Hallo friends, my last project was not about ww1 therefore I started feeling homesick and I needed to take on a new project.
A tribute to the top Italian ace capt. Francesco Baracca was a project I had in mind since long time!
I wouldn't make the nth Spad XIII as seen so many times, so I chose the Nieuport 17.
He flew a Ni17 while serving in 70th Squadriglia, before joining the 91th where he scored 24 victories over his 34.
Most of the victories he scored in the 70th Squadriglia were on Ni 11 Bebè but the squadron was equipped in late 1916 / early 1917 with the 17s.
Here we clearly see the rampant horse peeping from behind the Skull and bones (Fulco Ruffo di Calabria) plane.
Here is Baracca portrayed in front of his Nieuport.
As reported in the fundamental book by Gentilli-Iozzi-Varriale, Gli Assi dell'aviazione italiana nella Grande Guerra (Ufficio storico AMI), (The Aces of the Italian Airforce in WW1 - published by the Italian Air Force historical office) the two victories credited to Francesco Baracca on his Ni 17 / 2614 date January 01 and February 11, 1917.
Here is the kit:
I bought this kit long time ago in a modeling shop, it's my first 1/32 kit.
Here is my analysis of the material I have:
Instructions and decals, the decals are almost useless, I say almost because the Nieuports arrived to the Italian squadrons directly from France, and they were painted in aluminium dope with the French roundels. Nearly always the roundels were overpainted with Italian ones but in this case they probably were overpainted with aluminium paint.
As you see in the above picture with the line up of three planes, there is no roundel on the upper wing.
Therefore I was thinking to use the French decals and spray aluminium over them so that they can perceived a bit through the coat of paint...
I am only worried about the thickness of the decal sheet being visible over such an even surface.
What do you think?
About the sprues: these are the wings, the shape seem s correct enough (to be sure I was searching for 1/32 plans but was not able to find them).
The ribs are simulated with a thin "positive" stripe, they don't either look as a rib tape or shape the wing canvas,
Any suggestion for improvements?
I think I should sand them off... but how to replace them?
The engine is good enough although I don't agree with their choice to split the cylinder in halves, some plastic flashes but nothing difficult to manage.
Just in case do you have any indication about aftermarket 1/32 Le Rhône 9J 110hp engine?
The Vickers mg is not acceptable, I was thinking to buy the Gaspatch one.
In this Macchi built / Nieuport 17 the Vickers is clearly seen.
These are the fuselage halves, good looking on the outside clean and crisp detail...
... but on the inside they cast those horrible strut traces and fake rigging... WHY?
And what about the injection marks???
Everything should come off completely.
When I bought the kit I also bought the Mastercaster improvement kit, but as far as the cockpit walls are concerned also here they casted the rigging in the piece.
Apart from the cockpit sides and floor the set has a lot of great pieces that we'll see during the work here are the wheels
the wheels were shaped flattened to simulate the weight, but I don't like this so I will sand the tyres and try to make them even...
...and the cowling
The other sprue (front and back):
The documentation I have so far:
The profile, very easy...
At the moment I am working on a vector drawing of the horse.
The stencils on the rudder will be homemade as well:
Here is another image of Baracca's Ni17 after a mission, you can see the roundels are missing. No trace of the underlying French markings seem to peep out...
OK, that's all for now, I look forward to getting any advice, warning and suggestion for improvement of the kit.
Thanks for your attention!
Antonio
