Review Balsa USA Nieuport 17 RC Plane Kit, with extras

In this video I do an in box review of the Balsa USA Nieuport 17 rc plane kit. This kit is available from Balsa USA website, but I purchased mine from ebay and I was lucky because the seller included a few extra items. I share the contents of the box which include detailed build instruction and plans, balsa wood parts, hardware and cowl. I hope you enjoy looking at the kit with me and this will probably be my next rc plane build vlog or log. This plane will be powered by a Saito FA-45 four stroke rc plane engine. extra parts included pilot, wheels, tank, decals and more.
I have been building, flying, crashing, modifying, and repairing radio control planes (RC Planes) for many years and enjoy sharing what I do with the radio control plane community, so I started RC Plane Tech channel for fun. I am not an expert, there are many different techniques to building radio control planes. A good way to learn about flying and building rc planes is to see what others are doing, that's what I do and that's why I like to share what I do. Thanks for watching my channel. Have fun!

[@tomflynn7373]

James I need to thank you for your build series. I find them both entertaining and informative. I have the BUSA Phaeton II, hopefully you will build one someday so I can learn from that. I am building the BUSA Smoothie now and have finished the wing. It is my first build and I probably could not have built it without your build series so thanks again!!!

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Hi Tom, thanks for the kind words. I learn a lot from others as well. It’s a great community of builders out there. I know I’m not building this perfectly, so please share any tips or insights as you build yours.

[@fjLh50go2wxP]

My 76” 7.5 pound cub has flowed with a Saito 45 S swinging an 13 x 4 for many years. I started with a 6oz tank but it was a challenge finding a carb setting that wasn’t too rich at tank full or too lean at less than quarter full. When my 45 goes lean it just quits. Yes the tank had exhaust pressure. The corrosive nature of the exhaust / oil required a tank rebuild every season. These problems were solved: eight oz tank, Perry oscillating pump mounted horizontal but as far vertically on firewall from engine as practical and on muffler pressure. Tank vent line looped over top of tank and out bottom. 15% Cool Power. This setup is so cool! Cub is happy at 2/3 throttle. Full throttle in air 11,000 rpm estimated. Good luck.

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Glad you hot your Cub dialed in. I’ll need to think about all the things you mentioned here. I have had my fuel tank go dark with oil before, needing a rebuild as well. I have heard about Perry pumps but don’t know anything about them. Ill check this out. Thanks for the info.

[@flyinryanmoto2640]

I have this kit and planning on starting it in a few weeks as soon as I get my current build done. I will make it electric. I built a balsa usa 1/4 scale Nieuport 11 about 4 years ago with a zenoah g23 in it. Very fun kit to build and it flies great and very scale like. Cant wait to do it again with this one. Balsa usa has a series of videos on their youtube channel building this plane.

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Nice. Im looking forward to it myself. It will be my next build I think. I have been watching their build series on their channel as you mentioned. Very cool, good luck with your building.

[@stevejones9044]

Very nice. Glad you shared. I've had an interest in the Nieuport kit. A friend is selling their Neuport 11 from Lou Proctor. But I like the looks of the Nieuport 17 more.

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Ya, its a nice plane. Proctor are good kits from what I understand.

[@jaycastello1171]

Looking forward to the Smoothie being finished but would be very cool to see this build next.👍

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Thanks. Im covering the fuselage this weekend and will have that vid. Im also ready to get this done! Been a long haul. Did you build that larger one, I thought you mentioned in the past you had that kit?

[@jaycastello1171]

Not yet. I’m in the middle of a das ugly stik build. After that, going to build a NIB sig skybolt with a Saito Fa90T….😁

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Very cool, good luck with those. Great to hear when others are building!

[@edwardcase]

The Balsa USA site has 1/6, 1/4 and 1/3 scale. I like the 1/6 scale and may build it electric power.

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Great

[@guypehaim1080]

The metal sheet with the blue backing is probably for your inspection covers on the sides of the fuselage near the cowl.

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Yup, you are correct. And Balsa USA has a build series on this kit also if you are interested, check out their site. Great kit!

[@mpojr]

good review nice kit

[@edwardcase]

The WWI fighters had very short moment of distance from the CG to the motor, and consequently the model needs to have either more nose weight, or a slight lengthening of the nose moment arm.

