Short, introductory blurb...

Matt Bittner (meba@cso.com)
Tue, 13 Jun 1995 11:27:30 +0000

Hello!

My name is Matt Bittner, and I wanted to introduce myself. My
primary modeling interests are WW1 aviation and armor, primarily
1/72nd scale. My other modeling interests are 1/72nd armor, German
WW2 jets, and other things. As far as what I'm currently working on
is an A-4 Skyhawk for a local club contest. Once that is done, I
plan on getting back to my Nieuport 11 conversion.

Basically, I started with an ESCI Nieuport 17, purchased the
Rosemont 11/16 fuselage and wing, along with their Le Prieur rockets.
My plan is to model "Chute" Johnson's Nie11 from the Lafayette
Escadrille. Short review of Rosemont's conversion pieces: The wing
is wonderfully thin. I have only seen a thinner wing on SOME of the
vacuforms. There are some problems with it though: the ailerons
aren't "long" enough; the tips need some refinement; and you can tell
they used a Nie17 wing as the basis for the conversion. The new wing
still has the "fabric" of the Nie17 wing, and the ribs aren't exactly
parallel. I've overcome the ribs and fabric by sanding: light
sanding will remove the "fabric", as well as reduce the ribs enough
to not be that noticable.

The conversion fuselage has the following "flaws": the underside,
rear portion isn't "deep" enough, just like the Revell Nie17; the
"panel lines" on the each side of the fuselage under the cockpit
don't match; and the cheek cowlings should be either drilled out, or
blacked out to represent them being "hollow". The conversion
includes a wonderfully molded cowling, and besides some flash, has no
flaws whatsoever.

Note that all "measurements" taken from the Ian Stair drawings in
Windosock's Nieuport Special, Vol. 1.

Their LePrieur rockets are - as far as I can tell - spot on. Not a
problem at all.

Decals are from Americal, and - with the exception of the Indian
Heads - quite nice.

Sorry to ramble so. I wanted it to be a brief intro, and ended up
getting into a longer discussion about the Nie11.

Matt Bittner
meba@cso.com
Omaha, Nebraska
"Yoddle-yay-hee-NARF!"
IPMS #9440