Kit: 1/72
Scale: No. 2104
Manufacturer: Eduard, www.eduard.cz
Price: $12.95
Comments: Injection-molded, 43 parts, decals
Pros: Great detail; fine struts; choice of two upper wings and three cowls; fine fit; excellent decals
Cons: Mostly fictitious “Flyboys” markings; soft plastic makes it easy to damage fine parts
The movie “Flyboys” brought the legend of the Lafayette Escadrille – a squadron of American volunteers flying for the French in the Great War – to the movie-going public. Now, Eduard has brought one of its stars, the tiny Nieuport 17, to 1/72 scale.
How tiny is it? How about a span of 41/2″ and a length of 3″! The kit is a little jewel, with fine cabane and wing struts as well as your choice of three cowls, two manifolds, and an optional upper wing with a central opening and mount for a Lewis gun.
Eduard’s “Flyboys” issue comes with extensive decal markings for the movie airframes, including a choice of the different Native American head insignias painted on Lafayette aircraft.
Assembly took only two hours. Be careful removing the slender struts and aileron control cranks from the sprues: The plastic is soft and easily damaged.
To make it easier to rig the model, I drilled holes in the fuselage and wings with a No. 80 bit in a pin vise before assembly. Rigging the interplane braces and control wires took about three hours. I super glued 1-pound-test monofilament in the drilled holes, then trimmed off the excess and filed the remaining glue blister level with the surface.
The cowl is a tight fit over the rotary engine and its rear manifold. Careful: There’s no positive attachment device to position the rudder, and not much area to glue it to.
After assembly and rigging, I painted overall with Testors Metalizer non-buffing aluminum (my favorite for simulating aluminum dope or paint). The instructions call for pink tires. Drat! Fresh out of pink paint! I mixed a drop of Polly Scale fire red with about eight drops of flesh to create a rubbery, pencil-eraser pink.
Although the decals were beautifully printed, I decided to genericize my Lafayette Nieuport for now, applying only the cockades and Indian heads.
Time spent on the model was only eight hours. The moderate amount of rigging makes Eduard’s Nieuport 17 a fine introduction to small-scale biplanes. Now maybe I’m ready to try Eduard’s little Spad XIII with its doubled wires and multiple wing struts. Maybe.
– Paul Boyer