Sopwith Dolphin

[AMStreet]

Guys,

 

Does anyone know of a decent set of 1/72 plans for the Dolphin?  I have looked in vain for a kit but without any luck.  I have in the past scratchbuilt some  German a/c such as the Gotha GIV, Siemens Shuckert D lll and so on so foresee no problems with this little scout.

 

Any replies would be gratefully received.

[Alfisti]

Hi,try Windsock Data file 54,1/72nd and 1/48th plans inside.

 

HTH........Dave.

[Dave Swindell]

2 hours ago, AMStreet said:

Guys,

 

Does anyone know of a decent set of 1/72 plans for the Dolphin?  I have looked in vain for a kit but without any luck.  I have in the past scratchbuilt some  German a/c such as the Gotha GIV, Siemens Shuckert D lll and so on so foresee no problems with this little scout.

 

Any replies would be gratefully received.

KP have a couple  of new Dolphin kits that are to be released in the near future which may make things a bit easier.

https://www.hannants.co.uk/search/?scale_id=956&search_direction=asc&search=dolphin&product_category_id=103

I'd also second Alfisti's recommendation of the Windsock Datafile for plans,

And for references, the Wingnut Wings website has a load for their kit which could be useful as well

http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/product?productid=3175

[AMStreet]

Thanks,

I'm glad to see that KP will be issuing a kit shortly.  I will take a look when it comes out. 

 

I've been a bit wary of the plans from Windsock since I was badly bitten with the plans of the FE 8.  I scratch built from the plans but when I checked the dimensions they were all over the place.  I contacted Ray Rimmell and to his credit he did admit that they had had trouble with the printers and sent me some lovely amended plans free of charge.  Like all plans I view them with a bit of suspicion but I will order up a copy and take a look at them.

 

Thanks again.

[Paul Thompson]

18 minutes ago, AMStreet said:

Thanks,

I'm glad to see that KP will be issuing a kit shortly.  I will take a look when it comes out. 

 

I've been a bit wary of the plans from Windsock since I was badly bitten with the plans of the FE 8.  I scratch built from the plans but when I checked the dimensions they were all over the place.  I contacted Ray Rimmell and to his credit he did admit that they had had trouble with the printers and sent me some lovely amended plans free of charge.  Like all plans I view them with a bit of suspicion but I will order up a copy and take a look at them.

 

Thanks again.

It happened quite a lot, and to be fair Mr Rimell always fessed up once he knew, and TBH they're not the only ones afflicted by the phenomenon. OTOH, once you've established where the distortion is (usually a universal scaling error by the printer) they're pretty accurate, the more so with the later ones, accepted information having changed over time.

 

The KP kit - most if not all their recent WW1 kits seem to owe much DNA to previous releases by other people, often by CMR. Not having one yet, I only suspect the Dolphin will be converted from the CMR kit, but if it is then it should be okay. That one was fine for a resin, and later reissued with decals - perhaps you'll see them appearing more often on Ebay once the KP kit emerges, and it's still worth building, but the KP kit should be easier.

 

Paul.

[KITCAT]

23 hours ago, Paul Thompson said:

but the KP kit should be easier.

 

I suspect the KP kit will be a direct lift of the CMR kit so the KP kit will not be any easier but you will get more decals which is always welcome

[Paul Thompson]

7 minutes ago, KITCAT said:

I suspect the KP kit will be a direct lift of the CMR kit so the KP kit will not be any easier but you will get more decals which is always welcome

By easier I meant plastic is easier to work with than resin, and the CMR kit had two clunky items that are easier to substitute on a plastic kit, i.e. the struts, and the square centre section tubular framework.

 

Paul.

[AMStreet]

I've not seen the CMR kit as I do not use full resin kits.

 

They always seem to me to be totally against the spirit of these early a/c.  The originals were light, almost ethereal, and resins have always seemed to be a bit lumpen.  That's why if I get the chance I will go for vac-forms.  They just seem to capture the essence of these fragile little aircraft better.

 

Still, I'll take a look at the KP offering but will see if I can get hold of the Windsock monograph as I quite fancy scratch building another Great War aircraft. I haven't done one in a long time and I need the challenge.

[Paul Thompson]

5 minutes ago, AMStreet said:

I've not seen the CMR kit as I do not use full resin kits.

 

They always seem to me to be totally against the spirit of these early a/c.  The originals were light, almost ethereal, and resins have always seemed to be a bit lumpen.  That's why if I get the chance I will go for vac-forms.  They just seem to capture the essence of these fragile little aircraft better.

 

Still, I'll take a look at the KP offering but will see if I can get hold of the Windsock monograph as I quite fancy scratch building another Great War aircraft. I haven't done one in a long time and I need the challenge.

The Datafile is still available from Albatros, but at £25 a throw.  Alternatively, there's 'The Sopwith Dolphin in RFC, RNAS, RAF and Polish Service' from Cross & Cockade in collaboration with the RAF Museum. My copy is from 2012, can't remember the cost, but at 176 pages, very photo and profile heavy, and with several pages of colour photos of the restored example, I prefer it to the Datafile. The downside is that the plans are in 1/48th only, scattered throughout the book.

 

 

Paul.

[wombat]

Hmmm somewhere I have a copy of The Aeroplane focussing on the dolphin. I think they sometimes have a decent plan but who knows the scale?

[Brandy]

On 10/7/2021 at 2:43 PM, AMStreet said:

I've not seen the CMR kit as I do not use full resin kits.

 

They always seem to me to be totally against the spirit of these early a/c.  The originals were light, almost ethereal, and resins have always seemed to be a bit lumpen.  That's why if I get the chance I will go for vac-forms.  They just seem to capture the essence of these fragile little aircraft better.

 

Still, I'll take a look at the KP offering but will see if I can get hold of the Windsock monograph as I quite fancy scratch building another Great War aircraft. I haven't done one in a long time and I need the challenge.

 You obviously haven't seen some of the newer resin kits out there. The wings on some of those I have are almost transparent!

I'll post pics when I get a chance.

I have the old Pegasus Dolphin in my stash, that certainly needs a little work!

As for plans, I always use Data files, but also make sure I scale them correctly. Sometimes the wings are correct but not the fuselage and it's not unknown for me to have to use a composite. As mentioned above, it was a printer error, not a drawing error.

 

Ian

[stevehed]

Just typical. I recently bought two Revell Camels with the intention of trying to kit bash something Dolphin looking. Looking forward to the first review.

[KITCAT]

I believe the KP kit is out and about now so we shortly be able to answer our own questions.