Hello everyone,
I didn't realise that people would have liked to see some of the pictures of our mini group build's
construction of the Nieuport 11, so working backwards, here is a little build log of the Special hobby kit.
My good friend Patrick will be able to fill in the blanks of his great little blue Bébé a little later.
So to start at the beginning...
The seat was drilled out with 0.6 and 0.7mm bits and the edging of the seatback is lead wire.
Painting the resin parts...the fuel tank was sprayed with brass then a coat of hairspray and finally aluminum,
chipping after dried to show the brass underneath...
Into the cockpit...the floor is done with acrylic tube paints and dry-brushed with black for a "dirty" look. The
controls are painted with Vallejo blue-grey.
the loose control wires have been tightened since.
Here's the fuel tank with spare ammunition drum, and fuel gauge that I put together...
it is a tube of clear stretched sprue and a couple of pieces of copper wire. Not the greatest, but ok.
Next to work on the cockpit walls, the frame and rigging...1/48 gaspatch turnbuckles and 0.12mm monofiliment
line with 0.5mm brass ferrules.
On to the instruments...various styrene disks from a punch set with airscale instrument decals and HGW bezels...
the ring is fashioned from brass tube to hold the compass. The Pulseometer is home made, and a little oversize,
but looks like it belongs there. Sure glad to see the Taurus ones coming out!
Time to close up the fuselage...the Brass rod you see is 0.7mm brass wire that is epoxy glued into place to provide
a secure hold for the lower wings, which are a bit on the weak side without some help. They will be trimmed later.
Sorry time to take the dog out...
While all the building was going on I got the engine pretty much ready...this close-up buisness can be downright ugly!
Here's one of the major secrets with this kit...pin everything! You will thank yourself later, believe me. Ask me how I
know.
The rest of the build is pretty straight-forward, so leaping ahead...The Painting, which was quite an excercise in
patience. I am still trying to get shading right, and it took about 3 tries, (spraying, not liking and stripping) to get
it to where I was fed up enought to admit I wasn't going to get perfection, this time.
I also had a time with
paint lifting when removing the masking tape. Since then I put a clear coat over each layer and no more troubles.
The green edging was Tamiya IJN green...
Time for decals...the decals provided with the kit I found quite good and have no complaints at all.
About the control horns on the tail. I thought the kit ones were a bit clunky looking so I used some from an
Eduard set that I had lying around.
The engine and cowling on. Watch the engine as it has to be reduced in thickness to fit inside the cowling.
Both Patrick and myself sanded the rear area of the engine around the propeller shaft to get them to fit.
I also tried out Bertl's amazing technique for showing some age and use of the aluminum. Not great, but
for a beginner, I will take it.
Here's the link to his great tutorial...
http://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=3864.0
Top wing with the struts in place.
I sanded down the aileron bell cranks as they were a little too thick and not likeing the connecting rods that
attach to them, I replaced with 0.5mm brass tube which extends into holes drilled in the fuselage top deck.
...So far so good. Gaspatch 1/32 turnbuckles attached with rigging wire supplied from my partner-in-crime,
Patrick.
I replaced the tail skid end with 0.4mm wire, but I think I should have used 0.5mm as the 04 is a little too
easily bent when the tail is resting on it.
The "aluminum" plate is Evergreen 0.25mm styrene sheet, but in hindsight I should have used the thinner 0.13mm.
the "screw holes" were done with a ponce wheel from MicroMark in the USA.
Finally!
, the top wing on and in the midst of the rigging...
Here's a look at that terrific Gaspatch Lewis gun. Work of art, Costas!
This is the home-made gun mount cradle. This is a good news/bad news thing. This is the original I did. The main
part is 0.6mm brass tube and the thin part is 0.3mm brass tube that were annealed to allow the bending. I wasn't
happy with it so I did another that shows in the completed pictures...much happier with take 2.
Well, there you have it...nuttin to it!
The Completed pictures are over in the Completed section. I'm sorry
for being so long winded...next time will be more reasonable.
Any questions or hints and tips more than
welcome! Thanks for looking, and stand by for my good friend Patrick's log to come in a little while! It's even
better!
Cheers,
Ernie
