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The Nieuport Project
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Three of the "Nieuport Project"
gathered at Phil Waltz's in the summer of 2005. L. to R. Mike Bealmear's
SSWD1 variant, Art Shelton's captured Nie 17, and Billy Thompson's Italian
Nie 17. |
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Nieuport 17 Project
In late September 2003, 13 local RC pilots
took
delivery of 1/4 scale WW1 Nieuport 17 short kits. These were cut from
“Scratch-A-Plane plans by Laser Arts in Colorado Springs, CO. Joe Grube
footed the bill for initially having the plans scanned for laser cutting,
initially for himself and maybe a couple of other guys. However, once the
word was out, the number of committed flyers (maybe not the best choice of
words) quickly grew to 13. (I would like to think that the increased interest is
partially a result of the flying activities of your local "RC Dawn Patrol
Wing Nuts".) The list of guys who
purchased one were: Joe Grube, Charles Abbott, Mike Bealmear, Greg
Emerick, Mike Habig, Art Shelton, Jim Farrer, Russ Kuhn, John Hann, Mike
Marthaler, Jim Mails, Mike Chanea and Larry Kennady.
Dave Meyers of
Laser
Arts , did a wonderful job, and will be more than happy to cut a kit for
you if you’d like to join in the fun. (Up-date 02-22-09) Eureka
Aircraft Company is providing a CNC cut short kit and plans.
We are hoping that these pages can be a way for
the builders (and others) to stay in touch
and share ideas and tips with others as they progress. It will be helpful to see how others are planning to finish theirs, so
we won't necessarily
pick the same scheme. Russ Kuhn has taken on the task of writing a
construction article with his Nieuport 17 bis project, The "Nieuport Nieus"
Click
here for more.
For
more info, please contact me.
Thanks
for looking,
Mike
The
early days of the project
2005 saw most of the early flying activity of the
project.
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Art Shelton's represents Nieuport 17 N1831, piloted by Lt. Santa Maria
that was brought
down in combat, captured, repainted and flown by the Germans.
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Greg Emerick's represents a Nieuport 17 of the famed Lafayette Escadrille.
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 Jim
Farrar's Nieuport is also in French markings
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Billy Thompson choose the a very colorful Italian scheme |
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Russ Kuhn (being a old Navy man) chose to do his as a British Royal Navy
Nieuport 17bis (note the more rounded fuselage)
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Mike Bealmear did the most radical variation. His is actually
a Siemens Schuckert D1. A German copy of the Nieuport.
(More on the SSWD1 project)
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| Up-Date 02-22-09
At this time, my SSWD1 and Art's captured N-17 are the only ones out of
the original group still around. Art sold his to Virgil Gonzales in Texas
last year, and mine is still around probably because I haven't flown it
enough, but was heavily damaged in a dumb thumbs accident a few years back
but was repaired in short order.
Let me stress that with-out exception, non of the losses were a direct
result of the design. Both Art Shelton and Billy Thompson flew the
heck out of theirs in some truly amazing mock dogfights for a couple of
summers. In hindsight, cutting 13 kits may
not have been a good idea....if you catch my meaning. Still, I
think the misfortunes encountered put a bad spin (pun intended) somewhat
to the project. However, the up-side is that is exposed a few new guys to
giant scale modeling and scratch-building.
Russ Kuhn's 17bis was heavily damaged on it's third flight, probably a
servo linkage issue. Russ rebuilt, but then is was totally destroyed when
being test flown by Steve Percifield when the engine puked on take-off.
Billy Thompson lost his when a short time after a prolonged and
unintentional tail slide, the horiz, stab let go. Possible cause was inadequate
tail bracing. Billy then built a new one (in a matter of 3 weeks!!) and
covered it just like the first one. It was lost when the battery failed to
provide power.
Jim Farrar lost his early on when an elevator servo locked up.
Steve Percifield lost his to a battery issue.
Greg Emerick lost his by probably radio interference at he 2007 Dayton
Dawn Patrol Rendezvous.
Two others (Marthaler's and Hahnn's) may possibly fly in 2009. The
other have sold there's partially completed.
On a sad note, we lost Joe Grube in 2008. He will be missed |
Nieuport
17 Links:
Alan
Morgan Design's Nieuport 17bis
The
Nieuport Pages - a great source of data!
British
Columbia Aviation Museum Nieuport 17
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