Nieuport Ni-17
Weekend Edition

Eduard, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Rob Baumgartner

Eduard's 1/48 scale Nieuport 17 Weekend Edition is available online from Squadron.com

 
The Nieuport series of single seat aircraft wore a fascinating array of markings. This makes them a popular subject amongst WWI aircraft modellers. Taking advantage of this, Eduard has released another “Weekend Edition” of this famous fighter.

The mouldings remain unchanged from previous efforts. Inside the box we find 63 pieces of grey coloured plastic, plus a single clear item for the windscreen.

All items retain their original crisp detail with only a single minor blemish being seen on the starboard fuselage. It’s a small sink mark near the extremity, but it’s easily eliminated without any loss of detail.

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Relatively speaking, there was not a lot of equipment in the cockpit of these aircraft and this is reflected in the kit. The pilot’s “office” is made up of 9 pieces of plastic.  With no photo-etched parts in these “Weekend Edition” kits, seat belts are the major omission that modellers will want to reproduce.

Instrument faces are thoughtfully provided as decals and can be added to an appropriate backing.

Everything is trapped between the fuselage halves which also contain a representation of the structural detail on their inner surfaces.

The fit is good so it’s not long before attention turns to the flying surfaces.

As expected these are well executed with single upper and lower wings. This eases assembly, as well as ensuring that everything is set at the correct angle, and also with the right dihedral. All exhibit sharp trailing edges and display a restrained representation of the rib positions.

Two different upper wings are supplied so make sure you choose the without the transparent Cellon centre panel.

The ailerons are moulded in situ and will require cutting out if one wants to animate their subject. The control linkages are separate from their actuating rods so these can be positioned to match the above. Thanks to the positive location points of the struts, the top wing lines up perfectly.

With a little bit of care, all other details fall easily into place and in no time at all it’s time to decal.

The kit was designed around Ian Stair’s 1993 general arrangement drawings (published in Windsock Datafile Special on “Nieuport Fighters”), and as such, the main components match the outlines perfectly.  

Marking Options

As befits a “Weekend Edition” release, one marking scheme is provided.

It’s Ni-17, N3139, flown by ten. Fulco Ruffo di Calabria, of 91? Squadriglia, in the spring of 1917. This Italian Front machine is portrayed with an overall Aluminium doped airframe with the typical red and green national colours under the wings.

The decals are well printed on a single sheet of paper and all items were found to have excellent colour registration. A minimum of carrier film surrounds each marking which is commendably thin yet strong enough to handle the rigors of application.

Eduard’s Nieuport 17 has stood the test of time very well.

The mouldings are still as sharp today as when they were first released and it’s one of the easier kits to assemble.

“Weekend Edition” kits give the purchaser an opportunity to build a subject quickly and with a minimum of fuss. All of the essential parts are catered for and importantly the outline of these components accord well with published references.

The result is a “no frills” kit that provides for a quick and simple build while still allowing the modeller to produce a quality result straight from the box .

Thanks to Eduard for the sample

Review Text & Images Copyright © 2013 by Rob Baumgartner
Page Created 5 February, 2013
Last updated 5 February, 2013

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