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Thread: A trio of Nieuport 11s

  1. #1

    Default A trio of Nieuport 11s

    I've just finished building 3 Nieuport 11s from SRAM, Skytrex and Reviresco, and it was interesting to do a comparison between the 3 kits as I went along. So here for your edification and enjoyment (and in good Kytey Styley) is how it went:

    Tools and materials
    Styrene strip and rod
    Piano wire
    Wire cutters
    Mini-pliers (to bend piano wire for ‘V’ struts)
    Zap-a-gap glue (really becoming a fan of this stuff)
    Tweezers
    Scalpel
    Box of Band-Aids (obligatory when I am wielding a scalpel)
    Files
    Mini-drills various sizes
    Medium and fine wet ‘n’ dry paper
    Mr Kit and Vallejo paints
    Decals from Dom’s decals, two from the SRAM kit and home-made serials

    Sources
    Osprey ’Nieuport Aces’ and ‘SPA124 Lafayette Escadrille’ books
    ‘Nieuports in RNAS, RFC and RAF service’ book from Cross and Cockade (if you like Nieuports, sell your Granny to get this book if you have to)

    General
    SRAM kit in resin, Skytrex & Reviresco in white metal
    Lengthwise – SRAM & Skytrex roughly the same, Reviresco about 4 mm longer
    Spanwise – Top wing – all within 1mm of each other. Bottom wing - Skytrex & Reviresco roughly the same, SRAM 2-3mm shorter

    Initial thoughts
    SRAM - Nice, delicate kit, good representation of original. Not going to last long on the wargame table.
    Skytrex - Looks like a Nieuport but a chunkier model, hasn’t got the finesse of the SRAM kit. Fuselage slightly wider than other two kits. Not a good representation of the cowling, no detail for top half of engine cylinders which should be visible.

    Reviresco - Doesn’t quite look ‘right’, but one of those kits that you can’t quite put your finger on why it doesn’t. Possibly due to its extra length?

    Construction
    SRAM - Because of the fragile nature of resin, replaced all struts with styrene and undercarriage with piano wire. I found a white metal prop for it, as the resin one was too fragile.
    Fabricated two Lewis guns for top wing.

    Skytrex - Gap between fuselage and top wing too big, replaced struts with styrene because the white metal struts were commendably thin but bendy. This aided reducing the fuselage/top wing gap. Also had to re-drill holes in top wing as Skytrex had their strut holes through the ailerons! The inverted ‘V’ strut in front of the cockpit supporting the top wing had to be fabricated from piano wire because Skytrex has modelled this as two vertical struts instead of the ‘V’. The prop blades were filed to a thinner profile and shortened, more in keeping with the Nieuport prop.

    Reviresco - My one had miscast wings that needed parts of the leading edges filling with Milliput and sanding down. Reposition holes for rear undercart legs slightly inboard of the ones already there, so that the undercarriage is attached to the underside of the fuselage rather than the wings. Other wise straightforward construction. Only kit that I used the struts that came with the kit.

    Painting and finishing
    The Riveresco kit was painted as the Nieuport of Jean Navarre, the ‘Guardian of Verdun’. Overall clear dope finish, black rib tapes and large red/white/blue bands on the fuselage. Roundels from Doms Decals. This and the other models were finished off with satin varnish. Serials were home-made and run off on my inkjet.

    The SRAM kit was painted as RS Dallas’ Nieuport. Again clear dope overall with light brown panels on the under-fuselage, dark grey rib tapes, blue interplane and undercart struts. Roundels from you-know-who. Yes, the plane did have French markings on the wings and tail, and RFC roundels on the fuselage. Again I made the serials myself.

    The Skytrex Nieuport represents Raoul Lufbery’s machine, with brown/green upper surfaces and clear doped underside. Lufbery’s motif and the serials came off the SRAM kit, and I used the roundels that came with the kit as I wanted a darker blue centre. I was going to use the I-94 roundels, but they were very thin and disintegrated on contact with water. They must have been from a faulty batch as I used I-94 decals on my Fokker E.III without any problems whatsoever.

    All the Nieuports were finished off with a coat of Citadel Spray varnish, which unfortunately left a cloudy sheen on them – the first time this has happened to me. However a final brush coat of Winsor and Newton’s Acrylic matt varnish did the trick and restored the colours.

