1/48 Scratch built Nieuport 6H

[Kalt]

Hi, here are some photos of my recently finished Nieuport floatplane. I hope you enjoyed my model how I ´ve enjoyed building it. But the old rule about scratchbuilding did it again, and as soon as I completed the model, Copper State Models announced their 1/48 Nieuport VI H.!!

Claudio Kalicinski

[PeterL]

Wow! Where did I put those Nieuport drawings?

[Ross_Moorhouse]

Beautiful build. I love the curves in the cowling. Can you please tell us the steps you went to to build this?

[jamo]

Lovely model. I am particularly interested in your painting technique for the floats. Your wood effect is very good! I am working an a Short 184 and the floats need to be redone.
Cheers
James

[Scimitar]

Splendid work. Congratulations!

[EricGoedkoop]

Very nice, Kalt.

Those Nieuport monoplanes were big birds, weren't they?

[John Masters]

Great job, Claudio. Yes, please give us some insight into the 'wood' painting...

Thanks,
John Masters

[JohnReid]

I like it! I like it! Cheers! John.

[Kalt]

At first I want to thank for the nice words. It was a long project! (it took me 8 months).
About the cowling I first took a square piece of wood, I don´t know how do you call it but is the soft wood used for flying models (we call it Balsa wood).
Then I cut the cowling drawing from the plans (side and front view) and glued to the square piece of wood, then I carved it to the proper form and size. The wood master was coated with a putty used for cars, sanded and polished. With the master finished I made the plastic cowling with a home built vacuum machine. The side bumps were made in the same way but using plastic for the master.

About the wood effect, it´s a complex process. I will try to explain it.
First, you have to know of what kind of wood was made the original parts. The wood in my Nieuport was cedar.
With the wood chosen, paint the different parts (propeller, floats, upper decking) with a light brown (or tan) color, only practice will tell you the right color. Let it dry for a day or two. Then apply several coats of an enamel (not acrylic) gloss varnish (I use testors). Let it dry. Then buy a wood tint, they come in different shades for different kinds of woods. In my case cedar, apply to the models using the technique of "dry brush". Use a big flat brush for big surfaces and a small one to make the grains. But is not an easy technique you will need a lot of practice and patience.

I hope you´ve undertood my explanation, english is not my first language.

About the size, you´re right, they were really big planes. The wing span was 12.70 metre, just look the picture with the 1/48 Dragon´s Fokker Dr.1

Regards
Claudio

[SteveS]

Really cool build!
And scratchbuilt besides. I've got a soft spot for early floatplanes. Designing a plane that would fly wasn't enough, they made them to take off and land from water to boot. And water isn't any softer than earth in an emergency.

Thanks for sharing!
Salute,
Steve