AirCraft Models : Nieuport Sesquiplan racer. Finished !

[Hubert Boillot]

Well the electrostatic device that makes the "grass" stand vertically arrived only yesterday, so no experiments last week ...

 

In the meantime, not very exciting (but still aboslutely necessary) work has been going on: sand and fill, and re-sand, re-prime, re-re-sand and fill and re-re-re-resand, re-re-prime, then first layer of white (Tamiya white primer - oustanding coverage and very fine, in pots or rattle-cans)) then sand, then fill remaining blemishes (plus the nasty hair-thin crack that opened on the top of the fuselage just ahead of the fin ), then re-re-sand, than second layer of white primer, than re-re-re-sand (this time mostly with Micromesh ) then third layer of white, then - you guessed it - re-re-re-re-sand with Micromesh and polish with a cloth-wheel in the mini-drill ...

 

 

 

 

It is now looking OK, and smooth, with just a few small blemishes to adress still (the same hairline crack appeared on the bottom fuselage at the joint between the two halves )

 

I have also continued working on Sadi. The hat had a third (and last) go at its bowl. Then some paint on with acrylics and oils. I am not an expert at figure painting (my previous - and first - try was 40 years ago on Napoleonic Guard Hussar), certainly not a Jerry Rutman. Here is the result of my efforts to date. Some touch-ups still needed when the oil paints have dried, the mustache to correct, the eyes-surround as well, the socks, matt-varnish etc... It looks passable in my eyes through the Optivisor, but macrophotography is a pityless judge ... (besides cleaning the figure of the dust and fiber particles) ... The last pic has been cleaned (after I saw the first ones) with a stiff brush ;; slightly better, but nothing to stand-up in the middle of the night

 

 

 

 

Anyway, onward and forward. Time to mask the white in order to splash some grey, then some black (I will try to emulate Eric's technique of "mottled" black, hence the need for a consistent grey background, then some aluminum on the cowling ...

 

I have also cut a mask in Tamiya paper on my Silhouette cutter, for the #6 on the fuselage sides. I tried to cut a fine stencil with the Nieuport Delage logo, to mask the white on the rudder before spraying it in red. If you look at the pic Nicolas posted in this thread of the profile of "6" (on page 2), and other pics, a very fine text can be discerned on the rudder. On later repaints of the # "7" airframe it appears it was the Nieuport Delage name. Now the stencils were far too fine for the Silhouette, and I ended up with mashed paper and a clogged blade from paper particles. On to plan B, then whic is to print a decal of the rudder with the Nieuport Delage name in reserve in the middle of the red. The challenge will be to have a prointed red that is close enough to French flah red, and can be replicated with paint for the rest of the fin, elevators and tailplanes. Why "French flag red", you will ask ? 6 had a  red tail, and 7 a blue tail, on white airframes. My working assumption is that, in 1921, with the exacerbated patriotism after "the Great War", the colors white-red-blue would necessarily remind of the French flag

 

Thanks for looking

 

Hubert

[Leaning_Dog]

Brilliant!!! 

 

 

John.

[Hubert Boillot]

Thank you John, much appreciated

 

And now some masks on. I have used the Silhouette to cut some masks for the number "6" on both sides of the aircraft. The decals provided in the kit seem OK, but they are 20 years old, so, being careful does not hurt.

Besides being a smart tool the Silhouette software allows to make masks quickly, and the copy/edit functions are great to do duplicates. This is particularly useful for the number 6, where there is a center mask in the bottom of the number, which will, by force, be cut completely, and will separate from the mask with the outline of the  number, when removing from the baking sheet. Next question then is : how to make sure it's properly centered.

 

Here is my procedure :

 

1) draw a mask with the full number and two positioning triangles. You can see in the pic below that the outline of the "6" is there, but it's missing the center that needs to be positioned. This one remained on the backing sheet of the mask paper.

 

 

2) By duplicating the drawing, then removing the outline of the "6" a second mask was cut with just the center of the "6". It is positioned on the previous mask, and the triangles help for a proper alignment.

 

3) the center "square", which has remained on the backing sheet,  is then positioned in the hole of the top mask, and therefore neatly aligned

 

 

4) and when you remove the upper mask, you have your "6" perfectly masked for painting, with the center. Et voilà !

 

 

Btw, this pic shows also the masking for the cowling, already sprayed with some Tamiya grey primer.

