Sopwith Triplane (Eduard)

THE MODEL TO BE BUILT

Sopwith Triplane N5482 "Maud" was flown by Flight Lieutenant (later major) C. D. Booker of No. 8 Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Built in small numbers and because of the Triplane's superior manueverabilty, only RNAS squadrons were equipped with it, namely Nos. 1, 8, 9, and 10. These squadrons were allocated to British army sectors up and down the line, spread out as it were, to provide competent dog-fighting ability for the protection of artillery and reconaissance flights. Major Booker was the third highest scoring ace on this type of aircraft reaching a total of 21 in the Triplane and 29 overall.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 1

These components were worked on first. The inside of the fuselage was painted in Vallejo 847 Dark Sand. The wood work was painted in Vallejo 824 Orange Ochre.
The cowling comes in two pieces, the bottom part of which is joined to a smaller piece, hence the putty. The cowling's inside is painted in Vallejo 864 Natural Steel. The Vickers machine gun was assembled from five parts. The single Vickers was the common armament and only a handful were ever fitted with two Vickers. The cockpit interior at the top was complex for such a small area. Parts included plastic, resin, and PE. The seat is a replacement wicker style but used the kit's padded seat and PE shoulder harness.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTOS No. 2 and 3

The left photo (no.2) is a view to the rear showing the mainly the seat, control column, and rudder bar. The right photo (no.3) shows the instrument panel which is PE with a decal backing of the instruments. The former behinc the seat is PE used instead of the kit's plastic part. A variety of Vallejo sand colors were used.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 4

More components: the wheels have their first coat of dark blue, mayber a little too dark. The propeller is modified by using the kit's PE prop boss. The cowling has the addition of a PE 'ring' around the outiside of the opening. The cockpit interior was test fitted several times and finally spot glued to one fuselage half with super glue. The other half of the fuselage was fitted and glued into place.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 5

The bottom wing is attached and the fit was quite good. A similar experience was the fit of the horizontal tail. However, it had to be notched to accomodate the vertical tail unit because I chose to use the resin part with a smaller span.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 6

This view shows the substitute brass tube/rod landing gear struts with a brass rod axle bar. The kit's plastic landing gear 'wing' was attached as well as the small PE cross-member parts. To secure the axle to the struts, thin copper lead wire was wrapped to simulate bungy cord shock absorbers.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 7

This view shows action at the model's rear. There are quite a few small PE parts added all over the fuselage and top wing (not shown). Fine emery paper was used to remove the overflow of super glue. The tailskid was made from a solid piece of brass rod flattened and then bent to shape. Additonal PE components need to be added to it.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 8

The landing gear has been painted. The wheel covers are blue and the tires are painted my own mix of medium pinkish gray. Two pieces of brass tubing were inserted to drilled-out holes represneting the carburetor intake on each side of the forward fuselage. Scrap round plastic was made to simulate the fuel and oil intakes, top front fuselage. The underside (not shown in this view) was painted in Humbrol 103 Cream Matte. The topside of the lower wing and horizontal tail were painted in my mix of PC-12.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 9

The fuselage was painted with one coat of Humbrol 98 Chocolate Brown and then over-painted with one coat of Misterkit BC02 British PC.12. I'm testing the effect of different paints to get an acceptable PC.12 to mmy "mind's eye". The rotary engine has been painted and installed and covered by the cowling. I tried out Vallejo 963 Medium Blue for the fin and wheel covers. I'm going to lighten that shade a bit. The Vickers machine gun sub-assembly was assembled, pre-painted, and installed. The inside struts were attached.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 10

The middle and top wings were glued in place. Not shown were the thin piano wires inserted into the aileron openings to provide a stiffener and correct wing alignment while the glue dried.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 11

The tail rigging was tedious. The white plastic on the tailskid is a makeshift replacement for the PE part. I needed the plastic through whice holes were drilled for the control horns.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 12

The model was over-sprayed with polyurethane for the application of decals as shown above. Rigging has started with the double front flying wires. Much more rigging left to do.

FINISHEDF PHOTO No. 13

FINISHED PHOTO No. 14

FINISHED PHOTO No. 15

FINISHED PHOTO No. 16

FINISHED PHOTO No. 17

FINISHED PHOTO No. 18

COLOR TABLE

Vallejo VC0824 Orange Ochre	Interior wood framework and formers
Vallejo PC-12 Mix ¹	Fuselage and top surfaces
Vallejo VC0847 Dark Sand	Cockpit fabric interior and undersides
Vallejo VC0856 Ochre Brown	Struts
Vallejo VC0864 Natural Steel	Metal cowling and panels
Model Master 1778 Chrome Silver	Engine details
Vallejo VC0963 Medium Blue	Roundel Blue
Vallejo VC0909 Vermillion	Roundel Red
Humbrol 103 Matte Cream	Underside of wings, tail & fuselage
¹ Vallejo VC0872 Chocolate Brown 2/5, VC0887 Brown Violet 2/5, VC0990 Light Grey 1/5

------------------------------- FINIS -----------------------------

Bruce, J. M. Sopwith Triplane, Windsock Datafile 22. Berkhamsted, UK: Albatros Productions, 2000.

Cooksley, Peter. Sopwith Fighters in Action, Nr. 110. Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1991.

Franks, Norman. Sopwith Triplane Aces of World War I, Aces Nr. 62. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2004

Lamberton, W. M., Compiler, and E. F. Cheesman, Editor. Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War. Los Angeles, CA: Aero Publishers, 1962.

Rogers, Les. British Aviation Squadron Markings of World War I. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 2001.

Shores, Christopher. British and Empire Aces of World War I. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2001.

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