Wingnut Wings Sopwith Pup "Gnome" (32055) - 1:32 Wingnut Wings

[Viking]

Sopwith Pup "Gnome"

1:32 Wingnut Wings

 

 

The lovely Sopwith Pup from Wingnut Wings makes a return with some new parts and decals to enable building of the ‘Gnome’ powered version. The most common powerplant was the 80hp Le Rhone 9c engine, but the 80hp & 100hp Gnome and Clerget engines were also used.

 

The Pup itself entered service in 1916 and quickly proved to be an agile and popular machine amongst those who flew it. The name was never official, but derived from the observation that it looked like a smaller version of the twin seat Sopwith ‘One-and-a-half Strutter’, as if it were its ‘Pup’. Wingnut Wings have previously released two kits of the Pup, 32013 for the RFC version, and 32016 for the RNAS machine. Rather nicely, this new release gives you a choice of two RFC, two RNAS, or one training school machine.

 

This kit shares most of the main sprues (A, B, C, and D) with the previous two releases, but adds three new ones. There are two sprue E's giving a choice of two different engines, and sprue G which has the cowling specific to the Gnome engine, and a full set of Le Prier rockets.

 

As always, the silver gilt edged box features a beautiful painting of the subject in action, this time RNAS Pup N6179 squaring up to an Albatros D.II.

 

Instructions.
You can't help but be impressed by the completeness of the instructions in every single Wingnut Wings kit, they are quite simply the best that have ever been supplied with any kits, ever. These are as good as always, printed in colour on heavy glossy paper, with a parts map, detailed assembly drawings, colour and black & white photos of the real thing to show details, and five sets of Ronnie Bar illustrations to show the finishing choices. One of my favourite features is the completed sub assembly drawings, showing how things should look on the completed interior. Plus another drawing showing how all the interior control cables run from the joystick and rudder pedals. They are superb reference documents in their own right.

 

Sprue A.

This hold most of the smaller detailed parts such as the interior fittings, prop and cowling choices, struts, and other details. All mouldings are very finely done with sharp detail, no sink marks or flash, and minimal contact points where they attach to the sprue frame. The Pup had a couple of different inspection hatch shapes on the forward fuselage, and both the square and oval types are supplied here as panels to attach to the cowling area. Two types of propeller are provided, the instructions noting which one goes with which finishing option.

 

Sprue B.

Here we have the tailplane, rudder, wheels, Vickers gun, and a few other smaller parts. Again the precision of moulding is evident. particularly on the Vickers guns (only one of which is applicable to this model).

 

Sprue C.

This is the clear sprue, with a choice of windscreens and the clear inspection panels for the wings. They are all crystal clear, and the frames even have incredibly tiny little screw heads moulded in, that I can only see under a magnifying glass.

 

Sprue D.

Both wings are on this, along with the fuselage halves. The wings feature beautifully fine trailing edges and rib tapes with delicate stitching. The real wings featured a small see through panel near each tip, that allowed instant inspection of the pulley and cable that ran to each aileron.These are nicely moulded, and the clear sprue has the clear cover to go on top of them after painting.

Especially impressive is the 'quilting' effect on the forward fuselage, so typical of the Pup. It was where an interior 'grid' frame was built in to smooth the transition from the round cowling area to the flat sided fuselage. Covered in fabric it gave a sort of quilted look that Wingnut Wings have captured to perfection.

 

Sprues E x 2.
There are two complete and distinct 'E' sprues that cover the 80hp and 100hp Gnome engines. The moulding is amazingly fine with the cylinder cooling fins rendered about as finely as is possible, and all the nuts and bolts are beautifully sharp. The 80hp Gnome was precisely copied by the German Oberursel company, the only differences being in the pushrods. These are contained on the sprue but obviously marked as not required. I often start my builds with the engine because they are such lovely little gems of a model in their own right.

 

7 cylinder Gnome 80hp:

 

9 cylinder Gnome 100hp

 

The 100hp option even has tiny little decals to replicate the brass data plates on the crankcase. Whichever engine you choose you will have a complete unused one for the spares box, or even better, for use as a diorama accessory. Hows that for value!. It is typical of Wingnut Wings that they take a 'no expense spared' approach to their kits, so that you get precisely what you need to build an accurate model straight from the box.

Sprue G.
To my knowledge, this is the first time that a set of Le Prieur rockets have been released in 1:32 scale. Looking like giant fireworks that you might buy on November 5th, they were attached to the outboard struts. Intended for use against observation balloons, they proved to be ineffective in use due to directional instability. I.e. they didn't particularly fly to where they were aimed. They were tried on Pups, as a period photograph in the instructions show, but it is also noted that it is not thought that any of the five options in the kit actually used them.
Also included is the characteristic semi cowling of the Gnome powered Pup. This only goes around two thirds of the engine, with the bottom third left uncovered, and is a good identifying feature of Pups with this engine.

Etch.

A neat little brass fret supplies the lap type seatbelt, foot plates for the wings, gunsights and cocking lever, along with a chute for expended ammunition links.

 

Options.

 

A. N6179 “Baby Mine”, TC Vernon (1 victory)& AW Carter (17 Victories) B Flight 3(N) Sqn RNAS March to April 1917.

 

B. N6200 “Bobs”, AM Shook, B Flight 4(N) Sqn RNAS, April to May 1917 (12 victories).

 

C. B2192, HH Balfour and EL Foot, School of Special Flying Gosport, August to September 1917.

 

D. B5904 “A 1”, 61(HD) Sqn RFC, September 1917.

 

E. B5906 “Impikoff 5” 44(HD) Sqn RFC/RAF 1918.

 

Decals.
A large decal sheet occupied the full width and length of the box. Printed by Cartograf, it provides all the decals for the five finishing options, plus a myriad of tiny stencils and instrument faces. If you want to read any of this fine detail you will need a good magnifying glass as the printing is incredibly small, but faultlessly done. It almost doesn't need saying, because this is Cartograf, but the printing is in perfect register, beautifully sharp, with minimal carrier film and spot on colours. Option C, the unarmed training machine with a stripy fuselage, is provided with two sets of stripes. It is notoriously difficult to distinguish black from red in old balck & white photographs, and although this machine is thought to have black stripes, they may also have been red, so you get the choice. There are no stripes for the wings as these can be simply masked at each rib.

Conclusion.

It is nice to see the Pup back in Wingnut Wings catalogue, as it is one of their simpler kits to build. I have already built two of the RNAS version (32016) and bought an RFC kit (32013) when it was about to go out of stock, as I couldn't bear not to have one! I have the usual indecision over which of the five options to go for, as they are all attractive in their own right. I think the striped training machine might just edge in, as I don't have anything like that in my 1:32 collection. You can have hours of fun with any Wingnut Wings kit trying to decide which one to go for.

It builds up very easily and without any faults or problems. Everything fits with precision, making it a delight to put together. The rigging is very straight forward and fairly simple, and not difficult to do with either fishing line or the elastic EZ-line. Add to this the choice of attractive finishing schemes, then this is one of the best 'starter' kits to introduce you the wonderful world of Wingnut Wings. With Christmas approaching you need to get this on your list, you won't be disappointed.

 

Highly recommended.

 

Review sample courtesy of

 

Footnote:

This is one of the Pup kits I have built previously, from 32016, the RNAS Pup, which enables this 'In box' review to go a bit further and confirm that it does indeed build up beautifully without any problems.