| No, this isn't a captured
Nieuport. My Nieuport 17 is actually a Siemens Schuckert D1. The SSW D1 was a copy of the Nieuport 11 (reverse engineered
from captured Nie.11s). The SSW D1 was built by the Siemens-Schuckert Werke in response to the German military's demand for an
aircraft capable of competing against the French Nieuport 11. The SSW D1 is
thought to be an improved and virtually indistinguishable copy of
the Nieuport 11. However, by the time they were available for front line
service, the design was already surpassed by other German and Allied aircraft.
Always wanting to do something a little off the beaten path, I thought
I'd tackle this "not as well known" variant of the Nieuport
11/17. There will be plenty of French and British Nieuports
prowling the skies of central Indiana, and there has to be a "bad
guy" available for dogfights, so mine would have Maltese
Crosses.
At first I thought about building something (from the Scratch-A-Plane
plans and the kits we had cut from them) that might be competitive in the
Sportsman Class of Scale RC competition. Sportsman Class requires quite detailed
documentation to substantiate the accuracy of the model. Some time spent
studying the plans vs. the three-views I had of the SSWD1, put the kabosh
on that pretty quickly. There are actually quire a few differences in the
SSWD1 from the Nieuport 11 and 17. If the plans I was building from were
more scale, it might have been doable. But, the Scratch-A-Plane Nieuport
17 is just a Fun Scale plane. While it could not hope to post competitive
static scores in the Sportsman Class, it would be fine for Fun Scale
competition,
which only requires it to look "close" to the original aircraft,
and the only documentation required is a photo or three view to prove the
aircraft existed in those colors and markings.
There are numerous differences Nieuport 17 kit plans and the SSW D.1. The
changes that are more noticeable (and can be accomplished with out too
much trouble) are:
- Lower the top wing.
- Rear cabanes straight up and down.
- Re-shaped Rudder (more rounded and cut off a bit on the bottom).
- Slightly taller landing gear and larger diameter wheels.
- Tail Skid modified
- Foreword fuselage more rounded cross-section
- Cowl cut off at bottom (like Nie11), flat on sides,
"spider" frame work on front.
- Spandau gun (of course).
- Louvers and small air scoops on forward fuselage.
- Spinner
- Headrest (Nieuport 11 didn't have one, and the 17's was slanted
back)
- Dual Horizontal. stabilizer braces
All in all, in my opinion, the German "improvements" on the design
resulted in a better looking airplane.
Nieuport 11c.1
Span (top wing): 24' 8"
Length: 18' 1/2" |
 |
Nieuport 17C.1
Span (top wing): 26' 9.5"
Length: 19' 1/2" |
 |
SSW D.1
Span (top wing): 24' 7"
Length:19' 8" |
 |
This is also the first plane I have ever built essentially from plans.
My late start (behind Russ, Greg, Art, Charlie and Jim) could be interpreted
as a ploy to glean building tips form them to make my life easier. That
would be 100% true. (I'm not as dumb as I look).
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