Hat in the Ring's First - Part II

I finally got around to completing the Nieuport 28s needed for my Hat in the Ring's First scenario by taking care of the rudder colors. The planes are not really 100% complete, as I do need squadron insignias but no one is making squadron markings for the 94th Aero in 1/144 scale. While I am overall pleased with the effort, I am noticing a few places in need of touchup, and I believe, knowing full well that I have the historical information for this, that I have the rudder colors incorrect - should be blue/white/red, fore to aft. Also, there is some question as to whether or not the red jagged cowling edges were there at the time of this action. I opted to go without, mostly because of my lack of skills when it comes to painting such details.

I still need to finish up the Albatros D.Va and Pfalz D.IIIa needed for this scenario. Thanks to my buddy Matt, I do have a lozenge pattern decal on the upper wing of the Albatros (the Pfalz did not sport a lozenge pattern), but still need to add balkan crosses. My buddy The G Dog let me look through his stash of German decals, but I could not find the correct thickness and size needed. I have seen crosses that are long and thin, others that have too much of a white border, but not the correct size. I might just go with eisen since I have so many of those already, and it would match the Pfalz. Both planes came from Jasta 64w, and as the scenario takes place in April, planes bearing the eisen cross, particularly in a jasta that was not one with a commendable reputation, it is not that much of a stretch to think the planes could still be sporting the older style cross.

Adding More Nieuports

Shapeways on left, Table Top on right. Posts and props as well.

For some months I have had a couple of 1/144 Nieuport N.17s awaiting prep, paint, and decals. One model is a Shapeways with the improved print material, and the other is a Table Top Flights offering. With my recent efforts in adding life to three Ares miniatures, I thought it might be nice to add to my Lafayette Escadrille's stable of available Nieuports.

Preparation

Neither plane came with posts, so luckily I did order posts from Shapeways before they declared bankruptcy. A couple of cuts with the X-ACTO knife to remove the pegs from the sprue, some filing to the edge that gets glued to the plane, and then a little superglue, and the pegs are securely in place.

Comparing the two materials - Table Top is smoother and more detailed

Posts added, time for priming

After drying the next step was a coat of primer. Normally I use some AK Interactive gray that I brush on, but last time I used it it had become quite separated, and rigorous shaking yielded undesirable results. Fortunately I had a can of Testers Panzer Gray, which I have used as primer in the past, and I really love the smooth coverage Testors provides.

After priming it was on to painting.

Painting

I already have the "T" and three red bar Nieuports, plus a white band one that I converted from another three bar Ares. Another historical scheme was simply the Seminole Indian head with the national insignia. Okay, that is easy enough. But what about the second one?

My friend Dan (camelbeagle on the Wings of Glory Aerodrome) had a Soubiran version already, using decals from the Valom kit (although I am not certain if the decal's fuselage band color is correct - the decal is black, but the band might actually be red). I also know I cannot pull off letters like "ECP" as that becomes too fiddly and I do not have the ability to print my own decals. One also needs to keep in mind that many of the schemes found searching the world wide web are simply wrong. And the two books I have that include color plates cover the same aircraft I already have or cannot pull off.

And then I remembered - I had bought one of the Nieuports to do a Russian version! And I already have the Russian decals for the scheme I wanted to tackle, and it, too, is a silver doped plane. Sooo, the rest of this post will focus on the Lafayette version, which will simply be a plain plane, with national insignia and Seminole heads!

A close approximation for the silver-doped Ares Nieuport 17 is a mix suggested by Dom from Dom's Decals. Take six parts of Vallejo silver and blend with five parts Vallejo natural steel. I also thin this mix with a little water - metallic paints can be think and I would rather put on a couple of coats of thin paint than a thick one susceptible to clumping. Or, let's make it even simpler - just use Vallejo aluminium (yes, the British spelling). The Model Air range of Vallejo paints are a bit thinner in viscosity, and one does not have to mix paints, and the color is very close to the Ares Nieuports. Plus, we all know that paint widely varied during the war due to weather conditions, and different factories doped fabric differently.

One coat coverage -  the Shapeways version is so shite I am not going to even bother

After the primary color had been applied (and I only needed one coat with a few touchups after), I moved onto the rudder. I used Vallejo white and carmine red, along with Foundry Bavarian cornflower blue (shade 73A).  I was able to use masking tape for the red segment, and I tried lining up a business card to help keep the rest of the lines straight (an idea shared by CrashCraig), but it is still a bit sloppy. And it was the old "Let me fix the white. Damn, went over on the blue too much. Okay, fixed the blue, but got it in the white. Okay, fixed the white, but now I have to correct the red" sort of thing). After doing this several times, I said "feck it" and now it is what it is. From three feet away it looks decent.

While waiting on rudder colors to dry, I added Vallejo flat brown to the outer struts, propeller, pilot, and tail skid. I also painted the machinegun, motor cylinders, and propeller hub Vallejo natural steel. A touch of Vallejo medium sea gray was applied to the tires.

Decals

Now the fun part - the finishing touches that add color to the Lafayette Escadrille Nieuport 17. I used Beacon Publications decals (available from I-94 Enterprises) for the French roundels. Alas, the sizes available do not perfectly align with the Ares planes - for example the top wing roundel on the Ares plane is 7mm, while the closest size Beacon decals are either 8mm or 6mm. I went with the smaller of the two as I did not want the roundel to come across as cartoonish by being too large. Then I applied the Miscellaneous Miniatures Sioux heads to each side of the plane. In both cases I put a spot of Vallejo decal fix on the plane, and after some drying coated the decal with Vallejo decal softener, which allows the decal to conform to the miniature. After drying I then coated the plane with Vallejo gloss varnish to match the other Lafayette Nieuports.

Conclusion

This is the not first Table Top Flight plane I have painted for Wings of Glory (see HERE), and I will say that in every case the material used by Mike at Table Top really does take paint very well, unlike the Shapeways model with it obvious grainy texture. This particular Lafayette Escadrille Nieuport was a rather simple project to take on, and I completed it over the course of three days. The color is a tad off, and perhaps using the mix suggested by Dom might have resulted in a matched aircraft, but overall it works.

Part II - Bringing The Lafayette Escadrille to Life

As mentioned in the previous post, I am working on an easy project on a few Wings of Glory/War Lafayette Escadrille planes to bring them to a bit nicer look.

The first step to modify what will become the Haviland N.17 was to mix paints to match the Wings of War silver-doped color. Using six parts of Vallejo silver and five parts Vallejo natural steel, one can obtain a pretty close approximation. The painted over portion is a bit shinier than the rest of the plane, but this should not be an issue once I give the plane a coat of varnish.

Painted over the three red stripes on the rear fuselage, and have applied a white band

The second step was to use masking tape to paint a white fuselage band around the Nieuport. This was trickier than expected, simply because it was a challenge to hold the plane while trying to line up the tape. But, once I was able to get the two pieces in place, then I applied a coat of Vallejo white. A second coat was added, yielding this okay, but not great result. Good enough for the tabletop, but not for my OCD.

Band in place, three bars painted over

Then it was time to add the Sioux head decals to all the Nieuports. Using a little Vallejo decal fix, and soaking the Miscellaneous Miniatures decals in warm water, I was able to place the decals over the existing dull looking Seminole heads. This addition really brought some life to the Lafayette planes!

Touched up the rudder flashes a bit. Not perfect, but much better than they were initially. I then added coat of gloss varnish which was going to be followed by a coat of matte, but I like the look of the gloss enough to leave it as is. 

Complete!

The new decals are adding a splash of color

Not completely satisfied with the white fuselage band, but from three feet is works

And a video summarizing the project: