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

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:

Mat - GripMats

Part I - Bringing The Lafayette Escadrille to Life

N.1844 with some bad decal placement. This will be the miniature used for a repaint.

I own three of the Wings of War Lafayette Escadrille Nieuport 17s - two marked with three red stripes on the fuselage side, and one with a "T" on the fuselage. According to Jon Guttman's SPA124 Lafayette Escadrille - American Volunteer Airmen in World War 1 (Osprey, 2004), the three red stripes on the first mentioned Nieuport are "coup marks," but in his Nieuport Flyers of the Lafayette (Albatros, 2006), the three stripes represent Captaine George Thenault's rank. Four different pilots flew N.1844 - Thenault, Lufbery, Hoskier, and Willis, so whether the personal markings represent coup marks of the Native American Indians or the captain's rank, one plane needs to be converted into a different N.17. As one of the models has the three stripes in an awkward position I will use that model for the "repaint."

Colors to be mixed for the repaint

I will be using Dom's Decals suggested mix of six parts Vallejo silver and five parts Vallejo natural steel to paint over the three stripes. Then I will add masking tape to paint a vertical white band around the fuselage to represent Willis Haviland's N.1887, which later became George Hinkle's plane with the addition of an "H" on the fuselage and red trim on the white band.

The rather dark and dull looking Seminole head will be replaced

On all three N.17s the Seminole head looks rather dull, the colors looking rather muted, almost black and white. I will be using decals from Miscellaneous Miniatures to add some color to the planes. While the decals represent the later Sioux motif, I think they will work nicely as Seminole heads and will enhance the plane's colors rather well.

The decals to be used. I have used some on Reduced Aircraft Factory color 103rd Aero SPAD S.VIIs to great effect. See THIS POST

I also need to fixe the rudder flashes on two of the N.17s as the red portion has a bit of decal missing. 

This is a rather easy project, or should be, with really only the masking and painting of the white fuselage band presenting the hardest aspect. I should be able to knock these out over the next couple of days, in time for some Bloody April fighting at the monthly Wright Flight gathering.

Mat - GripMats

Belgian Aircraft

While some of the following aircraft might be a tad difficult to find, here are the pre-painted and color printed Wings of Glory planes for the Belgian air force (Aviation Militaire Belge). Some are Ares, some are Nexus, and some are Reduced Aircraft Factory via the now defunct Shapeways. I own most of the following, but still need to add the RAF Strutter, Breguet, and two of the Hanriots to my collection, which should be possible as RAF might have found a new printer for his color printed offerings!

Reduced Aircraft Factory

Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter (4me Escadrille)

Breguet 14A2 (5me Escadrille)

R.A.F. B.E.2c (4me Escadrille)

Sopwith Pup (11eme Escadrille de Chasse)

Hanriot H.D.1 (1ère Escadrille de Chasse)

Hanriot H.D.1 (1ère Escadrille de Chasse)

Hanriot H.D.1 (1ère Escadrille de Chasse)

SPAD VII (5éme Escadrille de Chasse)

Nieuport 23 (5éme Escadrille)

Nexus

Sopwith Camel (1ère Escadrille de Chasse)

R.A.F. R.E.8

Ares

Hanriot H.D.1 (11eme Escadrille de Chasse)

Rehabbing Rickenbacker

Yuck, yuck, yuck!

We hates it, we do! Nasty little hobbit...er, hideous Wings of Glory SPAD XIII of Eddie Rickenbacker. It has one of the worst, if not THE worst, color scheme of all the Ares/Nexus planes for Wings of Glory. And in their infinite wisdom when Ares had a chance to correct the horror that is Rickenbacker when they re-released the plane, they chose to keep the same incorrect colorations in place. Pink? Really, pink? Okay, maybe more like mauve. Lime Green? Seriously? It is to this day one of the most common planes you will find on eBay and some retail sites, and usually for a good price. Why? To be honest, it's a crappy looking plane! Not only that, but the SPAD XIII has been woefully under rated within the construct of the rules (more on that in a later post) and so while it was a very common plane in 1918 gamers avoid using it.

A little more like it!

So, what do we do with the pair of Rickenbacker SPADs that I own? REPAINT! I recently ordered some Tamiya paints that are purported to be pretty darn close to the colors of the French five color camouflage, and already owning a more properly done Frank Luke SPAD, I decided it was time to give Luke a wingman, in this case Joseph Wehner's #8. 

This is the first of a few posts showing my progress as I move forward with this rehab of a piss poor color scheme. I've never tried painting a five color camo scheme, but with proper colors (or close to them) at hand, and 27th Aero Squadron decals from Miscellaneous Miniatures, the first step, painting the undersides of the SPAD, has been completed. Tamiya color XF-57, Buff. As you can see it is a much more subtle shade, the paint flowing nicely onto the model. The shade is actually about the same as the wheel carriage, which Nexus/Ares should have used for the undersides of the SPAD as a whole.

