Most of the sidewall detail
is as moulded by Eduard. I scratchbuilt the fuel tank
& contents glass, rev counter, rudder bar and control
stick. Seat back is a Tom's Modelworks p/e item and seat
belts are from Eduard's French WW1 etched set. The moulded
on heel plates are too far apart which means the rudder
bar is too wide but it's not terribly visible in the tiny
cockpit. Eduard include a rear "bulkhead" to
go behind the seat but as far as I can tell from photos
there was no such thing so I left this out.
More than one person has
found it amusing that I sign and date the inside of my
models (like they're some grand work of art!) and I suppose
it is pretty silly really. I started doing this years
ago - probably close to 30 if I'm honest - figuring it
would be interesting to future generations if my models
ever turned up in an archaeological dig. Yeah right!!
Can you say "delusions of grandeur"...?!
I continue the practice for an entirely different reason
these days however. Very often I'll start a kit and it
will then sit around for years before I finally get off
my ass and finish it. Putting on the date I started construction
reminds me just how long it's sat around collecting dust
and often spurs me into action to get it done! Until the
fuselage gets closed up of course and then it's out of
sight out of mind.... :-) As you can tell from the mid-December
start date this was a pretty quick build by my glacial
standards - only 3 months!!
The aileron hinge lines
were covered by a strip of fabric on Nieuports and I represented
this with strips of decal film applied before the final
paint job.
Eduard supply an alternate upper wing with centre section
cut-out that I presume will be for future releases. There
is also a "cone de penetration" in the box as
well as a Vickers gun and ammo feed chutes. This bodes
well for other versions and with marking options for Nieuport
17s almost endless I will quite happily buy several more
of these great little kits. I built this from the limited
edition "Flyboys" release, which is a film I
have very little desire to see since I'm not a big fan
of zooming C/G aircraft and appalling Hollywood storylines.
Hey scriptwriters: Fokker Triplanes did come in other
colours besides red you know!! Holy Henry Ford, Batman....
Above
left: D'oh!! Who would have thought the
wing would melt before the rigging tightened up?!
Mental note: Incense sticks get hot. Plastic no
like hot. Above right:
Amazingly, I managed to fix this using superglue
& talcum powder without having to rip the wing
off but I did lose some of the subtle riblets on
the leading edge in the process. Bollocks....
Above
left & right: Eduard's poor excuse
for a Le Rhone vs Roden's excellent version, albeit
with the induction pipes from Eduard. Call it a
joint effort.
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