Though I said I wouldn't cross post about my little 7/8th scale Nieuport 11, I figured this would be the best place to get folks to see it.

My son says I should put some sort of graphic on the side of the aircraft, and my Mom asked if I had named it yet.

So SimHQ friends, I'd like some suggestions on the graphic.

A few things:

1) It's WWI, so no pinups!
2) It's a French plane, so let's keep that in mind.
3) Nothing strictly historical. I don't want my plane identified with a specific pilot (though since I painted her in Verdun scheme I suppose Escadrille might be okay)
4) Keep it simple. I'm going to have to paint it myself, and I'm not much of an artist.

The wife ruled out my Hello Kitty In the Ring, much to my chagrin. She says it's too girly. I had thought about the 101st Eagle in an oval, or the Scarfed Fox from my Martin AAR's.

On naming the plane, I'm a bit of an animist. I just don't know the true gender of the aircraft or its temperament until I take her up in the air. Right now I refer to the plane as "her" and call her Bebe for obvious reasons.

So good French names of each gender would be cool.

Pepe La Pew?

In honor of your nickname and the work you put into that, I nominate Objet D'art.




The Jedi Master

Maybe a cat, or a french rooster ?
You can see a cat on an N.11, in RoF

I've always liked this one the best from the WWI era French planes,

I like that one, too!

Wow Jedi! A sophisticated pun, you don't see those too often. That's a great one.

Too bad you can't just spray on a base coat and fly it first. Just for inspiration. Of course I know that's not practical since the wings need to be off for painting. To see what not to do, check out my personal Dr.1 skin (SH) in RoF. It just might be the most hideous thing ever allowed into the skinpacks.

That is a great pun, Jedi!

Only works if Dart is known as Dart outside of SimHQ, of course.

It will be hard to top that, but I'll gnaw on it over the weekend.

A funny story goes with that. On the All Things WWI Aviation website I use the "Dart" nick as well. When I was at the Gardner, KS WWI replica airshow one of the guys shouted "Hey, Dart!" from across the field and, to my amazement, I actually turned around to wave hello and meet up with him.

Hmmm, I like the Object D'art a lot; in a scroll or around a graphic?

I'd give it a while. Fly her, fix her, fly her again. The name will come.

BTW 'You B@st@rd' is reserved for cars which have their battery positioned in such a way that viewing a YouTube video is required before removal can commence. My Audi being an example of such.

Just be sure NOT to spell it "object.."

I kinda liked the "Objet D'art" and incorporating your handle in it when I first read it. But the more I think about it...the more it reminds of the term "lawn dart"...which as we all know...is a phrase that is used in the flying world when things could have gone better...lol

D'accord! And I think I'll rule out Comic Sans for a font.

In many ways my heritage is letting me down. As a first generation American of German decent, coming up with stuff in German would be a cinch - Immer Vortwarts is a natural!

Other considerations

Avant Vers L'ennemi - Front towards enemy
Traduction Introuvable - Translation not found - would make a French speaker laugh outright.
D'accord

and the painkillers are making me silly.

Objet d'Art is great!

or how about a simple "On y va!" (translate, more or less, as "Here we go"). Or, if you're a Dr Who-fan,
"Allons-y" would be appropriate.

BTW... it's time for you to grow une petite moustache, buy a beret, and scatter a few haystacks around the airfield with a beautiful peasant girl in each of them, n'est-ce pas?

I suspect he does not possess enough painkillers to help him deal with his wife's predictable reaction to that idea...

...if he starts calling her Yvette from now on, maybe she'll warm up to the idea to dress up as a French peasant girl herself...

She sure as hell won't wear a dirndl, that's for sure, no matter how many times I've asked. Nor will she wear a bollenhut (she's protestant, you see, so it would be okay).

I have a baret, a nice black one that is permanently broken in and appropriately faded. It actually fits really well under a headset.

But I got a fantastic kepi - Artillery crimson over a band of blue* that I plan on wearing when the flight helmet comes off.

Wife says she prefers me without the mustache, which I wore for many, many years. But a nice short handlebar would be awesome.

Well, apparently you could put one on your car...


I definitely would recommend against putting it on your plane instead...

Fantastic! I also suggested a French Maid outfit for her, and she said no, even if only for domestic consumption.

Oh, the asterisk was that it's billed as a Confederate Artilleryman's kepi from the Civil War. But at that time the USA borrowed freely from the French Army's uniforms, as they were the cat's meow when it came to organization and fighting.

Plus we wouldn't borrow from either the British or the Germans, which was politically incorrect to emulate.

http://www.bytheswordinc.com/p-16370-civil-war-kepi-2nd-pattern-red-yellow-or-blue.aspx

I got mine on sale - I don't think I'd pay forty-five bucks for a hat.

And that site rocks for cool stuff. For my son's graduation he received a very nice medieval sword, which he'd be pining for in a not-so-secret way for a couple years. Mom wasn't too pleased with a real sword (not a show piece, it's full tang steel made in the USA) that holds an edge, saying that on the things needed in our house another lethal weapon isn't high up on the list.

I also got some worsted swords for practice (of my many weird skills, I was taught sword fighting by a guy who studies medieval fighting), and he's starting to get the hang of it. The neighbors must think we're all nuts. Dad builds an airplane in the back yard and he and his son spar with wooden swords. But come Z-day we might go down, but it won't be without a spectacular fight!

On the Lafayette Escadrille, I voted it down for a few reasons. First, it's too specific. Second, it's been done to death. Third, the LE was something of an elitist's club as much as a fighting unit, at least when they were formed and flying the N11. They had a small core of brave guys wanting to paste the Hun that gave the unit some backbone, but in the main the Escadrille was considered a reserve unit. And they refused enlisted pilots. The enlisted Lafayette Pilots (all Americans flying for the French were called that) were in regular French units, but not the LE.

Back on topic - just the text, or with some sort of graphic?