I just ordered some paint from testers and had some money left over so I picked up there 1/48 Nieuport 17.

Now I know very little about WWI planes so I’m looking for some reference sites I can use. Mostly for colors.


Also if any one has built this kit before I would appreciate it if you could tell me how well it goes together. Thanks.

Have you tried http://mars.ark.com/~mdf/N_17.html

Looks good!

littlefokker

Thanks for the link.

I’ll have to check it later. Right now its giving me “this page can not be displayed”.

Here is a bit of fun with the kit you mentioned. Its mislabeled as a 16 but is a 17.

Thanks Stephen. It looks great.

Now that I have the kit I’ve decided to do a quick build out of it and just using the decals from the kit.

How did you make the lines between the wings? If I don’t run out of time 1st (trying to finish by the end of the year) I may try adding some.

Greetings redneck; The best choice in 1/48 scale and smaller for strand lengths over 1.5 inches is monofilament. These come in various thickness’ and can be purchased in department store sewing centers (smoke coloured invisible thread) or in the fishing /sports department. For 1/48 scale and smaller scale 5-8 mil is good. Unless you have perfect vision you will need an Optivisor type magnifier, ‘new’ #11 blades for your razor knife and various small drill bits (lots of .080 and a couple of .069 gauge) for your motor tool. This method can be used on vacuformed plastic, injection molded plastic and resin kits. Though with vacuforms and some resins its up to you to add the right length of strut material.

First, you should plot all the rigging lines and strut locator holes you will need to work with. Planning ahead using references and plan views will ensure your success. Pre-drill all pilot holes for each end of the struts and the rigging wires. Don’t be afraid to take notes. There should be two holes for each wire and each strut. Drill the strut locator holes and note that sometimes a strut may share the same hole as another intersecting strut. For instance the Nieuport 11 or 17 or the Albatros D.III- Va types. Note also that lines will sometimes share the same anchor hole as well. At low speed drill straight through the adjacent fuselage or wing location next to the strut sockets at the appropriate angle. These pilot holes should follow the entry angle of the specific rigging strand into the wing area adjacent to the strut locator holes. Going from point A to point B it should be a straight line even through the wing. Note also that I don’t advocate drilling into any plastic or resin strut as this only serves to weaken it. Most real aircraft employed flange plates on the strut end caps to attach rigging lines.

When constructing “biplanes or triplanes ” whatever scheme you decide to do, remember to leave the top wing, upper surface and the lower wing under surface unfinished. Why you ask? These are the areas that you need to apply glue to. An open flat surface is easier to work with than the narrow area between the wings. Now measure and mark the locations for each hole and drill straight through the wing the rigging holes will be about 1/16 of an inch away from the strut holes. When drilling the rigging holes note that they should be next to the strut at the appropriate angle. There should be two holes for each strut and each rigging strand. Note also that one hole can possibly hold upto 5 strands of 5-8 mil easily. Once your wings are drilled and partially finished (painted or lozenge decals.) I will usually pin the lower wings to the fuselage fillets using brass rods inserted into pre-drilled holes

The next step is to add the struts. Struts being the bane and pain, the war-cry of the neophyte modeler is - “I can’t do that, it has all those struts!” Just take your time. It gets easier with practice and then it goes by pretty quickly. Most of the time I will either replace kit strut items with modified or extruded brass sections (Like Aeroclub’s “STRUTZ”) or drill holes in the kit strut ends and insert and secure brass pins into the these holes. This is not for the rigging but to insert into the corresponding strut locator hole. You will usually have to drill the holes in the wings deeper than what the kit manufacturer provides to allow the exposed ends of the brass pins to slide into the factory strut locator positions. This will reinforce your work and also gives your struts an adjustable (by bending) pivot that works to your advantage, especially when your kit has dihedral, forward or reverse stagger. Bring these components together with the fuselage using a temporary ‘Lego’ block jig and let the assembly dry thoroughly. The referenced jig keeps everything lined up correctly.

Now once you have the struts in place and all rigging holes are found to be open and ready to take the strands begin your rigging. From the top view, nose to tail draw an imaginary line that will divide the aircraft down centerline. Do one side of the aircraft wings at a time. Complete the pilot’s left side of the aircraft then do the pilot’s right side. I don’t advocate using one long continuous run of monofilament to make several runs (A to B to C to D...) For me, in most cases its one strand for one run (A to B, C to D and etc.) For the rigging use an .80 gauge (the smallest possible) drill bit in a motor tool. The key to working with monofilament is start by anchoring the monofilament lines by the fuselage lower longeron and the lower ends of the interplane strut locations and move out the length of the lower wing. Now, there can be some exceptions. For instance on the Albatros D.III - D.Va kits there are four cables at each lower wing root. You may want to reverse this process and start in the top wing and work toward the lower wings. This keeps the cluster of strands from getting tangled up in the capillary action of the cyanoacrylate glue.

Now invert the model and using spring action clothes pins to clip on the strands once their through the pre-drilled holes in the upper wing area. You can use an accelerator to dry the glue quicker but this must be managed carefully (most of theses are known carcinogens.} Normally I just take my time to ensure the anchored strands are completely dry. Attach one clothes pin for one strand with the wooden clothes pins suspended under the model, their free weight pulling the strands tight. Then you just put one drop of thin type super glue in the hole and let thoroughly dry. Don’t use metal hemostats on the small 5-8 mil as they can over stress strands and after your complete it will go slack and heat application won’t tighten it permanently. When your finished rigging use a sharp #11 blade and clip all ends of the secured strands and then carefully scrape any glue spots from the bare plastic / resin. Now finish these surfaces to suite your chosen profile. NOTE!!! When you are scraping away extra glue or secured monofilament ends be sure to hold the wing specifically that your working with. If your holding the bottom wing and working on the top it will cause undo stress on the struts and rigging.

The other choice is blackened brass or fine stainless steel wire in straight sections. For this you will need a compass or dividers, good pair of wire cutters. For 1/48 and smaller try .006-.008. For larger scales try .015-.020 and up. Wire is best choice for short runs of 1½ and smaller. Wire does have weight and longer lengths will tend to sag over a period of time if it is not thoroughly anchored at both ends. Good Luck.

Wow Thanks a lot Stephen.

I didn’t realize how much was involved in it.

I think I’m a little too far into this one to add them easily but I’ll save what you said and try it on another biplane.

Thanks.