polished aluminium I'd been experimenting with. I'll use the same technique on my tripe- I've already carved the kit bubble off the instrument panel and put some clear sprue in the box.
Once I've finished sanding the joins on the fuselage assembly, it will be time to get some pain on the airframe and top wing. I'll do the painting before I add the cockpit, engine and cowl, as it will be easier to mask. Then it's drill holes for the rigging and the pins I'll add for the struts and undercarriage.
Cheers.
Dal.
