This is the Nieuport Bébé, or Nieuport 11, of World War One. It was a very small aircraft as its nickname implies, and this 1:72 scale model is tiny. It comes from a Czech firm, Kovozávody Prostějov, which I'll refer to as KP. The aircraft type was a very important one, since it provided a template for most of the fighters of WWI and indeed most of the interwar years, right into the 1930s; namely a biplane single seater with an open cockpit and a forward firing gun.
The fighter aircraft as such was quite a long time coming, and it hadn't really gelled until this, the Nieuport 11. Prior to this Germany had introduced the most successful fighting type so far, the Fokker Eindecker, a flimsy monoplane constructed in typical prewar fashion, but it did feature a synchronisation mechanism for its machine gun, an interrupter gear. This allowed the pilot to fire straight ahead between the propeller blades. Since it was the only aeroplane to have this, for a while it threatened to clear the skies of all Allied aeroplanes.
In relative terms, the Nieuport was a more modern type: a cleaner design, faster and more agile, and it ended what had become known as the 'Fokker Scourge', along with a few other types like the British DH 2. Its period of dominance continued for only so long, ended by the appearance of the German Albatroses, bigger and with two machine guns to the Nieuport's one. But the Albatroses were to pay a sort of backwards compliment to the Nieuports by adopting the Nieuports' signature 'V' struts and sesquiplane (ie. the top wing much bigger than the lower wing - it gave the pilot a better downward view) wing layout.
It's a rather crude model kit, to be honest. KP are currently issuing a series of 1:72 WWI kits which do usefully fill gaps in what's available, but they seem to derive from earlier resin kits in inspiration, or so some people think. They're short run kits, in plastic of limited quality. So, no locating pins, overlarge injection points - if that's the right term - they take a lot of time trimming off. There is some nice detail, but one shouldn't expect too much for what is a simple design, in a small scale. This picture (above) is an attempt to show the instrument panel which of course was pretty simple anyway. The cockpit detail isn't bad, really.
I did get into trouble mounting the top wing. I'll blame the kit, for drastic incorrect lengths for the struts and other supports. Not to mention the fact that the so-called instruction leaflet has wildly misleading numbers for the various relevant parts and unhelpful and confusing illustrations of them. But I have to confess I have previous with Nieuports. I've already attempted two builds of similar v-strutted Nieuports in 1:32 scale - yes, should be easier ha ha - and had similar problems. It's the geometry you see. At the crucial point you find the whle thing wants to swing forward/the struts won't locate at all... I know, by now I should be more competent. There's a psychological factor here; for me it's a bit like how Finnish ice hockey teams might sometimes be superior to Swedish ones but that particular rivalry means that when it comes to it, all good sense goes out the window. Or maybe you can relate to this: for some while now, Arsenal have been better than Spurs, but when the North London derby comes around, normalcy vanishes and they're reduced to dumb equals. That's me and Nieuports.
And it matters, because one inspiration for making this now was that I've just preordered what looks like a fab new kit of the Nieuport 11 in 1:32, from Copper State. Along with a figure of French ace Jean Navarre, who famously flew it over the battlefield of Verdun. I'll be building it as his plane. This much smaller KP model should look more light blue, in the colours sported by Georges Guynemer when he flew the Bébé; the lighting makes it look grey sadly.
You'll have noticed that this aircraft, like other early Nieuport 11s, has its gun fitted over the top wing, firing over the propeller. Later ones did have interrupter gear, but it took a little while before the Allies developed gear reliable enough that they could fit it with confidence. The other reason I wanted to build this kit was to add it to the group of types I've modelled which display different methods of forward firing before synchronisation was perfected. Fitting a gun to the top wing was soon preferred by most designers. Its one disadvantage was the the problem of access, which you needed in order to clear a jam or change the magazine, but the British for one developed a mount which swung the gun down within reach of the pilot. Tricky in the middle of combat, but that's a discussion for another day.
Anyway, a neat little kit, and it certainly serves my purpose.
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