Having misplaced my Morane during the recent move, I've had to come up with another subject for this campaign. Et voilà, here is the Eduard 1/48 Nieuport 11. This is a lovely kit and ought to present no problems for a fast assembly.

Immediately upon starting I encounter my first quandary. I wish to do the box-top aircraft, that flown by Capitaine le Comte J L V de Plandes Sieyes de Veynes (just because of that magnificent name more than anything else).

The box top clearly shows the undersides are clear doped linen, yet the painting instructions are telling me that it's painted in aluminium dope. I thought that Nie 11s were nearly always clear doped linen rather than aluminium. Can anyone enlighten me?

Laws of Modeling 101

Law 16.) The kit instructions, may be very interesting, but are 95 % of the time irrelevant.

So it is written so it will be. The aluminum dope was not used until the Nieuport 17 types.


This is a picture of Jean Chaput and the Nieuport 16 he used between april and July 1916 at N31. I have been asked by several members here ". . .Did the French use aluminum dope in their colour pigments of the early Nieuport 1916 camouflage . . ."

This is in reference of course to the 1917 - 1918 Spad 5 colour camuflage spken of at the beginning of the thread. The answer is "NO" French camouflage pigmented dopes did not start carrying aluminum powder until very late 1917. None of the Nieuport 11 or 16 types had them. It was straight earth tone pigments for their upper surface camouflage.

For a very good source on camouflage on Nieuports I highly recommend,

"PUBLISHED to coincide with the US theatrical release of the new Flyboys motion picture, Albatros Productions, Ltd., - World leaders in WWI aeronautical publishing - present the true story of the famed Lafayette Escadrille’s Nieuport flyers.

The enthralling narrative is supported by over 55 archive photos and 11 pages of authentic colour profiles illustrating the iconic Lafayette Nieuports as never before. Recent research by leading authorities in the field such as Alan Toelle and Bernard Klayelé have resulted in Bob Pearson’s 35 all-new revisonist profiles of these classic aeroplanes. Detailed captions accompany the illustrations and this unique Special also includes 8 pages of 1:32 scale Nieuport 11/16/17/21 scale drawings for modellers of Special Hobby and Hobbycraft kits along with a stunning cover by Robert Karr! . . ."

(Some of my comments concerning the French Multi coloured camouflage have roots in this fine monograph.)

http://www.windsockdatafilespecials.co.uk/nieuport-flyers-of-the-lafayette-47-p.asp

I thought as much! Thanks, Stephen.

There is a thread I did on the French multi coloured camouflage and I am in the middle of repairing broken image links there but the text is intact an very informative.

Another dubious instruction callout is the fuselage interior sides, also prescribed to be aluminium. These are more likely to be wood, no? Once again I wasn't aware of sheet metal being used in the construction of early Nieuports.

For the sides, 3mm ply-wood sheeting is more likely. Here is a "normal" Nieuport XI forward fuselage.

I'm just going to follow my instincts on this one then. That way if I go wrong, at least I'll be confident about it

Starting from the firewall to the second former ( just behind the pilot seat is plywood . The chin pan is alum from the firewall to the first former . Top decking is alum .

I've got the interior wood grain done.
The seat's drilled out and awaiting a Milliput seat cushion once the oil paint is dry

And the plywood grain is on the interior side walls and floor

Cool - I've been interested in this kit for a while - only built later Eduard offerings.

Watching the progress

I built this very model about 3 months ago. I did a lot of searching of Internet sources and found two photos of the craft as photographed by the Germans after it was captured.

there are several differences between the box art and the actual craft -
The starboard wheel's covers is darker than the other,and the blue 'piping' is missing on the upper fuselage behind the pilot on port side.

I camouflaged the model in 2 colours dark green and marron (chestnut brown), CDL undersides, French blue for the 'piping' (I don't know if that is what it is called)

Good choice for a subject and kit, I didn't have any problems with the construction.

Here is a link,

http://albindenis.free.fr/Site_escadrille/escadrille026.htm

Your Nieuport is a little past halfway down the page on the left side.

Bonne chance, mon ami.

Excellent webpage Richard!

J'espere que je suis une amie, n'est ce pas?

So rather than dark and darker green as on the box top, the darker green ought to be brown?

Yes, like this

http://www.wwiaviation.com/popup/nieuport-11-n1135.html


However, there are alternative interpretations. here is a link to Wings Pallete which shows different interpretations as well.

http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww1/f/112/21/1


Check out this thread from The Aerodrome regarding early two tone Frnch Camo.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/models/15329-nieuport-early-two-color-camouflage.html


Confused? I was, so I went with what seemed right. Finding out the truth is like a dog chasing its tail.

Now that the oil paint has dried I can get a little more work done. I've sculpted a Milliput seat cushion, assembled the engine, and outlined the fuselage members with slivers of brown painted decal trim film.

I didn't bother with a picture, but I've got blue-grey paint on all the metal bits which will live in the cockpit.

A nice dark wash makes the details pop.

Here's another interesting camouflage question. From the two photos Richard pointed out, there seems to be something of a mystery about the edge taping on the flying surfaces. The photo taken from behind the aircraft clearly shows that the edge taping was much lighter than the upper surface colours yet the one taken from ahead shows just as clearly that they're darker than the undersurface fabric, which has been established as clear doped linen.

What colour is darker than clear doped linen yet lighter than green and khaki camouflage?

I made major progress today. Here's the cockpit looking busy. The only aftermarket parts are a set of Eduard French seat belts and the aforementioned Milliput seat cushion. Everything else is straight out of the box

I added that little shelf behind the seat to block the view of the fuselage seam.

Nothing much happening inside the left fuselage half

Ready to close up

A little glue, lower wings and tailplanes later and we have an airplane happening!

Primer on the upper sides

Looking nice Jessie, I built the 16 (11 with a bigger engine) a few years ago, and I have the 11 kit in the stash with Belgian decals. Beware ortho film photos, colours could be anything. I have Nieuport Aces (Osprey book) at home, might have that aircraft or similar in as a guide.

I agree.

Nailing down WW1 camouflage schemes and colours is difficult.

I think one has to research and then go with what feels right.

I read somewhere that Nieuport 11's were supplied to the front in CDL, and were painted there, or left in CDL.

Regarding the edge taping, I painted it in blue, sort a midtone grey blue.

Now there's a very interesting and colourful thought! I think I just might do that

A wee bit more done

The paint is pooling between the ribs; I guess I made it a trifle too thin. I'll have to give the model a rub down with a scotchbrite pad and then a gentle repaint.