Academy 1/32 scale Nieuport XVII in Italian colors.

The Academy Nieuport 17, 1/32 scale.

A typical Italian, Macchi built N.17

Academy's Nieuport 17, Tom's Model Works PE, and CSM decals

My next project was to be a Finnish Hurricane, but I ran into some issues with the old-tool Airfix kit and, well just lost all my interest in the project for the time being. I had a strong desire to attempt another WWI subject in 1/32 scale, so I pulled the Academy Nieuport 17 out of my stash.

The Academy kit is a re-pop of the Hobbycraft model, I confirmed that by happening to pick up a Hobbycraft version on eBay. The moldings are identical. With the Academy kit however, you get a small photo-etch, (PE) fret and a roll of black thread for rigging! For this build I also used Tom's Model Works' "French WWI Aircraft" Photo-etch set, and for markings, the Copper State Models'  Italian Nieuport sheet.

Tom's seatback attached to the kit's seat pan.

The build starts as usual, after initial cleanup and primer coat, with the interior. The Academy kit has a reasonably nice interior to begin with, although it lacks any instrumentation except for a instrument panel on the PE fret which does not resemble any Nieuport 17 interior I've ever seen. Academy did include a few instrument faces on their decal sheet. I used a couple of those to make a couple of readouts I then attached to the interior framing.

I also used the throttle control and framework from Tom's photo etch fret. Also from the Tom's sheet was the perforated back of the pilot's seat and the seat belts. Finally, a small piece of sheet styrene was carved to resemble the rear former of the cockpit.

The final assembly of the cockpit included a façade of the ammunition boxes forward of the instruments, a steel seat support panel, (From the Tom's sheet), and rudder pedals with some calbling.

The interior with a couple of scratch built instruments and a bit of Tom's PE.

Now I turned to the exterior components. One nice feature of the Academy molding is that the ailerons are easily positioned into a dynamic position without having to cut and glue. I also positioned the elevator in a slight downward tilt that seems common on Nieuports. At this time I also drilled out the holes needed for running the rigging on the wings. There's surprisingly few for this aircraft! 

The kit's cowling required a little attention; It did not have the ribs on the upper cowling which is seen on many N.17s. I used thin Evergreen strips topped with a little stretched sprue to represent those. The engine is a reasonable representation with careful painting. I added ignition wires to the molded on plugs. The prop and the interplane struts were finished with my standard method of a base coat of Model Mast "Wood" followed with a wash of Tamiya Flat Brown and a finish coat of Tamiya "Clear Orange".

The PE from the kit that I did use was the end fitting for the interplane struts. These were nice enough, but I didn't use the strips for the middle of the the struts. They were rather awkward and just not necessary, I simply painted those. 

I wanted to break up the monotonous overall silver grey finish so I pre-shaded the wing ribs, using black, then using a stripe of white on the rib surfaces on the upper wings and to the horizontal stabilizers and elevators. I also used some black to form a break on the fuselage sides.

All this was overpainted with a thinned coat of Tamiya Flat Aluminum. The result came out pretty well, not perfect but I think more realistic than a straight coat of aluminum. After drying, I found the paint was a little rough so I polished it slightly with some tack cloth to buff it up and prepare it for decalling later.

Painting the exterior.

Next, I wanted to have a contrasting effect for the metal cowling and access panels. To do this I used Tamiya "Chrome Silver". Applied directly to the cowling, and to the masked surface of the forward fuselage.

The Tamiya "Chrome Silver" made a nice contrast.

One of the more impressive feature of Italian Nieuports is the tri-color red-white-green applied to the wing's undersurfaces. I had to do a little mixing to make a red that compared to the red of the decals, adding some Flat Brown to the stock Tamiya Flat Red. Tamiya's Flat Green was an almost perfect match with no mixing needed.

These colors were applied to the both to the wings and to the rudder, since I prefer painted rudder stripes to decals. 

The tri-colors on the lower wings.

The scheme I want to accomplish is a representative one for Italian N.17's.

The Copper State Models decal sheet is fairly small but of a very high quality. It's printed by Cartograf. This sheet gives you the Italian roundels and the Macchi style serial numbers that you can use to recreate virtually any a/c's serial you may want. Since I wasn't aiming for a specific aircraft, I just used the serial that was provided without having to go through the tedium of installing the tiny numbers one by one.

Assembly proceeded with a small hitch. The Academy instructions would have you install the forward cabane struts backward! I did that initially but something told me to check it out and sure enough, they were wrong. I had to snap them off and re-attach them. It's interesting to note that the Hobbycraft instructions for the same kit has the position correct!

Academy's mis-direction.

A photo of the real thing.

The correct strut positioning!

Assembly of  the main components could now begin! first I attached the wings' rigging to the holes in the upper wing...

Then, after attaching the top wing and interplane struts, I threaded the rigging through the appropriate holes in the fuselage and lower wings.

One of the interplane struts popped out! I had to affect an emergency repair!

Things were going along quickly now! It was time to install the landing gear. I was a little apprehensive, thinking this would end up being weak and fiddly.

I started by cementing the forward legs into their respective holes on the lower cowling. I let these set for a good long time. Then I superglued the starboard leg into it's (rather small), locating hole. Again, I let this set up for over 24 hours before super gluing the port side leg. The result has been rather satisfying! The landing gear on this kit if the sturdiest of the three I've made so fare, (the others being the Roden Albatros and the Hobbycraft Sopwith Camel).

The final step of assembling the landing gear. 

After installing the landing gear, the next step was attaching the rudder and adding the control cables for it and the elevators. The rudder didn't want to stick to the fuselage very well and in the process of attaching it I managed to break off one of the tiny control horns on it. The cable had already been installed so it was a bit of a struggle to get the rudder fixed!  Eventually, super glue came to the rescue and the rear empennage was finally fixed into place!

Final details were now added. I installed the Vickers MG at this time. I would recommend that you install it before you install the top wing! It's kind of hard to install with the wing on. Next the bell cranks for the aileron controls.  Finally, a little paint touch up here and there.

The result is a nice looking, little airplane. I have several other Nieuport kits to build, a couple of "AModels", (a Bebe and a Type 16), a Roden Type 27, and another Hobbycraft Type 17. It will be interesting comparing the various kit's construction.

As it is, I found this Academy kit to be an enjoyable build. You can get this and the Hobbycraft kit fairly cheaply on the web, so it would be a got subject to try out a WWI biplane subject.