Published in the June, 1938 issue of Model Airplane News, Herbert K. Weiss’s sub-Peanut-scale Nieuport 161 is a free-flight reproduction of the prototype French fighter produced in 1935. The design is receiving renewed interest thanks to its inclusion in the Flying Aces Club (flyingacesclub.com) January 2023 newsletter. Built by newsletter editor Michael Kelly, the new model differs from the plan with a removable nose block, a more forward rubber motor peg to help with balance, and additional tissue anchors to make covering easier. The Nieuport is covered with silver Esaki tissue with inkjet-printed tissue markings; it weighs 8.9 grams ready-to-fly with a 1.8g rubber motor. Kelly writes that it was a fast build, taking just a week from cutting the first pieces to its first flight.
He adds, “Flight trimming went pretty smoothly. It flies surprisingly well outdoors for such a tiny aircraft; by the end of the first flying day it was giving reliable 40 to 50 second flights.”
The Nieuport is the first in a series of Weiss’s free-flight designs published in Model Airplane News that will be featured in future Flying Ace Club newsletters.
1938 Design Flies Again!
