Building the ESCI/Revell 1/72nd Nieuport 17.C.1
CORRECTING THE TOP WING (refer to the scale drawings in Nieuport
Fighters, Vol. 1):
ESCI steps:
Step (1). Thin trailing edges.
Step (2). Lightly sand away all "fabric representation".
Step (3). Cut the wing in three at the ribs adjacent to the
aileron control horns.
Step (4). Cut the center section in half, add dihedral (refer to
scale drawings) and rejoin.
Step (5). Add enough plastic to the ends of the center section to
lengthen the wings out.
Step (6). Rejoin the outer-wing pieces to the center section.
Step (7). Correct wing tips.
Step (8). Slots need to drilled and filed where the aileron
control horns pass through the upper wing and new control horns
need to be made out of wire, or taken from the Tom's Modelworks
French Interior Set.
Revell steps:
Step (1). Thin trailing edges.
Step (2). Lightly sand away all "fabric representation".
Step (3). Cut the wing in half, add dihedral (refer to scale
drawings) and rejoin.
Step (4). Correct wing tips.
Step (5). Slots need to drilled and filed where the aileron
control horns pass through the upper wing and new control horns
need to be made out of wire, or taken from the Tom's Modelworks
French Interior Set.
CORRECTING THE LOWER WING (refer to the scale drawings in Nieuport
Fighters, Vol. 1):
ESCI steps:
Step (1). Thin trailing edges.
Step (2). Lightly sand away all "fabric representation".
Step (3). Cut off the outer portions of the lower wing at the
"fuselage section", which is the portion of the lower wing where
the wing sections appear to meet part of a "molded in" fuselage.
Step (4). Glue the center section onto the fuselage (after you
complete the modifications to the fuselage) and fill in the gap to
the fuselage line.
Step (5). Once all modifications to the fuselage are complete,
and Step 4 is finished, add the outer wing portions directly to
the fuselage, ensuring the correct amount of dihedral.
Step (6). Correct wing tips.
Revell steps:
Step (1). Thin trailing edges.
Step (2). Lightly sand away all "fabric representation".
Step (3). Correct wing tips.
CORRECTING THE FUSELAGE (refer to the scale drawings in Nieuport
Fighters, Vol. 1):
ESCI steps:
Step (1). Remove the molded in "tub" of plastic that surrounds the
interior of the cockpit, and add details. The best sources of
reference for this is Windsock International, Vol. 7 No. 1 which
contains many photographs, including color ones, of an original
Nieuport 23 in Belgium (The 23 and the 17 are identical - see the
section on making a 23.), as well as the Nieuport Fighters
Datafile Special, Vol. 1. Other excellent references for the
cockpit are the articles on the Nieuport 11/16 in Windsock Vol.5
No.3 and No. 4. (The 11/16 cockpits and 17 cockpit were very
similar.) For the small interior parts, either scratch build them
or use those supplied with the Tom's Modelworks French Interior
detail set.
Step (2). Carefully remove the molded in tail skid since it will
be used later. Once removed, thin carefully.
Step (3). Once all interior detail is added, glue fuselage halves
together.
Step (4). Add a small wedge of .020" plastic to the rear,
underside portion of the fuselage. The best referral is to study
the scale drawings and determine the size of the wedge from this.
Once the wedge is on it will need to be blended in.
Step (5). Re-add the tail skid (or scratchbuild a new one).
Step (6). Add an exhaust channel to the front underside of the
fuselage right behind the cowling. Once the channel is removed,
build up the inside with plastic card and putty and file to shape.
Step (7). Holes also need to be drilled where the control cables
come out of the fuselage and "meet" the control horns on both the
stabilizer and rudder.
Revell steps:
Step (1). Add interior details. The best sources of reference for
this is Windsock International, Vol. 7 No. 1 which contains many
photographs, including color ones, of an original Nieuport 23 in
Belgium (The 23 and the 17 are identical - see the section on
making a 23.), as well as the Nieuport Fighters Datafile Special,
Vol. 1. Other excellent references for the cockpit are the
articles on the Nieuport 11/16 in Windsock Vol.5 No.3 and No. 4.
