The full-size Nieuport 28 was considered pleasant to fly, but
its performance was not considered exceptional and it suffered from some design
flaws. By 1917 the development of rotary-engined sesquiplane fighters had really
had its day and had been eclipsed by the Spad 7 in terms of overall performance
and ruggedness.
One of the problems was that there was no throttle. Engine speed was partially
regulated by switching off the ignition to some of the cylinders. Caution was
required as fuel would build-up in the crankcase and often ignited causing a
disastrous engine fire. Another problem was caused by the covering which was
only glued to the frame; no use being made of rib stitching/tapes. After some
use it was possible to rip the covering off the wing when the aircraft was
steeply dived.
The Nieuport was therefore rejected by the French Air Service. It became the
first operational fighter in the American Expeditionary Force simply because
there were not enough Spad 13s available. Nearly three hundred Nieuports were
purchased. The plane only became a legend because of the list of distinguished
airmen in the US Army Air Service who used it.
The model was developed as a consequence of being offered the
Weslake 342cc engine for an irresistible price. The engine had been used on a
target drone, but was in reasonably good condition. The model took two years to
complete. The test programme was completed just in time for the plane's first
outing at La Ferte-Alais in July 1998.
The model was designed using profile drawings from the Windsock Journal and the
Windsock Datafile on the N28.
Specification:
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(Longhorsley 2004) |
The construction used in the full-size was copied using clear Colombian pine for the main structure with some ash for high stress areas. The ribs are 3/16" balsa with 3/16" balsa strips on each side of the rib's top and bottom. Tapered 1/32" ply capstrips were added. The wing spars were made from two pieces of Columbian pine glued together.
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Top view of the fuselage. |
Underside of the fuselage showing the tubes bolted between the struts, lower wing dowels and the rigging straps. |
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Sprung ash skid. Also, the elevator crank is just visible behind the elastic. |
The dural channel struts. |
| The cowl was made using a blue foam former and split glass
mould. It is 20" diameter and 10" deep. The laminated propeller
made is 41 1/4" x 11 1/4". The model was originally tail heavy, but with some careful reconstruction and recovering of the tail, the final Centre of Gravity position of 28% was achieved without any lead being needing. |
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The model is covered in Polytex and painted by hand using Humbrol matte enamel.
The kicking army mule is the insignia of the 95th Aero Squadron.
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(Longhorsley 2004) |
The aeroplane is not particularly easy to fly. The lateral
stability is quite poor and turns need to be started with rudder and then reduced
to prevent the nose from dropping.
After the turn the ailerons are used to achieve level flight. It has
considerable torque effect and hence turns more easily at low throttle
than full throttle. Also, the plane turns easier to the left than the
right. The aircraft will easily ground loop when flown from a hard surface. |
Ian with his 50% scale Nieuport 28.
This page was last updated on 6/7/04.
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Scale: 50%
