1:32 Nieuport XVII - Copper State Models

[Fran]

 

 

1:32  Nieuport XVII

Copper State Models

Catalogue n.º  CSM32-002.

Price tag: 75€

 

Gustave Delage's appointment as Nieuport's chief designer in January 1914 was followed by a series of sesquiplane designs. Nieuport had been famous for their wire-braced monoplanes, however a series of crashes involving similar designs thought (erroneously) to be due to structural failure in both France and Britain, led to an official distaste for monoplanes. In fact, due to the shorter wires used and less acute angles possible, a biplane structure can be made stronger than that of a monoplane. The sesquiplane configuration was adopted by Delage as a compromise between the low drag of a monoplane and the superior strength of a biplane configuration.

 

The first of Delage's sesquiplanes was the two seat Nieuport 10 in 1914, which was followed the next year by the Nieuport 11. This was quickly supplemented by the Nieuport 16, basically, an N.11 with a larger engine. The N.16, especially when armed with a synchronised Vickers gun, suffered from nose-heaviness and had a higher wing loading.

 

The result was a slightly larger development, trimmed properly for the heavier powerplant and with longer wings and improved aerodynamic form. It was at first fitted with the 110 hp (82 kW) Le Rhône 9J engine, though later examples used uprated 120 horsepower (89 kilowatts) engines.

 

The Nieuport 17 was a sesquiplane (literally "one-and-a-half plane"), featuring a narrow, single-spar lower wing that was considerably smaller than the upper wing. This arrangement provided several benefits. As well as an improvement in downward visibility for the pilot, there were aerodynamic gains resulting from the reduction in area of the lower wing, which on a biplane produces far less lift than the upper wing but still produces as much drag or more. Reducing its size reduced the induced drag and weight while providing a more efficient wing with a thicker section and a higher aspect ratio. The heavier components of the fighter, such as the rotary engine, the armament and the fuel and oil tanks were concentrated well forward which was a contributing factor to the 17's high level of manoeuvrability and climb rate.

 

The fuselage of the 17 was a trapezoid-section girder, featuring diagonal wire bracing, steel tubes and plate joints, which were built up around a series of wooden longerons. Towards the rear of the fuselage, the base narrowed as it took on a trapezoidal shape, while the upper surface behind the pilot's position was faired with light formers and longitudinal stringers; a faired headrest was also provided for the comfort of the pilot. The engine was supported by a thick-gauge steel sheet as wide as the fuselage, to which the engine was mounted. The cowling was made of aluminium, and had strengthened ribs and a pair of inset holes to provide ventilation and egress for the engine's exhaust on the underside. It was smoothly faired with the forward fuselage via molded side fairings. Fabric covered the majority of the fuselage aft of the cockpit.

 

The wings of the 17 used a relatively common structure, containing widely spaced spars that gave a good angle for load carrying towards the leading edge and resulted in a high degree of stagger. The ribs, composed of ash flanges and limewood webs, featured cut-outs along their length to lighten them; the ailerons, which were fitted on the top wing only, increased their chord towards the wingtips for improved stall response. Elevator and rudder controls were provided via conventional cables and pulleys, while the ailerons were actuated by a series of push-pull rods attached to the control column in the cockpit.[5] The angle of incidence could be adjusted by ground crew via a single pivot joint arrangement, this was originally intended to allow the lower wing to be rotated for low speed flight but was never used on the military aircraft.

The Alkan-Hamy synchronization gear installed in a Nieuport 17

 

While the single spar lower wing has been credited with helping to give the type its impressive climb rate, at very high speeds it was also prone to flutter,[note 2] an aerodynamic phenomenon that was not fully understood at the time. Many British Nieuports were modified at No 2 Aeroplane Supply Depot in an effort to alleviate this problem;[6] In later French service, some N.17s had their lower wings replaced with spares taken from newer Nieuport 24s.

 

Production of the new Alkan-Hamy synchronization gear had permitted the wing-mounted Lewis gun of the 11 and 16 to be replaced with a synchronised Vickers gun, which was mounted on the fuselage to fire through the propeller arc without striking the blades.[2] However, the standard Royal Flying Corps (RFC) synchroniser, the Vickers-Challenger gear, was not available in sufficient numbers and in British service the over-wing Lewis gun was retained. The Lewis gun was installed on the newly-developed Foster mounting, a curved metal rail which allowed the pilot to slide the gun back to change ammunition drums and to clear jams; it also had the advantage of allowing pilots to aim the gun upwards to shoot into the underside of enemy fighters flying above, not an easy tactic, but used to good effect by several ace pilots.

