I've really put the screws to the workers at the Nieuport factory this week. Our boys need planes at the front and orders are piling up!

I've completed the main wing except for some odds and ends like strut mounting blocks and final sanding. Substituting the steel beading wire/turnbuckles for the kit supplied aluminum rod was a big scale improvement but the wing isn't real stiff. I held off on gluing the wire in to see if it loses tension over time and I figure that once it's glued it will stiffen up a bit. My hunch is that the internal cross-bracing is most likely drag bracing on the full-scale plane. I'm hoping the four strut points and external bracing wires will provide most of the stiffness to the model. But...I'm keeping my options open in case I need to revert to the stock rod. I emailed Proctor for advice on this and I'll let the thread know what they say.

Next up are the ailerons. These must be built after the wing is assembled and removed from the plan because of those black lever arms being too tall when installed on the torque tubes to allow the wing to sit flat on the board. I was sailing along with such confidence when I got to the upper wing that I began ignoring the instruction booklet. Disaster was barely averted when glancing at the booklet I realized the top wing leading edge is balsa not spruce as it is on the lower wing. Unlike the rest of the airframe in this kit, the upper wing is kinda complicated and one needs to understand it completely before starting. Lesson to self: Always read the instructions!

Since the interplane V-strut outline is conveniently right next the ailerons on the plan I decided to glue those up as well. I plan to reinforce the v-joint with bamboo rod. I hope to find some nice heavy black cord to detail the compression bands soon.

I included a shot of my wall decor in my crowded building room. I hope to begin on the fuselage next week. Man, there sure are a lot of parts still in the box! I'm glad I chose the N11 for my first Proctor. Looking over the plans for my other Proctor kits the principle construction method is the same but much more involved than this one.