 

 

That's all for now. I have to wait for the grey primer to harden, before buffing it and splashing some black before the Alclad metallics.

 

Hubert

Edited September 22, 2016 by MostlyRacers

[TorbenD]

Deeply sexy curves...   Looking forward to seeing some paint on

 

Lovely stuff Hubert.. Hats off to you about the hat too!

 

Torben

[Zero77]

That's really taking shape now ! What a perfectly smooth surface, you did a very good job Hubert !

(if i did not know it, i'd never say it was a vacu kit !)

 

 

 

 

Thank you John, much appreciated

 

And now some masks on. I have used the Silhouette to cut some masks for the number "6" on both sides of the aircraft. The decals provided in the kit seem OK, but they are 20 years old, so, being careful does not hurt.

Besides being a smart tool the Silhouette software allows to make masks quickly, and the copy/edit functions are great to do duplicates. This is particularly useful for the number 6, where there is a center mask in the bottom of the number, which will, by force, be cut completely, and will separate from the mask with the outline of the  number, when removing from the baking sheet. Next question then is : how to make sure it's properly centered.

 

Here is my procedure :

 

1) draw a mask with the full number and two positioning triangles. You can see in the pic below that the outline of the "6" is there, but it's missing the center that needs to be positioned. This one remained on the backing sheet of the mask paper.

 

 

2) By duplicating the drawing, then removing the outline of the "6" a second mask was cut with just the center of the "6". It is positioned on the previous mask, and the triangles help for a proper alignment.

 

3) the center "square", which has remained on the backing sheet,  is then positioned in the hole of the top mask, and therefore neatly aligned

 

 

4) and when you remove the upper mask, you have your "6" perfectly masked for painting, with the center. Et voilà !

 

 

Btw, this pic shows also the masking for the cowling, already sprayed with some Tamiya grey primer.

 

 

That's all for now. I have to wait for the grey primer to harden, before buffing it and splashing some black before the Alclad metallics.

 

Hubert

 

 

For the inner part of the mask (or any other digit or letter, or anything) i have different techniques.

-1 : with the eyball. If it doesn't need to be perfectly centered at 0.01mm, one can very easily place the inner part without any template.

-2 : sticking some tamiya Tape over the whole cut mask (outer mask, letter or digit, inner mask), transfering the whole stuff on the model and then you just have to remove the tape and what you dont need to mask.

-3 : applying the outer mask, then applying the letter / digit inside that outer mask, then the inner mask and then you just have to remove the letter / digit again as it was only used as a a template.

 

But anyhow you found another technique !

Edited September 23, 2016 by Zero77

[Hubert Boillot]

Thank you for the tip Nicolas. I am not pretending my approach is THE one. Just sharing it so that it gives others ideas, just like your method is also a nice one.

 

Anyway, some paint is on ! painted the black "6"- unfortunately my masks were slightly stretched by the conical curvature of the fuselage, and the result was slightly irregular. The good thing is that I also had the "6" mask from the cuting with the Silhouette, so I applied it to the numeral, and could clean the irregularities this way. I will nevertheless have to spray some white on the rear fuselage, as my puttying of the hair-thin crack on the upper and lower rear fuselage did not hold when removing the masks. Back to re-puttying, and re-sanding this area, then re-painting it!

 

I then sprayed Alclad Airframe Aluminum on the cowling area, had the Lamblin lobster pots sprayed with a mix of copper and brass, and finally sprayed some red on the tail 5some masks have not yet been removed in the tail area on the pics)

 

 

 

 

in the previous post, I said I wanted to reproduce the "Nieuport Delage" name on the rudder. I designed a full rudder decal - slightly bigger than the rudder - and then colored it in red, marking the "Nieuport Delage" name in white. After different trials, the closest typo seemed to me the "DIN condensed" one, stretched lengthwise. I printed the rudder decal on a white decal sheet. The red of the fin, stabs and elevators was then "reversed engineered" - the iModel kit app on iPhones is a great tool for that) to try to match the red coming out of the printer. I used some Revell enamals (still unopened) I have had for at least 15 years mixed to the proper" red. Not sure of the opacity of the red from my printer, I nevertheless painted the rudder in red, leaving just a white area where the "Nieuport Delage" name will be. On the pic below, the "good" decals will be the ones on the top left (horizontal)

 

 

Another area where the Silhouette is useful : the windscreen. The windscreen on the Sesquiplan was a small contraption, V-shaped in plan view (the latter versions of the same airframe had a 3-pieces windscreen with a flat center panel), and framed in aluminum. in 1/32 scale it is 4 mm high, and 16 mm wide, the frame being 0,6 mm wide ...

