[WWI] Fastest Nieuport south of Rio Grande

[Diego Fernetti]

Last week we had our local IPMS club modeling show. Great attendance, good models and many new faces to meet. As usual, on the next meeting, some newbies come with their new kits, trying to figre out how to start with the hobby.
A small kid got an Esci Nieuport XVII, and he and his mom came visit us. At once, he, his mom and the ill-chosen kit was sent to me, who was -as usual- nonchalantly hidden under my favourite armoire, perusing an old copy of FineScale Modeler from 1879.
The kid was impatient. The mother thought that the kit was a puzzle of some sort. I realized that it would be a rough welcome to the modeling hobby to send the visitors back to a hobby shop and by something suitable for a youngster. So, armed with a knife, sandpaper and lots of patience, I went thru the assembly process of the venerable Esci kit. I was charming, educative, refrained any improper comment and tried to keep the child focused in the topic of aviation, telling him fun stories of the Knights of the Air. For an instant, I almost became Dennis!
I built a fairly decent Nieuport XVII strictly out of the box in about an hour. It was fun, even if I knew that the damned model would last less than dry sand in the kid's fist. I told him to take care of them model and if he still has it next week, I'll teach him how to paint it and why the Frenchmen discontinued the use of the aluminium doped airframes in favour of pigmented dopes.
I doubt he comes back.
D.
By the way, the mom wasn't bad looking at all.
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