1/100 Nieuport 17 (S&P)

[rockpaperscissor]

Here is my second small scale WWI bird expertly designed by Bruno of Scissors and Planes, and recolored by yours truly. It depicts an aircraft used during the Russian Revolution by the Red Air Force. There is a large amount of information available about this period at .ru websites. Less at the .com websites. This website, Studio "Siberia" forum --- Forum: Russian Civil war / Ãðàæäàíñêàÿ âîéíà â Ðîññèè --- Thread: Red Air Fleet / Êðàñíûé Âîçäóøíûé ôëîò for example, has many rare photos and illustrations of RusRev aircraft. The text is pretty much all in Russian, but if you open it with a translator, there's good reading too.

During this period, the Red Air Fleet markings were anything but standard. There were different styles of red stars, oriented in different ways on various surfaces. Sometimes there was a skull and crossbones within the star, sometimes the star contained a plow with a hammer and sickle. Many aircraft had personal insignia on one or both sides of the aircraft. I was surprised to find that there was quite a bit of pinup art on these early birds. I always thought of this as an American WWII thing, but I thought wrong.

The Nieuport 17 was a small airplane, and in 1/100 scale, the wingspan is only 3 1/4 inches, so bear that in mind when viewing the photos. These are macro shots which glaringly show any minute flaw. At 1X the model looks pretty good. No rigging. Too small for me to attempt that.

My recolor is based on one of the illustrations at the above website. The real airplane would have been coated in aluminum dope with a white tail. I decided to orient all the stars pointing forward, and put the pinup art on both sides. I think it deserves a base, so I'll follow up later today with a couple of photos of the final display.

[scissorsandplanes]

Thanks, Don.
You make my model look much better than I do.

[Vermin_King]

Very nicely done.

[Alcides]

Great work Don!!! Are you going the small scale route?

[talls6]

Very Nicely Done. I am still trying to find the "minute Flaws" that you speak of?

[YOAVHOZMI]

what a beautiful model.....and very clean work, wonderful.

YOAV

[rockpaperscissor]

Thank you all for your kind comments. I appreciate it very much. These really are fun little models. Alcides, if Bruno keeps releasing them small, I'll keep building them. Who knows, maybe I'll try some rigging on the next one. They're tailor made for me, since I tend to run out of gas before completing lengthy projects. Even so, it takes me far longer to complete one than the 90 minutes estimated build time on the Scissors and Planes instruction sheet.

Here are a couple of final photos of the model mounted on its paper base. The base measures a whopping 2" x 2.5". The simple groundwork is just a bit of Woodland Scenics ground foam turf, and some static grass, but I think it shows the model off well.

[Robert Blaschke]

Yes, rigging would help its look, but never mind, very nice build.

[rockpaperscissor]

Thanks, Robert. I could rig it, I should rig it, I just don't know if I have the patience for it. Plus it's hard to find a material that would be in scale at 1/100. I've been toying with the idea of using human hair for the rigging, but I'm not sure how it would react to changes in humidity, etc. My older daughter has long, thick, straight hair that would probably work. I might give it a try on my next S&P 1/100 bird.

[gomidefilho]

Don

Use pulled polyamide line, is perfect for rigging in small scale is need a small tension and you have a color line or transparent for paint...