 

I designed the shape on the windscreen on the Silhouette, then proceeded to cut some aluminum plumbing tape for the thin metal frame. The frame thus obtained (I could never have been as precise and regular free-hand) has been fixed to a thin transparent plastic sheet, on both sides of it.

 

 

I then carefully cut the sheet with scissors, following the alu-tape frame outline, and folded it in the center. Et voilà,  the windscreen !

 

 

 

That's all for now

 

Thanks for lokking.

 

Hubert

[LSP_Kevin]

Fantastic work, Hubert!

 

Kev

[Shaka HI]

Nice! Great work on that windscreen!

[Guest Peterpools]

Hubert!

Just finished catching up - simply amazing work. Thoroughly enjoying your build.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[ClumsyDude]

Oh, super work on that windscreen. Bravo!

 

Jim

[TorbenD]

Cracking stuff Hubert, nearly there me thinks

 

...

 

Torben

[Hubert Boillot]

Cracking stuff Hubert, nearly there me thinks

 

...

 

Torben

 

 Thank you Peter and jim for following along .

 

Yes Torben, nearly there. I have to resist the urge of speeding through the final stages, and messing, blotching or forgetting something. A bit like old horses smelling the familiar paddock and taking short-cuts . Sounds familiar ?

 

My own clumsiness has made sure I will have some interesting moments before, however. When pushing some rolled paper masks in the cokpit and exhaust openings, I managed to :

 

- unglue one instrument from the panel. Putting this one back in place will be sporty

- unglue the seat. It was convenient in the end because I could keep my paper plug in place without too much worry when painting. But getting the seat back in position will be ... eh ..unnerving I suspect, but then how do I make sure it is glued in place ?

- and finally, worst of all, one of the backing plates to affix the exhaust stubs on, has become loose inside the nose. No way I can reglue this one in position, with just the propeller axle hole as an entry point. So how do I glue the stubs in place ?

 

Well we'll see, too close to give up now ...

 

HUbert

[vbd]

Magnifique, Hubert !!!

This is a fantastic build in every point  !!!

I generally glue the seats after completion (when applicable !), using wood glue.

I hope you will find a way to solve the exhaust problem... Maybe you could insert wood glue inside the nose and move the model till the backing plate comes in position ?

I focused on the number 7 for my 1/72 scale scratch, the blue one that has no fine lettering on the tail....

The windshield is not the same as yours, as it is a 3 parts affair with a front glass perpendicular to the direction of flight.

The "Speedseekers" drawings are wrong on this point, as some photos show it clearly.

I could not find the same evidence for your No 6, but I am tempted to think it could be the same...

This is a postcard on sale on a collector's site :

Denis

[Hubert Boillot]

Hello Denis,

 

Thank you for watching and following. As you know, "6" was destroyed one week after its world record, during the Coupe Deutsch race. "7" remained the only surviving airframe, and was modified during its life, including the clipped wings the following year  and later on the wing surface radiators instead of the Lamblin.

 

If you go back to the first page of this thread, you will see postcard facsimiles that Nicolas posted. They show clearly the "V" windscreen on  "7" (view from the back). As another side view of "7" with the 3-part windscreen looks different from the profile view of "6", I assumed they had both initially the  V-shaped windscreen.  The same profile of "6" has an illegible, but visible, oblique writing on the rudder. As it was the way Nieuport Delage wrote its name, I assumed it was just that : the company name (and besides you, how many are knowledgeable enough about this aircraft to contradict me forcefully ?). In the "Speed Seekers" book, there is a pic of "7" modfified, with a new race number ("5") and named "Eugene Gilbert", with white fin, rudder and tailplanes, where the name is written in bigger letters, black on white.

 

Hubert

Edited September 30, 2016 by MostlyRacers

[vbd]

Well, Huber, you are perfectly right, I did not notice these differences on these photos, I had not found them during my build, ......   ...

These prototypes mush have been modified an unknown number of times during their career ...

I could not see the 2 planes windshield on the photos of the "7".

 

In Speedseekers, there is a close up of Sadi Lecointe in the cockpit showing the 3 planes windshield, as on my picture of the 1921 salon.

The subsequent  "7" modifications for 1922 are very deep, basically a new wing and more power.

 

Denis