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.

Mat - Deep Cut Studio

The Curtiss Model 75 in Finnish Service

In a previous post I provided the Curtiss P-36/Model 75 in terms of Check Your 6! ratings. This post focuses on the Model 75’s service with the Finnish Air Force.

The Curtiss P-36, known variously as the Hawk, Mohawk, or Model 75, was used very little by its country of origin (the United States), seeing limited action at Pearl Harbor. However, several other nations used the Curtiss, in several different models, with varying degrees of success. France, in an effort to ramp up its military, purchased the Curtiss Model 75, variants A-1 through A-3, which resulted in the Curtiss making up nearly a third of the French fighter force by May 1940. Another country that used the Curtiss with great results was Finland, using captured versions obtained from Germany after France’s capitulation – the Finns utilized the Curtiss well into 1944, and donned the fighter with the name Sussu (Sweetheart). This post will delve a bit into the Curtiss while in Finnish service.

In Check Your 6! the Curtiss handles itself decently well for an early war aircraft. Using the A Maneuver Chart, the Model 75 also offers very good agility (+3) when not moving at maximum speed (4). Speed and firepower are where the Curtiss suffers when compared to aircraft introduced after 1941, but the ability to out turn most opponents along with upgrading the armament with two heavy machineguns (by the end of 1942) keeps the Curtiss relative even into 1944. Factoring in the overall exceptional Finnish aircrew quality, the Curtiss makes for a tough opponent. The A-4 version saw the introduction of the 1200 horsepower Wright Cyclone, but the Finns replaced the Cyclone with the lower powered Twin Wasp as it was deemed more reliable.

Nearly all of the Model 75s served in one squadron during the Continuation War, that being Lentolaivue 32, which completely converted to the Curtiss from the Gloster Gladiator shortly after the start of the war. The squadron typically consisted of three flights (of four to six aircraft each) and a command element. Of the fifty-eight pilots known to fly the Sussu at least sixteen of them became aces, Curtiss pilots claiming 190 kills, with the loss of just fifteen Model 75s, a ratio of nearly 13:1. Versions used by the squadron were the A-1 to A-4, as well as the previously Norwegian-owned A-6, a total of forty-four of all five types having been purchased from Germany. UPDATE (10/9/2025): According to the definitive account (Curtiss Design 75 Hawk P-36 and International Derivatives, written by Dan Hagedorn and Amaru Tincopa), the Finns utilized six Model 75A-1s, nine Model 75A-2s, nine Model 75 A-3s, seven Model 75A-4s, and thirteen Model 75A-6s. The Finns enjoyed flying the Sussu, calling it both robust and maneuverable. One might consider dropping the Agility penalty when moving at maximum speed and potentially increasing the Robustness to R2.

Books

We are blessed with several publications that cover the Finnish Air Force during the Second World War, many of them in English for us non-Finnish speakers. I will not list them all, but instead offer a few useful titles that I own:

Keskinen, Kalevi – Curtiss Hawk 75A – Stenman, 2004. A title that is mostly in Finnish but has English photo captions and an English translation section. Worth grabbing as it is focused mostly on the Model 75 (it does include some information on the P-40M that was captured and used by Lentolaivue 32).

Keskinen, Kalevi and Stenman, Kari – Finnish Aces of World War 2. Osprey Publishing, 1998. Typical Osprey offering that covers the aces that used various fighters in Finnish service.

Keskinen, Kalevi and Stenman, Kari - Finnish Air Force 1939-45. Squadron/Signal Publications, 1998. Numerous black and white pictures with some color profiles.

Persyn, Lionel, Stenman, Kari, and Thomas, Andrew – P-36 Hawk Aces of World War 2. Osprey Publishing, 2009. While there is a heavy focus on the Curtiss in French service, the Finnish use of the Model 75 is also covered in some detail.

Stenman, Kari – Finnish Aces: Their Planes and Units 1939-1945. MMPBooks, 2022. This pricey but large hardcover book (432 pages that weigh in at four pounds) is a deep dive into each Finnish ace, usually with a wartime photo of the pilot, black and white photos showing their various aircraft, and almost always a color profile of one of their aircraft. Included is a list of their victories, both confirmed and claimed but unconfirmed. This hefty book also provides detailed unit histories and several other appendices of information. Well worth the price if you are wanting a deep dive into Finnish fighter aces.