I have never used Tamiya paints before, but am quite happy with the ease the paint moves from the brush and the smoothness of the paint once applied. I am actually happy that the single coat did not cover the American roundels as now they will serve as a guide as to where to place the decals.

Der Drachen

While Ares, after a promise of a few years, finally did re-release their balloons, I have shied away from purchasing one. But, with planning a Frank Luke scenario, I decided I wanted to obtain a balloon. Instead of going with the Ares offerings, I had come across a 1/144 scale Parseval-Sigsfeld Drachen, manufactured by Pig Models. While more expensive than Ares, it is also far more realistic in appearance than the Wings of Glory models. Finding a decent price online, I received the balloon today and set about with assembly. Now, I have not put together a proper model in years, and while the amount of pieces and parts are relatively small, I did not consider that the various guidelines and ropes are photo-etched parts, something I have no experience with.

 

I have taken care of the first few basic steps, using just five of the plastic parts thus far (and only four left). The pieces fit together nicely, with some raised portions within the balloon itself to ensure proper alignment of the two halves. Next steps include adding the various etched lines, so we'll see how that turns out in a future post.

By the way, the Parseval-Sigsfeld has several nicknames. One is Drachen, or dragon. Another is sausage. Yet another, a bit on the unsavory side, is Nulle, which I will leave to your imagination.... 

Mat - Deep Cut Studio

Snipes on the Hunt After Action Report

At the Wright Flight monthly Wings of Glory gaming day I hosted the Snipes on the Hunt Polish-Soviet War scenario. Five players took part, and we used some modified rules (covered within the scenario found on the Downloads page above).

Using the random starting location generator from the Wings of Glory Aerodrome, the Poles, being on the defense, started in the center of the table, while the attacking Bolsheviks were two range sticks to the Poles' starboard. Within a few turns the planes engaged, with one Ansaldo taking some early damage. I had the Camel, and climbed to maximum altitude while the two Ansaldos became also separated in height. The players took a few turns to grasp the changes to the diving and firing rules, but worked both changes pretty well for the remainder of the game. The Soviet ace continued to lay down some heavy damage on the G Dog's Ansaldo, flown by an ace and representing Meriam C. Cooper's plane, he of later King Kong fame, continued to take a beating as his damage cards were of higher values in the A deck. Down went G Dog.

Down goes G Dog - note the heavy amount of damage inflicted

The other Ansaldo started taking damage, including the boom card (which we play at half damage rounded up) and limped off the board with just a point or two of damage remaining on the stricken aircraft. While  had a nice run at one at the Snipes, my altitude was too high for firing, so I decided that as the Soviets had two planes in excellent shape still on the board that it was time for some discretionary valor and headed for the safety of friendly lines.

All in all it was a short game, even with the modified altitudes for firing. The Ansaldos were given diving turn cards to enhance their historical performance, but the nimble Snipes were too much to overcome.

We laid out a second game in which I hosted and another player swapped in. The second game saw a much longer combat, with no planes shot down, but a couple forced off the table.

Starting locations for the second game

Planes: Table Top Flights Ansaldos, Ares Camel and Snipes

Mat - GripMats

Magnets - K and J Magnetics

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!

The Voss Effect

Transitioning some of my blog posts from over at the Wings of War Aerodrome to the blog so that others might enjoy!

Last Dance of the Hussar by Russell Smith

I have been working a bit with camelbeagle (Dan) on a Voss Wings of Glory scenario. Well, Dan has been doing most of the work, but I have been making a few suggestions about setup, aircraft, using more accurate climb rates, that sort of thing. For those who do not know, I have a side business - I give tours and talks related to the Civil War - American that is. So, historical accuracy is fairly important to me. Dan has planned a four on four fight, simply to keep the amount of players around the table at a reasonable number, with four SE.5s against Voss in his triplane, with a couple of Pfalz D.IIIs and an Albatros D.V making a late arriving appearance. 

In reading accounts of the action (September Evening: The Life and Final Combat of the German World War One Ace Werner Voss by Barry Diggens and Lt. Werner Voss: Germany's Greatest Teenage Ace by Walter Musciano) it is apparent that Voss cannot be given too many ace abilities. I have an Ares Voss Pfalz on its way, mostly for the ace ability cards, and a couple of Pfalz D.IIIs offered by Reduced Aircraft Factory of a couple of the German pilots involved. Dan has 56 Squadron in hand. 

Looking forward to testing this scenario and then hosting for the Wright Flight in the future. When we do, we'll be certain to post an after action report!

By the way, the Musciano book was written in the 1960s, and the colors given for Voss's various planes are questionable at best...stating that his Fokker and Pfalz has red noses...Rudolph would be proud.