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KP Sopwith Triplane, French Air Force, 1917, 1/72nd scale...


John Masters

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I know, I promised a Dr.1 and I may get around to it too.  I am waiting for decals in the post to finish the Super Mystére, so for now I will build this very neat little kit from KP, one of their newer offerings.  The detail looks good, no flash...pretty straightforward build and I will build OOB, as usual.  Time to get my PC10 out again...😁

 

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Nice looking sprue.  Neat little Bentley and cushions moulded into the seat too!  Instrument panel detail is nice.

 

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It even has a rigging diagram!  Get out the micro drills...there's set of double flying wires that need to be lined up just right.

 

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Decals are basic and in register...

 

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And which one to build?  Aside for the numbers there are the same.  12, 11 or 4?  The French had 17 of these.

 

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Onwards and upwards!

--John

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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It is indeed a neat kit, but it does have its flaws: the middle wing didn’t align in my set, were it built unmodified those wings would have been too far inside and the wing tips look like this, seen from front:  > ø <    where each point of the triangles is a wingtip. You did say OOB but at least I would have liked to know that before carefully drilling rigging holes that in the end did not align...

 

 

edit: or maybe it was the other way around: < ø > 

I forgot, maybe I’m finally getting old

Edited by Torbjorn
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9 hours ago, Torbjorn said:

I would have liked to know that before carefully drilling rigging holes that in the end did not align...

Aha!  Good to know going forward.  I may have to do some fettling when the time comes.

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The John Masters production line continues!

 

I've got one of these so naturally I'm curious to see how it comes out.  Thanks too to @Torbjorn for the tip.

 

Good luck with it John.

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Where I'm at...I have removed the bigger pieces form the sprue, cleaned them up where necessary and applied some paint to some pieces.  My version of CDL looks good and the 'wooden' pieces will all be carefully 'varnished' with clear yellow once the aircraft is assembled.  I am talking about the struts mainly.

 

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--John 

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Some assembly.  I'll let this dry.  In reality, the two pieces of strut spar could be left out as well as the foot pedal.  I hope the spar are in the correct place.  The plans were not exactly vague, but you know how it is...

 

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Meanwhile, there are two other GB that I have been neglecting!  'High Wing' and 'Ragnarok'...

 

--John

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Here we are...

 

1)  A test fit of the fuselage to the lower wing shows that the cockpit floor is about 1.5mm too wide.  Some fettling needed there.

 

2) There is no indication on the plans of where or when to attach the seat.  I looked at it from a reasonable PoV and it actually seems that if I attach the seat to the cockpit floor first, the fuselage will not fit over the sides of the seat.  Therefore I will attempt a 'through-the-hatch' installation and see if that works.  If not, I'll leave it out.

 

3) That I have hit these small but noticeable snags is a prediction more to come!  Ah yes...the joys and sorrows of fine scale modelling! 😁

 

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--John

 

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10 hours ago, Grandboof said:

I am sure you will mange to solve this 

We shall see @Grandboof.  

 

I attached the underside of the foreword fuselage.  Some light fettling to fit.  The topside forward of the cockpit went on easily.  No fettling needed.  I then attached the two middle spars, and the outer struts as well, lining them up.  Then...I tired a test fit of the top wing.  All fits.

Then I tried a test fit of the middle wing.  Ah...yes...I see the issue.  The gap that the strut passes through is neither wide enough nor is it angled properly so that the ing will never sit straight, parallel or perpendicular to anything.  Sorry...no pictures.  One would need 6 hands to do that.  I am thinking to remove the outer struts and attach them to the middle wings first, then to the lower wing and middle strut.  Maybe.

 

While in Athens I will find a very thin metal file at the LHS and try to fix this angular problem.   So this is where I will leave it until my return...and then I'll drill rigging holes.

 

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--John

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thought I'd binned this one, I bet!  No such luck.  I opened up the gaps for the middle wing a bit so the pieces could be angled correctly, then glued them into place.  I also re-drilled the mounting holes for the upper struts...they were too far in.  Before all of that, I drilled all the rigging holes.  Guess-timated, of course.  I used the Eye-Ball 2.0 software...😁

 

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Then glued it all in place.  Weighted it down.  Painting will be difficult.  I can do it.

 

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From this angle it looks alright.  Not perfect, but what is?  We're not talking an Eduard product here...

 

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From this angle, a little bow in the lower wing, but I can forgive that.

 

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Next...some putty in the cracks, rudder, motor and cowling.  Paint?

 

-John

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Keen to see how you do the rigging, I have been long puzzled by the Triplane’s rigging, other than that it was rigged as a biplane, it is not clear whether the wires passed through  the middle wing or just ahead of the leading edge?  I have seen photos and drawings that suggest both. :nuts:

 

AW

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On 8/30/2021 at 9:10 PM, John Masters said:

And which one to build?  Aside for the numbers there are the same.  12, 11 or 4?

Hi John,

 

I think # 12 is the most attractive as number but # 4 with cdl fin and lighter nose... :D

 

Cheers,

 

AaCee

Edited by AaCee26
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5 hours ago, Grandboof said:

Glad to see this still living 

Me too!  I added some colour to it...I know, not PC10 or PC12, but greenish anyway. The photo is off a bit.  It is less blue... I think it will be fine.

 

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--John

 

 

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A bit of rudder painting...

 

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It will need a bit of touching up, but not much.

 

I also attached the landing gear, the motor and the single Vickers.  I gave the wheels a bit of rubber grey.  It's not as pink as it looks.

 

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--John

 

 

 

 

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I was further along wot this than I thought.  To be honest, I have been so busy moving house, etc...that I have neglected the modelling.  I predict, however, that by next week I will be modelling in my new house!  Think of that...amazing!  Anyway, I digress...the Tripe...

 

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I attempted to out the Sopwith logo decals on the rudder and the first one just fell apart, but in a weird way.  The other side went on, but not with some serious delicate finagling.  So I looked at the decal sheet...aha!  Big problem.  The transparent covering of the decals is severely off-center, so only a section of the decal is protected from the water. the rest just falls apart.  I have since given the decals a layer of Decal Fix and I hope the roundels don't give me any problems.  I tried to photograph the sheet and circled the offending issue...

 

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You can clearly see the problem, especially on the rudder sections.  Sloppy work up there in Prague.  Very sloppy.  😤

 

--John

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