Aircraft Colors

Aircraft colors are often the subject of debate and confusion. However, the colors used on the Finnish Curtiss have been documented extremely well. I was able to find on the interwebs a document compiled by A. S. Marshall that provides Federal Standard 595b, RGB, and CMYK equivalents for not only the exterior but also for identification markings. The information for the Federal Standard colors came from Suomen ilmavoimien maalaukset ja merkinnät (Finnish Air Force camouflage and markings), written by Kari Keskinen, Kari Stenman, and Klaus Niska, published in 1996 by Apali Oy.

Early Model 75s in Finnish service were painted olive green on the upper surfaces and fuselage sides, with light blue under surfaces (RLM 65 should work as a good substitute). Later Finnish Model 75s were painted black and olive green on the upper surfaces, tail, and fuselage sides, with the under surfaces painted in light blue (some illustrations show light grey). As the black was faded in most cases, I suggest mixing light gray at a ratio four parts black to one part light gray. As with German-allied forces on the Eastern Front, the use of yellow on the cowling and under surface wingtips, along with a yellow fuselage band, were added to the Model 75s. Each flight had a distinctive color used for the aircraft number that appeared on the tail (yellow, white, or insignia blue with white outline). The aircraft number was the last digit of the plane’s serial number, a combination of a two-letter aircraft manufacturer code (CU for the Curtiss) and a three-digit number (example: CU-581 had a 1 on its tail). The serial number appeared in black on both sides of the fuselage. The hakaristi national insignia appeared in six positions (top and bottom of the wings and on the fuselage sides). Propeller hubs were usually painted black. There seems to have been no designated squadron insignia used for Lentolaivue 32.

AK Interactive makes a set of four acrylic paints for the Finnish Air Force. The colors included are black, olive green, light blue, and light grey. Arcus Hobby Colors also has a line of paints, available in enamel or acrylic, tailored for the Finns including a set for the Continuation War that has white, black, olive green, light blue, yellow, and grey. Lifecolor also makes a Finnish aircraft set, the acrylic colors being olive green, light grey, two shades of light blue, yellow, and black. 

Decals

Blue Sky Decals, Combat Miniatures, GHQ, Heroics & Ros, Hostile Aircraft, and I-94 Enterprises all make Finnish hakaristi in 1/285 or 1/300 scale. I am sure there are others, but these were the ones most prominent when searching online. Before someone makes a comment about the illustration of the hakaristi keep in mind that it was a symbol of luck prior to its modern day connotations.

Scenarios

In the Battles Above 4 scenario book (which features Eastern Front scenarios and available from I-94 Enterprises) there are three scenarios that include Model 75s (Claims For Everyone, Attack is the Best Defense, and 65 to 0). On the Check Your 6! discussion group there is also a scenario titled Finland’s Hawks, Stalin’s Falcon’s. The maximum number of Finnish Model 75s one would need to do all four scenarios is a very reasonable seven miniatures.

Where to Buy

There are a few companies making the Curtiss Model 75 in either 1/285th or 1/300th scale. As I use the former, I will list only those companies making 1/285th Model 75s that I have dealt with and highly recommend.

Flight Deck Decals – If I was choosing just one manufacturer, I would have to go with Flight Deck Decals. They offer the Curtiss in 1/300 but will do large custom orders in 1/285. These are printed planes, but the quality of the print and the material used is so good as to be amazing. You can find the Curtiss listed in two places – Other Nations WWII and USA WWII planes (both of these are found under the 3D Miniatures tab). In both cases look for Curtiss P-36-H75 Hawk. The price per plane at the time of this post was a trifling $2.10.

Raiden Miniatures – Code USA29 P-36 Mohawk can be found under the United States listing. At the time of this post, cost per plane was $3.00. My P-36s for Pearl Harbor are Raiden Miniatures. They are cleanly cast (being a newer addition to the Raiden line). Service from I-94 is exceptional, and they have online ordering.

Table Top Flights – A company with equally exceptional service, these are resin printed miniatures. Under the United States listing, look for Curtiss P-36/Hawk 75 (product code A-08-009-285) and be certain to click on the 1/285 box (they also make the Curtiss in 1/200 and 1/144). Cost is $3.50. The detail is excellent if subtle and the planes are cleanly printed. Easy to use online ordering makes working with Mike at TTF a breeze.

The Completed Ponnier

This nice little bird is completed! Added another coat of yellow to the rudder stripe, added the remaining decals, and applied a coat of matte varnish. The decals (made by I-94) were sent by a fellow gamer (thanks again, Keith). Alas, they were a bit aged, so some tore during the process, so I went with Miscellaneous Miniatures decals. The sizes are pretty close to the illustration shown.

