Next Project: A Pfalz E.II. The fastest and best-climbing of the Eindekkers, it still suffered from stability problems.

I did the conversion many years ago, using a Revell Fokker E.III kit and rebuilding the landing gear and tail planes to represent the Morane/Pfalz style. I didn't know at that time that most of the Pfalz eindekkers were white, and I didn't know that the Pfalz was 2-1/2 feet shorter than the Fokker. That's only 1/3 inch or 8mm in 1/72 scale, and it might not be enough to notice. Still...

Anyway, this is the model as I left it all those years ago.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psc7bc0a48.jpg

A couple hours soaking in a bowl of thinner and a thorough scrubbing later, it looks like I'll be considering this as new construction rather than just a repair job. The thinner took off more than just the paint.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psdbb56a19.jpg

It's easy to measure in 1/72 scale when you have an architect's ruler.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps9c964d0d.jpg

Cut two scale feet off the rear.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps5fd47098.jpg

Sand the fuselage to shape and re-attach the tailpiece. Sand the tail to blend and the fuselage is good to go.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps467e3f74.jpg

Rebuilt the landing gear from scratch, glued the wings back on, found some properly-scaled tailfins in the spares box, built a new tailskid and it's ready for paint.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps3573307f.jpg

Painted.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps5f941034.jpg

Didn't get anything done yesterday due to jam night. Today I scribed the wing rib lines and got the main decals on. Next are the tiny little Pfalz serial numbers, then the pilot, prop, and rigging.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psd96b7227.jpg

Pfalz E.II is done. Only three pictures, because I kept taking them over and over and not getting them to come out right. The E.II is only slightly different from the E.I anyway, having a 32-foot wingspan rather than the E.I's 28-foot span. This resulted in six bracing wires per side rather than four, and the nine-cylinder 100-horsepower engine instead of the seven-cylinder 80hp model.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psded6f3b9.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps0b223e6b.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps4a3d6fd8.jpg

Next project: An early Nieuport 11. A smaller, handier version of the N.10, the N.11 was nicknamed "Bébé", or "Baby". First deliveries began in November 1915, and the plane entered front-line service in January 1916. It was faster and more maneuverable than the eindekkers, its only drawback being the lack of a syncronizer. Most of them were armed with the British Lewis gun mounted atop the upper wing.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps4ae55578.jpg

This looks like it's going to be a straight "out of the box" build, with a couple of exceptions. Primary assembly is fairly straightforward - cut the pieces from the tree, trim the flash and glue them together.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psdfe4aa84.jpg

The N.11 I've settled on was a bit different from every other Nieuport. It had the oil collectors behind the cowling replaced with large faired panels, apparently from a Bristol Scout. This required puttying in the fuselage sides, sanding, more putty, more sanding and still more of both. This took most of the day, and it's still not done. It's almost there, though, and tomorrow should see landing gear and primer coat, if not more.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps5e3a1125.jpg

New side panels mostly finished, landing gear installed and first coat in place. The paint is a bit more yellow than I usually use, and I mixed it especially for this plane and French planes to follow. In the 'Colours And Markings' section of the Nieuport Fighters special volume 1, historian and color expert Ray Rimell writes about what he calls the French 'Yellow Period' (mid 1916-early 1918). He says they started adding aluminum powder and yellow pigment to the dope, keeping the same general color but protecting the fabric. Of the color itself, Rimell says it "...could vary from a rich egg yolk shade through to a near beige, or buff to a whitish yellow depending on age and/or weathering." I'm not sure of the exact shade on this particular aircraft, but then it seems that nobody is. I've been using three different shades of desert tan or sand for British, French and German planes, varying them by adding a little white or a little brown from time to time. In this case I took the French mix I've been using and added some 'Chrome Yellow', the color used on the wings of US aircraft in the 1920s and '30s.


http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps66849d8a.jpg

I spent part of yesterday sanding and repainting, and then gave up. Today I took some thinner and a rag and completely stripped all the paint off. I then repainted the yellow, finally obtaining a surface I thought was smooth enough. Then I masked and sprayed the personal marking on the nose - a solid medium blue. Tomorrow I'm finally ready to put it together.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps04d0e71d.jpg

Nieuport 11. The model represents a very early British version, delivered in French markings. The only indication of its nationality is the RNAS serial number on the sides. When the nose and upper wings were painted blue is uncertain, but according to Ray Rimell in the Datafile special on Nieuport fighters, for awhile at least it was flown by Flight Commander Kenneth Stevens Savory, who called it the Blue Bird. It was also unusual, and possibly unique, in having the Lewis gun mounted on the forward deck and firing through the propeller. The French were by this time using the Lewis in favor of their own Hotchkiss gun, and all Nieuport 11s were delivered with the gun mounted to the top wing.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps420aff93.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psed8b4ff1.jpg

Evident in the photograph I built the model from is the starboard aileron which was apparently damaged and a new one either installed from the spares supply or canibalized from another aircraft.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps2fe2fd89.jpg

This last picture gives a good view of the unusual side-panels, engine and the deck-mounted Lewis gun.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps9837c147.jpg

I like that one. The Nieuport 11 has been my favorite for a long time.

It's always been high on my list too. Performance aside (and its performance was superlative for the time) some planes are just too cute for words. I could build a dozen N.11s and still want more.

Maybe someday. <sigh>