Here is a Nieuport Ni.16 ‘flown’ by Belgian ace Edmond Thieffry in the summer of 1917. Thieffry was rather renowned as a ‘Casseur de bois’, a wood-breaker.. He survived the war and several crashes, only to perish in 1929 in another aircraft accident in the then Belgian Congo, while testing air routes for the Belgian airline SABENA.
This model is built from the 1/32 Special Hobby Ni.17 kit. The conversion mostly consists in a change of powerplant. The idea was to represent a famous period photograph, and this meant a lot of work to ‘damage’ the kit while still being able to be assembled, painted, and weathered. The figure was sculpted from Milliput. The model was given to a friend who is a big fan of Thieffry and had contacts with the family of the aviator.
That is fantastic! I find damage sometimes overdone - this looks great. And great job sculpting the figure - that’s so impressive. You nailed replicating the photo.
Thanks, Keavdog. I have a ‘thing’ for aircraft, tanks,.. that are broken. But it is often quite complicated to replicate the damage seen on a photograph. And without photographs to rein you in, it is indeed very easy to overdo things. It also calls for a lot of planning and that is, I find, very time-consuming, meaning my completed builds are few and far apart. Replicating humans and animals often seen in those pictures is another ‘brake’ to this kind of passion of mine. I need to be in the right mood in order to sculpt and that does not necessarily goes hand in hand with the making of the model(s)..