After several discussions with camelbeagle and other on the Wings of Glory forum, I've decided to go with the following stats:

V Deck, B Gun, 10 damage points, Climb Rate of 4. I have been unable to obtain a maximum altitude for the Ponnier.

Colors: Wing surfaces and wheel covers AK Interactive Clear Doped Linen version 2, tires Vallejo Medium Sea Grey, fuselage and propeller Vallejo Cork Brown, Lewis gun and motor Vallejo Natural Steel, rudder flash Vallejo Black, Vallejo Carmine Red, and Army Painter Babe Blonde, struts Vallejo Flat Brown.

I cannot wait to get this little plane on the table.

Mat - GripMats

A Proper Ponnier

Another project nearly completed - this one being a French made but Belgian used Ponnier M.1. The Ponnier was rejected by the French as they were focusing more on other types (the Nieuport line in particular) while the Belgians were scrambling for whatever they could get their hands on. 

The Ponnier story is one of controversy. I addressed this on the Wings of Glory forum, but will repeat here.

Table Top Flights' Ponnier M.1

One of the smallest of Great War fighters, which might have led to its perceived poor performance as being nose heavy. Nungesser disliked the plane after flying it in January 1916 with the initial smaller rudder, and the unknown (at the time) Willi Coppens did not want to fly it either. But Coppens would have had no "clout" in 1916, and Nungesser was performing acrobatics at 200 meters in an unfamiliar plane that led to him being injured. Jean Navarre also mentioned the plane was demanding to fly, but then again so was the Sopwith Camel.

However, I feel that the Ponnier has been unfairly represented.

As a American Civil War historian, I often deal with those who cling to misconceptions that permeate history, such as Braxton Bragg was a terrible general and everyone hated him. But the historical data does not back that argument as many of his soldiers, writing private letters home, wanted Bragg back in command during the Atlanta Campaign, over Joseph Johnston. You see a small but vocal portion of Bragg's army that did indeed dislike the man, but many in his army respected Bragg. Much like Bragg I have a feeling that there is a misconception for the Ponnier due to one bad report that other pilots gravitated towards without understanding the circumstances, and without having flown the plane themselves.

Noted Belgian aviation expert Walter Pieters in his definitive account of the Belgian Air Service (The Belgian Air Service in the First World War - Aeronaut Books, 2010) includes two photos of the Ponnier, with the caption of stating that the Ponnier was used by two Escadrille de Chasse (the 1st and 5th). No derogatory commentary is included. Pieters, in his book Above Flanders' Fields (Grub Street, 1998) provides one brief mention of how a Ponnier was tested during the summer of 1916, and mentions that several Belgian pilots were photographed with the plane. A thought to ponder - if the plane was so bad why would a pilot be seen in a photo with this plane? Pieters goes on to mention that Jan Olieslagers convinced higher authorities to not purchase the plane. However, there is no evidence I have been able to source that Olieslagers ever flew the plane, and perhaps was simply using Nungesser's comments. So, has the Ponnier been given the short end? It is rated by the Unofficial Stats Committee as a K Deck for maneuverability, and only six points of damage, again, as far as I can tell, based on the common misconception taken from Nungesser's flight in an unfamiliar plane at low altitude. The Nieuport 28 was not highly thought of, with the fabric shredding issues, until its pilots learned how to use the plane more effectively, and two of its squadrons wanted to keep the Nieuport instead of taking on the SPAD XIII. The Ponnier was not given much of an opportunity, but could it have performed, in the hands of a pilot who knew how to use it, like the Nieuport?

I suggest a revision to the Ponnier - as it used a rotary engine it might be considered for an I Deck. That might feel extreme to those who look through Nungesser lenses, so perhaps a compromise of a J Deck is in order? As for damage, if we believe that this plane has been given an undeserved reputation, then an 11 or 12 for a light 1916 plane is in order.

The coat of primer applied - one can really see the print lines that are enhanced by a digital camera

I've toyed with obtaining a Ponnier for years now, but Kampfflieger is was the only Shapeways option before they went tits up, my dallying about kept me from picking up a SRAM version when they were still available. However, the Shapeways version was offered in white natural versatile, which to me is code for "too damn grainy" and "too much damn prep work." Being a relatively lazy modeler, I like to spend less time in prep and paint and more time gaming. So when camelbeagle brought me a Ponnier from his recent trip to Origins, I was ecstatic! You see, this version is made by member mikejr74 (Table Top Flights), who produced his model in a high quality material that feels a bit more like plastic and is certainly less grainy than white natural versatile.

