1938 Design Flies Again!

Published within the June, 1938 challenge of Model Airplane News, Herbert Ok. Weiss’s sub-Peanut-scale Nieuport 161 is a free-flight copy of the prototype French fighter produced in 1935. The design is receiving renewed curiosity due to its inclusion within the Flying Aces Club (flyingacesclub.com) January 2023 publication. Built by publication editor Michael Kelly, the brand new mannequin differs from the plan with a detachable nostril block, a extra ahead rubber motor peg to assist with steadiness, and extra tissue anchors to make masking simpler. The Nieuport is roofed 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 quick construct, taking only a week from slicing the primary items to its first flight.
He provides, “Flight trimming went fairly easily. It flies surprisingly effectively outdoor for such a tiny plane; by the tip of the primary flying day it was giving dependable 40 to 50 second flights.”
The Nieuport is the primary in a sequence of Weiss’s free-flight designs printed in Model Airplane News that will probably be featured in future Flying Ace Club newsletters.