WymanV Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 (edited) I've been nibbling at this for a couple weeks now between projects and there's finally some progress to show. I started with a base of wood color on everything that gets the wood grain treatment. Here's the photo etch: And with some dark brown oils applied. The floor is still in progress-the real one was 2 troughs on cross supports so there needs to be some corrections made here: The interior is sprayed Gunze Sangyo Sail, which I will also use for the outside to represent clear doped linen. Here's the inside with the photo etch in place: Now to straighten out the floor. Ken Edited July 27, 2009 by WymanV Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MoFo Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 A small suggestion on the colour... French doped linen was known for a distinctly 'egg yolk' tint, so I'd suggest going with something a little more cream/yellow than Gunze sail colour. Kind of like this Bleriot: http://memorial.flight.free.fr/gallery/ble.../bleriot28.html Entirely up to you, of course, and if you're happy with your colour choice by all means stick with it... Dicta Ira. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 (edited) Yeah, I wasn't real thrilled with the Sail color but I figured it'll do for the inside and I don't seem to have a lot of other options as of yet. Really wish someone would step up and do a line of WWI colors in enamel, as I can't stand acrylics and my pile of these in the stash keeps getting deeper. I don't foresee painting this thing for a few months anyway, so I still have time to find something I like. 'Sail' seems like it might be good for the British stuff, but the LHS that carried it closed... Ken Edited July 27, 2009 by WymanV Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted July 28, 2009 Author Share Posted July 28, 2009 And it gets better. Turns out the stripdown pic in Windsock shows an airframe that's been stripped pretty well. The forward fuselage is thin plywood under the outer linen covering, so I have to redo the inner fuselage anyway There will be a brief delay... Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted July 28, 2009 Author Share Posted July 28, 2009 OK so I hit my Sail paint with some of my wood grain oil, which beat a repaint. I also started correcting the interior: I'll have to move the rudder control cables a bit more inboard as they go right over the foot troughs. The floor supports all line up tho. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob Owens Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Ken, Don't go too far aft with the woodgrain. The plywood only went as far back as the vertical crossmember just behind the cockpit. I goofed worse on mine. . . I painted the panels aluminum, and didn't realize the error 'til AFTER the fuselage was assembled! Regards, Rob Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 Got'cha Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Old Man Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Very good progress, Sir! I like your foot supports particularly. I believe it was usual for Nieuport to drape a swatch of linen behind the pilots seat, hanging from the formers there, whioch might be a good fix for the plywood.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted September 13, 2009 Author Share Posted September 13, 2009 Progress update. I've been nibbling away at it and all of a sudden, I got somewhere :o Got all the scratchbuilding done and painted up: With the fuselage sealed up, I got the lower wing on, cleaned up the upper wing and tail surfaces and drilled the rigging holes: And that's how I'm painting it. I found a jar of Model Master "British Gulf Lt. Stone" that I'm going with. It's the color I brushed on behind the seat and it's quite yellow. I need to dig around in the paint stash for a suitable brown for the edges, along with some blue for the fuselage stripe. I'll go with Testors Gloss Red and Floquil Reefer White for the rest. The nice thing about the Profipack kit is they supply masks for painting the edges around the wings and fuselage Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gregory Jouette Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 Ken, Your little Nieuport bebe is looking great my friend. Regards, Gregory Jouette Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted September 16, 2009 Author Share Posted September 16, 2009 Thanks Gregory. It's LITTLE! I'm looking forward to setting it next to my Dr.I. Paint booth, day 1. Most of it got done today. I started with the white in the fuselage band: Mask that off and spray the red. Just so you know, I did a little digging into the shade of blue used for the insignia and I understand there's some question about the 'grayness' of the Eduard decals. Instead of trying to match it, we're painting it all on like I did with my Carrier War F4F builds. I'm using Model Master Mopar Engine Red here: Mask the red and paint the blue. A tip for painting like this: Do not mask for every color: Note how I sprayed the white in an overall kinda way, as well as the red once the white band was masked. If I had masked it all separately, I would have a double thick tape line to deal with. It also saves time. This is something I carry over into modelling from painting 1:1 cars. Anyway-blue. I found an old 2/3 oz. bottle of Pactra Sea Blue that looks awfully French to me, so I went with it: You can see the difference to the decal sheet. Once the blue band is masked, the overall color went on: "Interesting" color. I added a dash of white to the British Gulf Lt. Stone and it's hard to replicate the shade with a camera. To the Mk.I eyeball, it looks like pale dark mustard... On to markings. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted September 16, 2009 Author Share Posted September 16, 2009 Here's the fun part. The bebe had brown borders all around the plane-wings, fuselage and tail feathers. Oddly, nobody seems to know why (at least in my references anyway) or what the "correct" color would have been. Kinda odd that, I guess, unless you consider that many of the guys who operated these planes during the war died before it ended, and after the war there probably wasn't that much interest in correct colors. But, I had something in mind anyway-Model Master's RAL 8017, Schokololadenbraun, used as the brown color on German armor during WW II. I never cared for it on armor 'cause I don't think it's 'red' enough but this proved to be a good place for it. The problem showed up as vinyl masks. I don't recommend having a stash of vinyl masks. Vinyl shrinks on the backing paper over time. Here's what was in the box: The front and rear borders for the wing masks were OK, but the ends were nearly 1/8" shorter. There was no way I could use them-I couldn't even stretch them out to fit. I had to make them in our Graphics department at work. The only Eduard vinyl I used was for the horizontal stabilizer, and the borders are noticably bigger: Here we're still in progress. I had to do the fuselage one strip at a time. Eduard didn't think to include masks for the fuselage. You'll also notice that the final squirt of blue is on the rudder. I had to make that mask too. Onto the insignia. Navarre's plane apparently didn't have white on the upper roundels which saved me just a wee bit of trouble. Again, masks made at work. Here's the red going on the bottom first: The pic I took of the white top and bottom didn't turn out, but here's the blue going on last: And home, unmasked and an initial touchup done: Note how thick the borders are on that stabilizer. I still have to do the lower wing. Following a good examination for spots that need touchup, I'll get a decal on the tail and give the whole thing an overall coat of semi-gloss to make it all uniform. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted September 17, 2009 Author Share Posted September 17, 2009 Paint booth, day 2. Did you notice yet? When I did I weaved a tapestry of profanity that would've made any of my Drill Instructors proud. Couldn't just repaint the errors either-I would've played hell trying to get the masks to line up. I stripped and repainted the whole wing: And since it was one of those days where I had to work at work, I didn't have time for anything else. Hopefully tomorrow. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
StuartM Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Did you notice yet? When I did I weaved a tapestry of profanity that would've made any of my Drill Instructors proud. Hi Ken! Well, it's at least nice to know that someone other than just me does things like that! Kudos to you for having the patience to set it right. How do you cut nice circular masks like that? Looking great so far; I look forward to seeing it done! Stuart Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Maxidad Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Looking wonderful so far. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted October 6, 2009 Author Share Posted October 6, 2009 Thanks guys. There's been some progress but nothing worth posting-getting the rigging in and mounting struts. Hoping to have significant progress by the weekend. I was hoping to wrap up this little monster last weekend but life interfered. The masks are all cut on a vinyl plotter-Color Camm Pro, in fact with the drawings done in Flexisign. One of many perks of my job I also made up the decal and printed them on the plotter for the tail. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
StuartM Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 The masks are all cut on a vinyl plotter-Color Camm Pro, in fact with the drawings done in Flexisign. One of many perks of my job I also made up the decal and printed them on the plotter for the tail. As you know, I've been thinking of doing the same scheme on mine, but I hadn't realized the point about the missing white on the upper wing roundels. Unfortunately my job doesn't involve any tools more high-tech than a pencil. Might push me into a different scheme with standard decal-sheet roundels. One thing about the roundels: I've been looking hard at all of the pictures I can find, and it's surprising how often the upper roundels (and sometimes just one of them) appear not to have white. I wonder if this might be an artifact of the lighting and of ancient photographs with poor contrast. Or was this a widespread practice for "low-viz" markings? I see that the Datafile under the profile for this plane only says that the white is "apparently" omitted. Not that I mean to cast flies into your ointment--in any case, whiteless is a valid interpretation--but for my own curiosity I'm wondering if you have any other documentation regarding the missing white? Thanks! Stuart Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted October 7, 2009 Author Share Posted October 7, 2009 My reference is also the Datafile pic and profile note. I didn't bother to dig deeper because the B&W pic (which I hate interpreting anyway) shows absolutely no contrast where the white should be compared to the rest of the wing, but the white stripe on the fuselage stands out. And don't sweat the ointment-I'm throwing it out after this build anyway ;) Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 Coming together: It gave me a little trouble getting the upper wing to set on the struts but all the rigging is done except the rudder, which I just glued on. Down to final assembly Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.