    Final thoughts
    A few surprises and ‘lessons learned’ for me. The first was that once struts were replaced with styrene strip or piano wire, the SRAM resin model was far more robust than I expected it to be. So much so that I am tempted to dig out the SRAM Hannover and have a go at it. The two white metal kits looked pretty crude in the bare metal, but painted up well and I am very pleased with the result.

    Question now is: how close was the performance of the Nieuport 11 in relation to the Nieuport 17. I’m trying to work out if I can use a 17 card, or whether I will have to tweak it.
    Run for your life - there are stupid people everywhere!

  2. #2


    Users Country Flag


    Name
    Alex
    Location
    Rotherham, UK
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    Join Date
    Sep 2009

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    Wow, they are lovely. Great job there Steve! Thanks for the breakdown of the build as well!

  3. #3

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    Great job. I built an N11 from a reviesco kit but due to my inexperience and clumsiness, it didn't turn out nearly so well. There already is a card for the N11. I think it uses the "E" manouver deck which is a speed band slower.

    Pooh

  4. #4

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    Righto Gunners.Well I can retire then. What a masterful account of the pros and cons of the various aircraft. Then to follow it up with the fine explaination of the build!!! What a paint job.
    I can only stand humbled before the master. Now get a round in before I run out of superlatives.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  5. #5

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    Another nice job. They look great. The Nieuport 11 has cards in Watch Your Back. It uses an E deck, B gun, 10 damage, and climb rate 5.

  6. #6

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    Does it now? Thanks for the heads-up Bobby and Tim.
    Run for your life - there are stupid people everywhere!

  7. #7

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    I looked at the maneuver decks for both the 11 and 17 and they are about the same, except the 11 is a bit slower.

  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by Coog View Post
    Another nice job. They look great. The Nieuport 11 has cards in Watch Your Back. It uses an E deck, B gun, 10 damage, and climb rate 5.
    I must admit I had not looked for the 11, because the Mannock one that I'm doing is his 17. I will bear that in mind for future reference.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  9. #9

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    Nice job Steve - "fly my pretties, fly"

    "He is wise who watches"

  10. #10

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    Very nice, well done job

  11. #11

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    Nice work. I like the Skytrex best.

  12. #12

    Dom S's Avatar
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    Name
    Dom
    Location
    People's Republic of South Yorkshire
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    Jun 2010

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    Very nice work Mr Flack, thanks for sharing; all three models seem to have come out just dandy, so I guess Skytrex gets the nod for price / availability over here.

    Dom.

    PS - Good choice doing Dallas's machine - I've always liked twin-Lewis Nieuports....

  13. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dom S View Post
    I guess Skytrex gets the nod for price / availability over here.
    They get the nod for price/availability, but probably not for accuracy or approach. By approach I mean lack of detail on the underwings other than the number and/or name of the kit scribed into it, and the 'one size fits all' props which on some aircraft are the wrong shape and far too long (If scaled up to real life an FE2b pilot would sever the longerons as soon as he starts up, and the Nieuport 11 pilot would dig a trench in the ground as soon as he shouts 'contact'.). However for people on a budget (ie most of us in the UK at the moment) they are the only game in town.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dom S View Post
    PS - Good choice doing Dallas's machine - I've always liked twin-Lewis Nieuports....
    And at least is doesn't look like a 'pavement pizza' paint job like his SE5a does
    Last edited by Guntruck; 11-04-2010 at 02:17.
    Run for your life - there are stupid people everywhere!

  14. #14

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    Nice write up Steve. Is the fuselage of the SRAM hollow? I as because filling it with some putty before putting it together might make it more game worthy.

  15. #15

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    Hi Colonel, it's got a solid fuselage.
    Run for your life - there are stupid people everywhere!

  16. #16

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    Thanks for sharing the details. All three have turned out very fine, but reading how they got there is very useful.
    best regards
    Aris K.

  17. #17

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    Thank you for the very nice comparison, photos and evaluation.

  18. #18

    Jester
    Guest


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    Good work, thanks for sharing. I love the N.11!


  19. #19

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    In the photo at the top, are those going from top to bottom the SRAM, Skytrex, and Reviresco models?

  20. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by jbmacek View Post
    In the photo at the top, are those going from top to bottom the SRAM, Skytrex, and Reviresco models?
    SRAM
    Reviresco
    Skytrex
    Run for your life - there are stupid people everywhere!

  21. #21

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    Thanks! I really like the look of the SRAM model. Is it still holding up after two months of play?



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