1:48 Eduard Sopwith Triplane AND 1:32 WNW Sopwith Triplane dual build

[Iancshippee]

My next project will be one of my favorite WW1 aircraft, the Sopwith Triplane! I love it enough that I have 3 more 1:48 kits in waiting, a 1:32 WNW version, and a set of Replicraft plans to take on a full scale version at some point! Here are the box and sprue shots.


IMG_0444 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr


IMG_0445 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr


IMG_0446 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr


IMG_0447 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr


IMG_0448 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr

For markings, I chose C.D. Booker's scheme (same one I plan to do full scale) using an Aeromaster set.


IMG_0449 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr


IMG_0450 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr


IMG_0451 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr

I built an Eduard Triplane long ago as my second ww1 kit ever, and still have it. I believe I was 11 or 12 when I built it. It's had a fair share of spills and thrills, but I still was impressed at how it went together. I'll do a separate thread at some point on that kit and its misadventures. One question I have before I set forth, however: I know Booker's tripe was Sopwith-built, but I have not found anything definitive about whether it had the early or late tailplane. Does anyone here know? My plan is to use the late-style if nothing definitive comes about, as it's been published that early ones were retrofitted in the field with the later design. Time to get to work!

[Nigel Jackson]

I can't answer your question, Ian, but sense that your judgement is right.

Good luck with this build, The Sopwith Triplane is one of my favourite aircraft. If I rmember rightly from my own experience a few years back, the key to this kit lies in getting the struts which are embedded in the fuselage accurately in place.

Best wishes
Nigel

[Iancshippee]

Slowly picking away at my triplane, nothing too exciting yet, but I am doing an engine upgrade. anyone that's done one of these early Eduard kits knows their rotaries are a little lacking in the detail department.


IMG_0531 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr


IMG_0530 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr

fortunately, I have in the stash the Eduard Camel double combo set, and at least one of those two is getting re-engined when the time comes. seeing as this is a really good moulding, I pirated the Clerget form one of these sets to use in the triplane. It assembled better than I was hoping, not perfect by any means but much better than I was capable of when I first started WW1 modeling.


IMG_0528 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr


IMG_0529 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr

I still need to glue down the spark plug leads, but I think it's presentable.  more updates as they come.
 

[RAGIII]

Super work on the engine upgrade! I am looking forward to your progress!
RAGIII

[Iancshippee]

Thank you Rick! I have about 85% of my initial painting finished, about to start on the cockpit. It's thought to get time to work on the tripehound at the moment, as I'm a teacher and school is starting up again, but I steal away to the workstation when I can!

[IanB]

Nice start, I'm interested to see how this builds up in a larger scale.

Ian

[Trackpad]

Good start, Ian. The replacement engine quite looks the part, much better than the early Eduard offering. I'll be following this thread with interest. Good Luck! 

[Iancshippee]

It's been a while since I could sit and update my thread, and though there hasn't been a huge amount of progress, there has been plenty going on behind the scenes!

First, a word about Eduard's customer service. While I was building my Hanriot HD.1, the resin headrest was missing. I contacted Eduard, and they sent me 3 extra resin trees at no charge, and they included the seat cushion and headrest. Now I had several spares, so I decided my triplane deserves one! with a little bit of sanding, the cushion fits right in.


IMG_0548 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr


IMG_0549 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr


IMG_0671 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr

Next, I decided to begin working on the cockpit, and try rigging it after having some success with my Fokker D.VIII. Since the Eduard instructions don't include cockpit rigging, I pulled out my WNW instructions. with some 6 lb test monofilament fishing line, I'm getting relatively convincing cables!


IMG_0674 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr


IMG_0673 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr


IMG_0675 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr

Now I had intended on waiting to build my WNW triplane as my first Wingnuts kit, but I wanted to find a set of Pheon decals for it, specifically the Booker markings as that is my favorite triplane garb. I posted in the for sale-trade-swap section hoping for the best, and lo and behold the incredibly generous Gary AKA Trackpad stumbled across my post and has sent that set and a few others my way! Now I must keep my fingers crossed and my eyes peeled for WNW to do a multi-kit release like they did with the Albatros! Anyways, since I already had the kit off the shelf to use the rigging diagram, I figured I may as well start it and build a set of twins! I've started work on the engine, and I like the size comparison between the two scales.


IMG_0682 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr 

Thanks again to Trackpad for inspiring me to expand this build, and I will be sharing when the decals arrive!

[Trackpad]

Looking good, Ian. I'll be following this thread with interest. Good luck as you work with "the Twins!" 

[RAGIII]

Outstanding work on updating the cockpit of the Eduard kit. I am looking forward to the "Dual" build also!
RAGIII

[Iancshippee]

Brief update today. I have finished the WNW Clerget sans the spark plug wires, which I'll wait for until I'm ready to mount the engine in an effort not to lose them. I also assembled the instrument panel for the Eduard Triplane, and will be tackling the wnw Triplane cockpit next. Also, happily I received a very well-packaged and protected set of selected Sopwith Triplane decals by Pheon from Gary aka Trackpad! I have not uploaded any pictures of the latest adventures as of yet, but I shall soon! Many thanks to Gary for his generosity. Pictures following soon!

[Iancshippee]

Finally uploading some pictures! I wish I had a bit more progress to show, but the weather for the past 3-day weekend resulted in a wash for model building. 97-98% humidity every day, so uncomfortable and unproductive was the name of the game. Anyways, first the generosity of Trackpad!


IMG_0769 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr

During the unproductive streak, I did stumble upon coyotemagic's thread on his Tripehound dual build, which took nearly the exact same course as mine is! I can only hope that mine comes close to as nice as his pairing. I've had a few frustrations, but things are mostly coming together nicely. first frustration was the Eduard instrument panel. I had the film and the PE panel nicely lined up, but the PE shifted ever so slightly as the glue dried and the instruments ended up off-center in their bezels.


IMG_0716 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr

After that, the cockpit came together nicely. I've begun working on the WNW cockpit as well, but I have not made a lot of progress yet. I do have a side-by-side of the two for comparison.


IMG_0721 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr


IMG_0761 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr


IMG_0763 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr


IMG_0768 by Ian Shippee, on Flickr

I hope to have more to show soon! the humidity is supposed to break tomorrow, so hopefully this week/weekend will prove to be productive.

[Juan]

Impressive to see these two tripes being built side by side.  Looking forward to your progress.

[Borsos]

I love the scale comparison of your build and both interiors are looking really fine. I am keen on seeing which kit you like more 
Borsos

[Iancshippee]

Thanks! It is fun seeing them side by side and going together at the same time. I do really like this WNW kit, but I have already built one of the Eduard Tripes some 20-something years ago, and fell in love with it then. I still have it, it's been rebuilt at least 4 times now thanks to moving, curious children, and my own clumsiness. I'll post some pictures of that wonderful but unfortunate bird here shortly with some tales of its adventures too.