Base colors added - Vallejo cork brown and AK Interactive clean doped linen (version 2)

I have since painted the rudder with the Belgian colors and have added decals to the top wing. Once I have completed all the decals I'll hit the rudder with another coat (the yellow I have is very thin and needs several coats) and apply matte varnish overall. 

Escadrille Americaine - Thaw's Nieuport 16

Before adding roundels

I am not 100% pleased with this one, but for a gaming piece it is decent. I took an Ares Nieuport 16, ripped off the top wing, removed the struts, tried to cut the rockets off, then reversed the struts so that the residue from the rockets that I could not remove would be less noticeable. I then painted it a nice AK Interactive Clear Doped Linen (version 2), gave it a little touch up, and applied Miscellaneous Miniatures decals (the bottom still retains its historical French markings). Thaw's N.16 is done.

The smoothness of the paint job does not match the Chapman N.11 I completed last year, and one can see some issues around the struts on the lower wings, but in the flesh it is not so bad. 

The finished product

There were two linen colored Nieuports in the Escadrille Americaine - Chapman's with confirmed American looking roundels on the top wing, and Thaw's speculated to be the same. Having these on the board against the normal green and brown Nieuports is a nice change of pace.

Looking pretty decent from a distance!

The base is a Rival Sky Games offering (I just received several bases - cost and shipping were very reasonable from Australia to the United States), while the mat is a new GripMats from Etsy (Break From Reality Games). Super happy with both of these products!

Kościuszko!

After a couple of months of not touching any of my Wings of Glory projects, I have been slowly working on a pair of Ansaldo A.1s for the Kościuszko Squadron. I believe I have them completed from a painting perspective - now I just need to order decals to mark the planes. They are not perfect, but looking pretty decent I think, and once the decals have been added and a final coat of sealer has been applied, they should look good on the tabletop. 

These are resin prints, from Table Top Flights. Good prices and service from Mike over at Table Top. Painted with Vallejo cork brown for the fuselages, and AK Interactive clear doped linen version2 for the wings and tail.

Oops, just noticed I forgot the radiator on the top wing, so I have now taken care of that task, and with a little more touchup around the radiator, the painting will be completed.

I've put together the framework of a scenario, pitting the two Ansaldos, along with a Camel, against two Soviet Sopwith Snipes. Balance should be decent - the Ansaldos are similar to the SPAD XIII, so think boom and zoom. The Snipes are speedy and maneuverable, but slightly balanced by the Camel. The scenario, called Snipes on the Hunt, is available on the Downloads page above.

Wings of Glory AAR

The repainted Nieuport 11

So the announcement came on the Wings of Glory Aerodrome - the July session of the Wright Flight would be Nieuport 11s facing off against Fokker eindekkers. We had a large turnout, with over a dozen players. Apparently last minute a decision was made to do some sort of odd Cthulhu game? WTF? I didn't drive an hour to game stinkin' fantasy! Luckily the G Dog brought planes to stick with the original plan while the heretics played in the other event...but then also appeared on our table Nieuport 16s and Halberstadt D.IIIs! Would my little Chapman N.11 make it? (repainted with AK Interactive Clear Doped linen version 2 as it matched the color already present on the bottom of the plane very well).

The target for the Allies was a drachen, with three N.11s and one N.16 facing off against a pair of Fokkers and a pair of Halberstadts. To be honest, I was having too much fun poking one my Nieuport partners to focus much on the game or take many pictures, but one N.11, the target of my fun, was able to cause a fire on the balloon as he himself was shot down, both from plane damage and a second pilot wound. Another N.11, using incendiaries and colliding with the balloon, also inflicted a great amount of damage. I used my Nieuport to snipe at the opposing German aircraft, avoiding the the ground fire while throwing out a little damage here and a little damage there. I started taking hits in return, and decided, with the remaining Nieuports now heading beck to Allied lines, that it was time to leave the fighting as well. The balloon burned up before reaching ground, so it was an Allied victory.

Staying on the periphery, causing damage as I go

The flaming Jean Navarre Nieuport, before meeting his demise

In the future I will be certain to bring extra planes and gaming mats to help stick with the original plan as all I brought was my single Nieuport 11.