Nieuport Build Part 1 - Fuselage

Before continuing with the build I needed to check over what had already  been made when the kit was started back in the late 80's. The fuselage was almost finished and in excellent condition, alterations had been made to the headrest, rear top wing mounting bracket, tail skid and undercarriage mounting, the remainder was built as shown on the plan.

When I checked the contents of the kit, however, it became apparent that I had used most of the material out of the box and this would need replacing. All the captive nuts were also missing, these were actual full size aircraft fittings and I'm pretty sure I used them when I built the 718 Spyder. I will replace them with the more conventional captive nuts with the metal 'spike' retailers.

Port side of fuselage. Fibreglass cowl and undercarriage taped in position.

 

Starboard side of fuselage.

Some closeup shots...

 Cockpit, showing headrest detail, dummy bracing wires, seat

retaining tube fixed to fuselage sides (painted turquoise)

 and relocated rear top wing mounting wire.
  

 View of fuselage from rear showing
general construction and dummy bracing wires 

Skid detail with streamlined top section

Rear top wing mounting bracket and wires.

Wing mounting bracket different to that supplied with kit.

The full size Nieuport had 2 push-rods coming from the front top fuselage decking that were linked to the aileron bell-cranks and torque tubes.The kit version used these as wing fixings. The full size rear top wing fixing, the inverted 'V' strut, was a dummy item on the kit, made from wood. I decided I wanted this to be functional.

As you can see from the picture this area has been modified, I don't know what was going through my mind when I put it there during the 90's but nothing tallied up with the top wing construction shown on the plan and the ply parts that I had cut didn't fit anything!! So I had to redraw the top wing centre section to accommodate this modified mounting bracket. After a bit of head scratching I came up with a cunning plan and amended the drawing  to include  the modified mounting plate, plywood fixing plates and the addition of the aileron torque tubes and revised  aileron hinge detail. I will show these changes later.

Wheel showing spoke detail, this was in fact a 'dressed'
plastic pram wheel with applied neoprene rubber tyre.

Front centre section top wing fixing with scale detail.

 Closeup of scale detail.

Bulkhead showing engine fixing holes and fibreglass cowl.

I will show the cockpit interior detail in my next post and give a brief

description of how the various items were made...