(The 11/16 cockpits and 17 cockpit were very similar.) For the
small interior parts, either scratch build them or use those
supplied with the Tom's Modelworks French Interior detail set.
Step (2). Carefully remove the molded in tail skid since it will
be used later. Once removed, thin carefully.
Step (3). Once all interior detail is added, glue fuselage halves
together.
Step (4). Add a small wedge of .020" plastic to the rear,
underside portion of the fuselage. The best referral is to study
the scale drawings and determine the size of the wedge from this.
Once the wedge is on it will need to be blended in.
Step (5). Re-add the tail skid (or scratchbuild a new one).
Step (6). Add an exhaust channel to the front underside of the
fuselage right behind the cowling. Once the channel is removed,
build up the inside with plastic card and putty and file to shape.
Step (7). Holes also need to be drilled where the control cables
come out of the fuselage and "meet" the control horns on both the
stabilizer and rudder.
CORRECTIONS TO SMALLER DETAILS (both kits):
Step (1). Undercarriage. Make the undercarriage struts out of
.010" plastic card (Evergreen or your favorite source), and the
axle and spreader bars out of .020" plastic rod (available from
Evergreen and Contrail). The wheels can either be replaced by
Aeroclub, Rosemont or XtraParts wheels, or they can be taken from
the Airfix SPAD VII.
Step (2). Cowling. Remove the molded-in engine and replace
either with an Aeroclub or Rosemont 110 hp Le Rhone 9J. Thin down
the inside edges of the cowling, adding cooling holes and seam
lines (dependent on the particular aircraft being modeled), and
filing "half-moons" where the cowling meets the undercarriage.
This step can be avoided by buying the replacement cowling from
Rosemont Hobbies and follow the directions that come with the
cowling.
Step (3). Horizontal tail surface. Decide if you want to modify
or scratchbuild the horizontal tail surface. If scratchbuilding,
follow scale drawings. If modifying the original kit part, then
first thin the trailing edge. Cut out slots where the top-most
control wires pass through. Round off the outermost edges since
they are too "pointy".
Step (4). Vertical tail surface. Since the entire rudder is
wrong, this will need to be scratchbuilt out of .010" plastic
card. Follow scale drawings.
Step (5). Struts. All struts need to be thinned and for the
interplane struts, reduced in cross section. You may also wish to
scratchbuild all struts.
Step (6). Other. Some 17's carried a "spinner"-like attachment
to the front of the propeller. This was called a cone de
penetration and, unlike a spinner, did not spin with the
propeller. This can either be scratch built, modified from an
Airfix Albatros D.V or a Revell Albatros D.III, or can be bought
from Rosemont and used as is. Refer to sources for the machine
being modeled.
For a more detailed explanation of how to upgrade the
Revell kit, refer to Windsock Vol. 1 No. 3, The Best of Windsock
Vol. 1, or Scale Models, August 1981.
References
Nieuport 17/21/23:
Windsock International, Vol. 1 No. 3
Windsock International, Vol. 7 No. 1
Windsock Datafile No. 20, Nieuport 17.C.1,
Albatros Productions
Best of Windsock, Vol. 1
Scale Models, August 1981
Nieuport 11/16 (including cockpit):
Windsock International, Vol. 5 No. 3
Windsock International, Vol. 5 No. 4
Nieuport 11 Cockpit:
WW1 Aero #111
Nieuport 16 Cockpit:
WW1 Aero #113
Nieuport 23/17 Cockpit:
Windsock International, Vol. 7 No. 1
Nieuport Triplane:
Windsock International, Vol. 7 No. 2
Siemens Schuckert D.I:
Windsock International, Vol. 5 No. 3
German Aircraft of the First World War, Putnam
All variations:
Nieuport Fighters, Vol.1 and Vol. 2, A Windsock
Datafile Special, Albatros Productions
Fighter Aircraft of the 1914 - 1918 War, Harleyford
Nieuport Aircraft of World War 1, Arms & Armour Press
Aircraft of the RFC, Military Wing, Putnam