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Robert A Little's Sopwith Triplane


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Progress comes in small steps with the engine construction. "Little and often" is the way to go. 

While doing this, I remembered that I have 2 Wright Cyclone resin engines - thankfully not deconstructed but moulded as a piece - awaiting my attention for some pushrod action. That build, of a Lockheed L18 Lodestar in 1.48, basically stopped for an interval at the point of engine preparation. 

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So if I get into the rhythm of sticking wires to engine blocks, I might take a moment to dig these out and get to work on them, so they're not a barrier holding up that project. 

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After some fussing around and thinking too hard, I've joined the fuselage sides. I'm sure I can fit my engine installation sorted with some deft work up through the V shaped exhaust outlet hole before I fix the V shaped piece over it. 

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There are a selection of pe plates to fit to the cable outlets, some of which are destined to be ignored. Two of the tiny ones have been redeployed where I think they will be more visible, namely on the fin, here ... 

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There are other frames on the top and bottom wings which I take to be access panels for the aileron control cable pulleys. The whole system appears to be a complete closed-loop connected up through the top and bottom wings and those connecting lines down through the ailerons. Neat! 

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That's my little needle threader that is quite handy for getting stretchy line through a hole. Sometimes.... 😎

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Having got the fuselage joined, the way is open for a bit of construction to try and push the build forward. You can spend so much time humming and hahing to come up with some masterplan order of build that you never get anywhere. 🥴

I used the reshaped styrene tailplanes and took the elevators off. This enabled me to make cuts for the control horns and fit my own onepiece horns. The pe parts are small and separate - I can't see me getting them to work.. 

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I did this with the Pfalz and it seems to work for me. 

Then a bit of preparation on the bottom wing, and fitted. 

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The control horns for the ailerons are bigger and not of the top-and-bottom type - the upper ailerons have the horns above and the lower ones just have them below. 

So I'm still considering the options with these. 

Edited by rob Lyttle
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"When in doubt, build!" 

That's the kind of idea that can set you on the road to ruin, or at least ruin your model 🤠

Never the less I'm pressing on, undaunted. The general plan set forth by Eduard's instructions is to fit the inboard struts on top of the fuselage and then (later.... much later.....) attach the top wing. 

Then, later still, with the outer struts fitted in the middle wing through the slots, at the correct angle 🧐, this can be popped into place with just a slight spread of the wings to let the locating pins in. What could possibly go wrong ⁉️🤨

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I included in the first phase of this plan some rigging, let's call it the cabane rigging, trapped in the joints at the top of the inner struts and enough to stretch down to the bottom of the outer struts, (although they do have to be fed through the holes in the middle wing when the time comes....) 

Some dry fitting with the outer strut in the middle wing reveals a bit of easing is required to achieve the correct slope of the strut. I found the easiest option was to make a little nick in the strut right here.... 

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..... rather than trying to adjust the slot in the wing. 

Really, you're left to figure out what the required angle is on your own, by viewing and trying..... eyeballing it really. This is going to define the set of the middle wings relative to the others, and if it's wrong the plane is going to look...... what's the word I'm looking for? ..... Pants.! 🧚‍♀️

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Great progress Rob, I like your build it style.  I wish I was more like that.  The separate upper and lower control horns on the elevators are a pain and it's a shame they don't give them to you as a single piece.  I sometimes use a bringing PE set for 72nd scale WW1 aircraft and have found it very useful even for some 48th scale models.

Chris

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2 hours ago, rob Lyttle said:

with the outer struts fitted in the middle wing through the slots, at the correct angle 🧐, this can be popped into place

Except of course, for the pe bits and bobs 😳..... There's 8 of them on this strut, for example....., 

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Arrrgh.... Your notion, Chris,  of buying MORE of the stuff, isn't rating very highly right now 😅🤣

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Aaah found it. I wondered when you were going to start the three winged wonder. Seems that you’re moving at quite a pace. Looks like you have everything under control. I’ll pull up a bar stool if that’s ok.

 

 Johnny.

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All coming together very quickly but looking great. I must get a needle threader, the simplest solutions are usually the best! 

Love your scratched control horns, they must be tiny but look so precise!

 

I have a few Tripehounds in the stash, 2 in 1/32 from WNW and a couple of the newish Smer 1/72. I'm tempted to dig out one of the Smer kits but at 1/72 I struggle to see even the fuselage halves. :)

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I think the Smer kit is Revell. The only other injected kit in 1:72 is the new KP one, which apparently is still not accurate!

 

Ian

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59 minutes ago, Brandy said:

I think the Smer kit is Revell. The only other injected kit in 1:72 is the new KP one, which apparently is still not accurate!

 

Ian

You're quite right Brandy, I just looked at the boxes and they're KP kits. My ham fistedness could make them even less accurate. Might be fun though! :)

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Right, afraid time is a bit short at the moment, and my mind is wandering off making plans for the "Unarmed" and the "less than a tenner" group builds, both of which are right up my street. 😊

But I've finally succeeded in fitting a mid wing on the Triplane. Some dexterity was required to get the landing wire through the hole in the middle wing, then through the strut location hole in the bottom wing, then glue the attachment points and fit the thing while pulling a bit of tension on the landing wire 😬

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Further bits of etch are yet to be done on the inner strut, and the double flying wires are still to be sorted, but that feels like a step in the right direction. Just need to adorn the other outer strut with the appropriate "jewellery" and repeat the process on the starboard side. 🔂

👍

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29 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

is that prym Knitting elastic thread?

I THINK it is.... 

You see, I got some of that and also some stretchy craft monofilament type for bead necklaces etc, and now I can't remember which is which. 🙄

This one has a tremendous amount of stretch, more than you'll need for bead jewellery, so that's why I think it's the knitting in stuff 

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16 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Tri-planes look hard

More wings, less strings, Johnny 😎

I'll take that! 

Speaking of the strings, I've been around the houses a bit with this rigging. Where I'd left it was- all I had to do was trim the surplus protruding from the under side of the bottom wing. 

Well, when I did that, it pulled out of its place - it should have been trapped in the hole by the strut. 

Tsk!! 

Then, referring back to my reply to Chris....".You see, I got some of that and also some stretchy craft monofilament type for bead necklaces etc, and now I can't remember which is which", I realised I had 2 options for rigging, and thought I should try the slightly heavier gauge monofilament for these landing and flying wires. 

So I did. 

Pleased to report that the threading through the middle wing etc can be done with the wings all in place, but I had to drill a new hole for the bottom attachment. I glued it well this time! 

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I have an annotated 3view drawing of the plane which shows a larger size of rigging wire used for these structural parts, although they are more like metal strips than round-section wire. So I think I will continue rigging the wing structure with this stuff and use the lighter gauge knitting in line for the other fittings. 

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If I were you I'd use the thinnest wire you have. Proper "scale" size in 1:72 would be 0.06mm! Also the thinner it is, the easier it is to work with as it will bend at a tighter angle where it goes through the holes and won't leave you with an unsightly bend and a wire that isn't straight along its length.

You're also correct in that the structural wires were more airfoil shaped, ie flat! They were known as RAF wires (Royal Aircraft Factory not Air Force! Your trivia for today - upon formation of the Royal Air Force the Royal Aircraft factory changed its name to avoid confusion, and became the Royal Aircraft Establishment - a name most are familiar with!). That is almost invisible at this scale though, I never worry about it!

 Looking good though so far!

 

Ian

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