Our man Lukas is almost half way through his build of the new Copper State Models 32nd scale Nieuport XVII (Early version) biplane, it is Pretty obvious he is enjoying himself from what you will see in the first part of his build guide here on TMN.
Build Guide: Nieuport XVII Early version
From Copper State Models
1/32nd scale
Kit No # CSM32-001
Kit includes:
-5 plastic frets
-Instruction in colour
-Film for windscreen
-Photo-Etch parts included
-Decals for 4 markings printed by Cartograf
Price: € 75.02
Product Link on the CSM Website
It was rather surprising that I was approached about another review while still battling lot larger, multiple article build on these pages, Nevertheless, since there was a life priority things on the list, modelling dropped off a bit and this was welcomed invite to what I considered a “quick” build and still my main area of interest - WWI aviation.
With Copper Staate Models (CSM) being new to this genre I was keen to see the insides of the box as after many reviews elsewhere I had this kit on my shopping list anyways.
Medium sized box has landed just day before my birthday and marked rather pleasant afternoon of unboxing, photographing and wondering of what camouflage I will tackle and then rather nice evening full of prepping cockpit parts and little bit of research on insides of this WWI bird.
After you open colourful lid with depiction of plane itself you will need to open another lid that protects all the goods inside
5 grey sprue, 1 PE fret, set of instruction, decal sheet and one little sheet with pre-cut clear film.
A sprue contains mainly parts for tail construction, some small parts for cockpit, engine bulkhead, few bits for undercarriage and wing struts.
The tail can be build opened and make a great point of interest with all that rigging behind the cockpit.
Ailerons, wheels, cockpit side panels, major parts for cockpit assembly are placed on sprue B.
Some small parts come with some extra ejection pins but nothing that I found later on that would obstruct level of detail. Was very pleased with what I saw on first sight.
One propeller is plenty enough and with my colour scheme that I will be tackling where I won’t see prop boss it seems totally OK to me.
Some more substantial pieces of plastic come attached to sprue C. Bottom wings, cowlings, top wing centrepiece and wings.
Attachments on top wing shows subtle outline bit of sink mark but I believe that will disappear when paint is applied later on.
Sprue D is version specific and has all those various parts to create different aircraft. Main one being cockpit side panes with different shapes of maintenance panels, top panel for installation of synchronised Lewis gun.
Last sprue of light grey plastic has the power unit - LeRhone 9J 110HP. More details on how it looks assembled will be below bit further into the build compared to its resin update from CMK.
Instructions are looking rather old reminding me of old documents from same era - I guess that was the idea. Brief history of the aircraft is provided on first page.
I can’t also help feeling that certain level of inspiration was taken from New Zealand friends when creating these. That’s not complaint just observation.
Also found interesting that guys from CSM are not brand specific when it comes to paints. I found it though that few of the names matching Tamiya chart. That could also be just me though.
This boxing comes with 4 colour schemes that are depicted on the back pages of instruction booklet. I will be recreating Gigodots plane with blue cowling, white propeller cover and red star on its side.
Speaking of versions, decal sheet is printed by Cartograf, and even though I have only used only dial in cockpit so far I am not expecting any trouble with these. That’s based on my previous experience not just by looking at them…
Clear film is provided for windscreen and glazing on centrepiece. You get one spare for windscreen. Handy for people like that lose stuff regularly.
And finally last piece of puzzle before building time - PE sheet containing seatbelts windscreen frame.
I decided not to hang around and after I photographed everything I had good look through instructions so I could decide on what direction I will take. I started with engine bulkhead and exhausts gluing them together
and assembling few other small parts for painting session later on
Office chair for pilot and some brass on it. I annealed PE’s before installation to soften them up.
Rather than finding cockpit complicated I found main challenge is not to break parts while handling them and prepping them for painting. All parts for cockpit were primed and pre-shaded. At this point I needed to prep floor of the cockpit and also side panels
All wooden parts received mix of tamiya XF-2 and XF-60
Oil paint session followed and some basic clean “wood” was born
At this point you will notice that my new backdrop (Uschi) has arrived and that feel of photographs will change a little. To be honest I expected it to be lot darker but I like it after all. And while I was at is and had some rigging to do I painted other non wooden surfaces and placed rigging cables
As I was happy with level of detail provided and limited amount of cockpit to be seen later on I proceeded with weathering using various tones of oil and sealed them with Tamiya flat varnish and Tamiya semi gloss or combination of both on various places.
With weathering done I went ahead with adding it all together. One needs to be mindful of all control cables and at what stages to place them. I used EZ line for interior cross bracing and fishing line for control cables that will go through rear part of fuselage.
Control lever attached and more fishing line needed.
After that it was seat and rear cockpit panel. I dry fitted most of steps above before gluing them into places.
Main assembly with attaching cockpit to bottom wing, making sure that panels will go on smoothly later on.
And after some harsh words here is few days of working
This is it for part I and rest of the build will shortly follow. So far I am rather impressed - where other manufactures dropped out of WWI subjects when WNW entered the market, CSM stepped in with great little subject offering numerous different paint schemes, option for building intestines of aircraft and what’s a very good plastic ejection kit.
Stay tuned for Part II to this build guide here on TMN very soon..
Lukas Kasuba