 

During March 1916, the new Nieuport 17 reached the French front and began to replace the earlier Nieuport 11 and 16 fighters that had been instrumental in ending the Fokker Scourge of 1915. On 2 May 1916, Escadrille N.57 became the first unit entirely equipped with the new model. During the latter part of 1916 and into 1917, the Nieuport 17 equipped every fighter squadron of the Aéronautique Militaire. Almost all of the top French aces flew the nimble Nieuport during their flying careers, including Georges Guynemer, Charles Nungesser, Maurice Boyau, Armand Pinsard, René Dorme, Gabriel Guerin and Alfred Duellin.

 

The type was also used by American volunteers of the Escadrille Lafayette, who transitioned to it from their earlier Nieuport 11s and 16s.

 

The Nieuport 17 was also ordered by the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service, as it was markedly superior to any of the British fighters available at this time. British units that used the type include Nos 1, 29, 32, 40 and 60 squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps and No 6 of the Royal Naval Air Service - for a time, other units had a few on charge to escort other aircraft.

 

Many British Empire air aces flew Nieuport fighters, including the top Canadian ace Billy Bishop, who received a Victoria Cross while flying it, and Albert Ball, V.C. who often hunted alone in his Nieuport. 'Mick' Mannock VC flew Nieuports early in his career with No 40 Squadron. His VC award reflected his whole combat career – including his time on Nieuports. The top-scoring Nieuport ace was Captain Phillip Fletcher Fullard of No.1 Squadron RFC, who scored 40 kills between May and October 1917, before breaking his leg in a football match.

 

Numerous Italian aces, such as Francesco Baracca, Silvio Scaroni and Pier Piccio, all achieved victories while flying Nieuport fighters. In Belgium, the 1st and 5th Belgian escadrilles were equipped with the Nieuport 17 and 23. Belgian aces flying the type included Andre de Meulemeester, Edmond Thieffry and Jan Olieslagers.

 

The Imperial Russian Air Service operated large numbers of Nieuports of all types, including the Nieuport 17, 21 and 23. Being largely reliant on aircraft procured directly from France, there was pressure within Russia to establish and grow a capacity to support the domestic manufacture of such fighters as well. Accordingly, efforts were made to produce the type under licence in Russia; however the venture struggled due to a lack of experience in the limited availability of experts to assist. Nonetheless, many of these were operated not only during the Eastern Front of the conflict, but continued to be flown for a time following the Russian Revolution that resulted in the creation of the Soviet Union. Russian Nieuport aces include Alexander Kazakov, who flew the type against the Germans and later against the Bolsheviks as well.

 

By mid-1917, the Nieuport fighters were losing their superiority to German types such as the new Albatros D.III. In response, the 150 hp (110 kW) SPAD S.VII had begun to replace the Nieuport fighters in French front line squadrons. The British continued to operate their Nieuports until early 1918 until enough newer types such as the Roya

l Aircraft Factory S.E.5s were available to replace them.

 

Like the other Nieuport types, during its later life the 17 was operated in large numbers as an advanced trainer. The American Expeditionary Forces purchased 75 Nieuport 17s for training purposes, while the French also operated large numbers as trainers. The French Aviation Maritime operated a single Nieuport 21, which was used for carrier training during 1920 and 1921 aboard the Bapaume, pending the delivery of dedicated carrier aircraft such as the Nieuport-Delage NiD.32RH – historical introduction, wikipédia courtesy.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLpZET6_wxA

 

The box art art is a very beautiful painting with a action scene. The environment and the setting is quite good so it’s a quite attractive

The box contents:

The box art is remove and you see there´s another box, an inner box. A nice touch for sturdy box and protection of the sprues.

 

 

At first glance you see a not very fill up box as the little gem only have 4 plastic sprue, one PE sheet, one small acetate film sheet and one large decal sheet.

 

 

Let´s start looking at the plastic sprues.

Sprues:

 

Sprue A

This sprue contains the fuselage halves, tail and rudder, and all the wings structs.

 

 

 

The tail, like the wings, has some good surface detail.

 

 

Also, the engine plate and top cowl alongside with small others tails are represented in this sprue.

The small parts are nicely injected with no flash (very little flash in some parts) and a quite good surface detail.

Sprue B

Like the A one, this sprue is also quite busy with the all the cockpit (like the fuselage frame section, floor boards, fuel tank, seat, wheels, propeller).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mostly of the cockpit is in this sprue. It´s also where are present the smallest parts of this build and some quite clean detail.

