HR Resins 1/72 Nieuport 24/27

By Mike Fletcher

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History

The Nieuport 24 and 27 were the penultimate World War One Nieuport sesquiplanes and despite becoming obsolescent soon after entering service were operated with a great degree of success by the British, French, American and Russian air services, and others besides. A large number were still in use on secondary fronts when the war ended and many of the new eastern European countries operated them after they gained their independance, including Poland and Czechoslovakia.

Essentially a development of the more famous 17, they featured an improved aerofoil, rounded wingtips, a more powerful engine and a lengthened and better streamlined fuselage plus a new empennage made from molded ply. The 24 and 27 differ primarily in the type of tailskid, the 24 having a sprung wooden Nieuport skid and the 27 having the much more durable hinged Bleriot type skid. A fuller description of the differences is available at Matt Bittner's "'All Things Nieuport"

The Kit

The fuselage suffers from a couple of problems. It is a modification of the Revell kit, and is slightly short and the rear fuselage isn't really deep enough for a Nieuport 27. This is easily fixed with some plasticard. The wing sweep is out by 1° on each side but except when placed over plans is hardly noticable.

As with the fuselage the wings are modified from the Revell Nieuport 17 kit, with new leading edges to simulate the plywood on the original. Some sanding is required on the lower surfaces here. Wing ribs are as per the Revell kit and are rather heavily molded for 1/72nd. The aileron bell cranks remain the same, and folks obsessed with accuracy will want to cut them out and replace them. The fabric texture remains on the wings and tail but with a light sanding it can be removed.

The fuselage stringers are represented by raised lines on the kit that do not match the prototype and will have to be reworked. In additon the lines themselves are not correctly located, and the forward end of the fabric area is represented by a raised line when it should be flush. Almost everything else appears to have been straight from various Revell moldings, the tail, Vickers gun, prop and tyres are from the Nieuport 28, and the cowl, Lewis and struts are from the Nieuport 17. The exceptions are a very basic rotary engine, two different tail skids, and a simple instrument panel.

The parts are all well molded though there is a small piece of the locating pin missing from the rear cabane. No pin holes are present and the molds appear to have been otherwise properly filled. Both pairs of wings are cursed with very large gates that must be carefully removed. There is some warping to the fuselage halves, however they are thin enough that they can be readily bent to fit. The fuselage halves appear to have been done at different times as they vary in their crispness, colour and quality of molding. Nothing unusual here for a resin kit, and on the whole better than average.

The decals do not include the Ying Yang from the box art, and the sheet is labelled 'Nieuport 24bis' so the wrong decal sheet may have been included. Since I already intended to do another machine, I have made no effort to get the correct sheet. Additional schemes are available at my web site . I was unable to find a photograph of the machine depicted by the decals, however I was able to find one for the machine on the box art in the Nieuport Fighters Datafile Special, Volume 2, picture number 79. The decals are nicely printed and very crisp, but I have not used them so I can make no comments on their opacity or setting characteristics.

The instructions are limited to a single sheet photocopied from an old "Aviation News" with typed captions. It makes an attempt to differentiate between the 24 and 27, but does not include either the box art scheme or the decal scheme. It is a simple kit and most builders with prior experience should have no difficulty here.

Conclusion

This kit represents a good starter for a Nieuport 27 conversion, however only half the work has been done.

The price is good, at $10.50 USD and if you were planning to do a similar modification, is good value for the money with the Revell kit being so scarce.