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

This will be my first experience building and flying a biplane.. so this is going to be interesting

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

And the kit has pre bent landing gear wires, it this version is a little older than the one they are selling on the site, I concluded that because the specs are slightly different and I know this kit is older

[@kerbygator]

I'm in the middle of a Balsa USA Phaeton II biplane build. .61 engine powered. My first plane. I'm taking it slowly. It's not as easy as I thought it would be. The trick I think, is to just work on it a little at a time. It's tedious work.

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Yes, you certainly can’t rush a build of a kit like these. i find myself reading each step a few times over and even so I still miss something here or there. The instructions on some of these kits can be a little confusing. Keep at it and before you know it you will be done.

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

And good luck with your build!!

[@kerbygator]

@@JamesRCPlaneTech Thanks!

[@tandlerguitars3721]

This is interesting - I purchased this same kit a while ago and there it says "four stroke .45-.56". So I actually bought a Saito FA-62B for it. Keen to see how yours will perform with the .45!

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Hi. Ya I noticed that my kit calls for a slightly smaller engine. I think my kit is an older version of the kit since I purchased it from someone. The wing span is slightly shorter than the current one. I need to see what the weight comparison is also. Im not certain Ill go with the 45. I may bump it up to a 50 or so. Did you build yours yet? Hows it fly with that 62?

[@billjones3071]

I just don’t really go for WW1 planes , nice kit wish busa would make more sport planes

[@carolinawoodsman9494]

looks like a nice kit. Gonna be building the BUSA 1/6 Nieuport 28 this winter. Any plans on doing a build series on the 17

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Hi, ya been thinking about the next build and this one is on my short list. I may do a “scratch” build simpler kit first. Good luck with your build, I could be doing the same soon

[@garyglasband670]

Hey James, Been following your channel for awhile. I also fly out at El Monte, Whittier Narrows. I also built the BUSA Nieuport 17 in 2020 as part of a Facebook group. I would love to meet some time and go through the finished model with you

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Hi Gary, nice to hear you built the Nieuport, looks like a fun build that I hope to get to once I get the Smoothie done. Although I think Ill take a little break from building and try to get some flying in before hitting another build. Thanks for offering to share your build experience on it. I appreciate it and will keep this in mind. I’ll have to get a channel email set up.

[@homienat3374]

Gees sum kit ,would you say, advance modelers only ??? For this kit to build

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Hi, this is hard to say because everyone has their own set of skills and experience. Balsa USA promotes it as an accessible build, they have a build log playlist on their channel of this kit with Several videos and you can watch those to get a sense of it. Id say its not a beginner kit, but not super advanced. I would say moderately challenging if you have never built a scale kit. I hope that helps.

[@homienat3374]

@@JamesRCPlaneTech nice 1 thanks for replying, will look into it 👍👍

[@kerbygator]

Just work on it a little at a time. Read the directions several times and several steps ahead. It's a bit tedious, but you can do it if you have a good eye for detail . Read the directions or you'll be having to take stuff apart, and that's not easy to do without tearing the balsa up. @@homienat3374

[@edwardcase]

Does the landing gear wire come pre=bent?

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

I believe so.

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Its actually two pieces that are prebent but they get connected by soldering

[@robertcovell2787]

I've built a couple of BUSA kits. Pretty good kits, they build nice and fly great. A Pheaton I built for a friend and 1/4 scale J3 for me. Flies like a big old pussy cat.

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Im really looking forward to the Nieuport. It will be a challenge for me.

[@aviatorsandastronauts]

Are you reviewing it or just checking the contents of the box?

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

I was checking the contents to see what’s provided and thumbed through the instructions. The gas are new to me, so I hope to learn more as I go.

[@aviatorsandastronauts]

@@JamesRCPlaneTech Ok, so it's not a review then. Is the gas new to you, the gas engines are new to you, or both?

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Hi, I think I got confused on what video you were commenting on. KZbin does weird things with how comments show up on my page. So I thought you were commenting on the DLE, which yes is new to me so Im going to learn how to run gas engines.. but then it looked like tour comment came from the Nieuport video here, so in that case, Im not new to balsa kits but did just a review of the kit that I purchased off ebay that the seller included extras in. In any case, my vids are mostly just to share what Im doing and learning with the RC community out there. I like to watch other’s RC plane vids so I thought I would do it also.

[@guypehaim1080]

Who was the seller?

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Hello. I don’t remember. It wasn’t a store. It was an individual who was selling it on ebay.

[@daviddavids2884]

observations. in general, an ANTIQUE design is a design that contains DEFECTS.!!! consequently, the faithful scale reproduction of design Defects is a less-than smart thing to do.! 10:57 a main wing is SUPPOSED to have a load-bearing main spar, located at THIRTY percent of chord. the design of the main spar should NOT result in nearly bisecting the ribs.! googletranslate

[@kerbygator]

Quit yelling!

[@WilliamThompson-qo5mi]

I am the designer engineer that made this 1/6th kit for BUSA , .I hand drew every line on the whole set of plans , I did the whole build of the plane ,hand cut out every piece so I could put the building manual together , I took every picture for each step , those are my hands and fingures in pictures , I wrote every paragraph in the manual . Ibuilt the whole plane covered id mounted my OS 52 4 stroke engine and servoes . I was taken advantage of when finishing this kit in 3 months , my name was removed from the plans , and building manual , only credit i got was building plane , Billy Thompson .. I busted my ass for this company only to get taken advantage of and used...the static plane I built is a nice plane , but it was never flown or tested .....i finished it in winter time , snow was on ground , picture on manual of plane flying ,is me standing in a pickup bed with plane hanging by fishing line while Mark Enderby took the picture ..I freakin never got credit for my design on the 1/6 neiport 17..I work 19:04 ed for Ron Bush owner of BUSA from july 1 2007 to feb 4 2008 , I also did the last half of the build on the 1/6 scale sopwith pup that I never got credit for ....

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Hello William, I’m sorry to see this. It’s a beautiful kit that you should have gotten credit and hopefully paid for your efforts as well. I would hope that BUSA would rectify this and give you the credit you deserve. I’m really looking forward to building this kit. I will say that I had some serious fit issues in the current Stingray I am building and the BUSA support was pretty poor, which was very disappointing. Thanks for sharing your experience, maybe BUSA will see this and try to make amends, hopefully.

[@WilliamThompson-qo5mi]

@JamesRCPlaneTech , thank you , I have built dozens of BUSA planes over the years for me and others , I have several videos on You tube under hoosier dawn patrol that I help start many years ago.. I was never really compensated correctly or get the credit for all that I did for this company .. The 1/6 kit was a very simple design for me ...I was told by Ron to oversize the stab and rudder control surfaces , keep the simetrical wings , and widen the gear for easy taxiing ...Ron Bush was on cloud nine when I built and completed the plane for the building manual to be printed...I did all the die drawings identifying all the stamped parts as I was building plane , instead of drawing plans first , copying die drawings off of plans , waiting months for die drawings to be sent out and Lazer cut , not yet done at BUSA then .....Mark would get the die drawings back and build stamping plates out of them , this making stamping process for parts over and over again cosistantly....David the man I replaced only knew how to build 1 kit a year with his drawn out way of buisness , I worked hard simplified the whole process of designing up to 4 kits ayear .....Ron was I thought happy with me , instead I was fired Feb 4th 2008 till this day I was never given a reason why .....after I was fired they brought back David....sorry to rant and rave , but this was my hard work and dedication to the buisness .... You can see a few of my planes , from 1\4 scale 1/3 scale and my huge 1/2 scale sopwith camel on line .I have flown and won several scale competitions in RC Scale , also finished 2ND PLACE in the world at TOP GUN worlds best scale competition in 2009 .

[@JamesRCPlaneTech]

Hi William, I will check out your channel for sure. Again sorry for what you went through. I really like the BUSA kits. I want to build your Nieuport 17. I got mine on ebay and the seller had all the extras with it, the wheels, decals, pilot and guns, so I couldn’t pass it up. It is an older boxing because the specs on the box are different than those on the info page on their site. For example, the engine spec is smaller on my box than whats on the channel. I have a Saito 45 that I want to use. I also like the larger 1/4 scale Spad and SE5, not sure if you designed those? Again, sorry that you had that horrible experience with them. It doesn’t look good for BUSA to have done this.