A bit of flash, I could only found in one piece: B37 – machine gun support.

 

 

It`s a bit odd that all sprue is ok with no flash and good detail and one part does have a little flash, but nothing much.

 

Sprue C

Here we got wings, central wing and engine cowling.

 

 

 

 

The lower wing is in a single piece with very good surface detail like the ribs and stitching. These have good surface detail is extended to upper wings and central wing section. I really like the surface detail of the rivets on the bottom (right below the cockpit).

The upper wings are made in 3 parts as usual in WWI model kit in 1:32.

The only cowling used in this version is the C4 part.

A found a little flash on one upper wing and on the cowling but was very little indeed and a 2 minutes work.

Sprue E

This sprue is exclusive for the engine.

 

So you get 15 pieces to make a good “Le Rhône J9” with 110 HP.

The details are quite good and the construction its quite straightforward as the cylinders are in two parts (that can bring some little problems if the fit its not perfect) and the cylinder head are individual.

After that only need to add the push rods and induction pipes and that’s almost it.

So at the end you get lots of parts, some are quite small so the modeler will have to be careful removing parts from the sprues and some fine clean-up of mold seams will be required.

 

Decals

The decals have everything to be top quality. Design by melliusmanu and printed by Cartograf and are just superb, as usual.

 

 

 

 

 

They are thin, with perfect color registration, with high pigmentation (the white will not be a problem, trust me) and a very slim carrier film around the decal

 

 

 

The options are all in aluminium dope with some striking markings.

1.       Lieutenant Charles Eugène Jules Marie Nungesser (March 15, 1892 – around May, 8, 1927)  - Nieuport XVII, N 1895, N.º 65 Escadrille

 

 

2.      Sous-Lieutenant Fernand Francis Chevillion (Januart 10, 1889 – September, 28, 1947) - Nieuport XVII, N 2054, “Dedette 3”, N.º 15 Escadrille

 

3.      Paul Albert Pierre Tarascon (December 8, 1882 – June 11, 1977) - Nieuport XVII, N 1681 “Zigomar 3” N.º 62 Escadrille

 

4.      André René Celestin Herbelin (December 9, 1889 – December 16, 1966) - Nieuport XVII, N.º 102 Escadrille

 

PE Sheet

A quite small photo-etched sheet give us some nice seatbelts. The PE looks quite thin and easy to handle.

The windshield is acetate to be frame between two plastic windframes

 

Instructions:

Finally the instructions.

From the past years, modellers are more and more demanding for some extra good instructions.

And CSM showed with this release that they are up for the challenge.

The booklet in A4 format with 22 colored pages with a highly detailed and clear step by step easy to follow.

 

 

A small historical information is given.

Checking the inside of the booklet, some very nice drawings appear with. very clear instructions with some innovation: they give you not only the number part but also the names of parts that represent in real life. Nice touch.

 

 

Another thing that caught my attention is the fact that there`s no rigging diagram, as the rigging instructions just made their way in all the constructions. It’s a method that only building it I can tell is I like better this way or the other way around.

The thing I really didn`t like it, was the paint indication: the names are pretty basic and it difficult to get which color specific is CSM talking about.

 

Example: Spruce (light wood) and Poplar (light wood) with two small color square. Ok they have different color but CSM leave to the modeler the need to find the most suitable paint.

The same thing with the color “fabric” . So please CSM in the next release, included some number color of any brand (Vallejo or Tamiya or any other so that can turn the modeler job easier and most of all, faster).

 

 

Conclusion:

What a debut in 1:32 injection model aircraft did make CSM! It’s a great start with an eagerly waited Ni 17.

The plastic looks quite good to work, with some fine surface detail (with some very little flash in some parts, at least in my review sample, that can be handled very easy).

Schemes options are very well chosen, with Cartograf decal sheet to guarantee the top quality.

So just treat yourself this X-mas and get yourself one of these from Copper State Models. You will not regret! I know that mine is going to the “to do soon” pile!

 

My truly thanks to Edgar and CSM team for the work and the support and for this review sample.

 

 

 

Finish model from CSM model site:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harv]

Thanks for the good review......harv

[HubertB]

Agreed. Nice review of what looks like a vey nice kit.

Hubert

[Bill_S]

An excellent review, thanks! Historical background is an added bonus.

When mine arrives, I'll be curious to see locations of ejector pin marks.