Sopwith Triplane in 1/25 scale by Orlik
The first thought upon opening the long-awaited Sopwith Triplane in 1/25 scale by Orlik was how very small the aircraft is (for a moment there I had the crazy thought that the publishers had got their scales wrong - this had to be 1/33, I thought!).
The model is very detailed. One reason for this is the option to build every single wing and stabilizer rib, plus every single engine cylinder cooling flange (there is also an option to build simplified cylinders). Another example is the most detailed Vickers gun I've seen, plus the equally detailed prop-driven generator.
The kit is graded as "difficult", by the Lighthouse Transatlantik Paper Model Magazine, as compared to "medium" for the Halinski Spitfire. Personally I would definitely have graded the Spitfire at least as "for experienced builders" - which says a lot about the degree of difficulty of the Sopwith Triplane!
The kit comes in a standard A4 booklet, with five pages of coloured parts (four of them on thick paper, one on thin), one-and-a-half page of black and white parts for glueing on thicker cardstock, roughly three-and-a-half pages of construction sketches, two pages of instruction text, and a two-page black and white version of the cover illustration, neither of which are exeptional.
The design and execution of the kit, however, is of very high and precise quality, requiring cuts of fractions of a millimeter in places. In fact - and I keep returning to this point - I would despair to build it in the printed scale, and will scan & enlarge it to 1/16 without further delay. I think all parts will easily fit into standard A4 paper size even at the 156 percent enlargement required to get to 1/16. The Sopwith Triplane was quite a tiny aircraft!
The interesting part about the model and kit is that it continues a trend towards making more and more detailed interiors, as well as exteriors. As you can see from the instruction sketches, the entire interior is modeled:
I have yet to understand the proper construction method for achieving this, but it will be a most interesting challenge. I do lack an English translation of the instructions in this case, and will write in to the publishers to enquire.
As you probably quickly have realized almost all of the intricate detailing of engine, fuselage framework, and cockpit interior will be hidden from view, which is a pity. A model like this almost cries for cut-away sections, and I will devote some time to figuring out how this could be done.
Also, in a scale of 1/16 it would seem an urgent task to replicate the internal wire bracing of the fuselage, particularly if you have cutaway sections. I have yet to figure out a good way of managing that, too.
Some of the details of the fuselage, like the framework member metal reinforcement plates, seem to be somewhat of a product of the kit designer's imagination. I do not remember that amount of reinforcements from photos, but will check further before starting to build eventually.
As you can see from the excerpts of the parts sheets, shading and wheathering are not of exceptional quality. What is really exceptional, however, is the construction of the wings, which follow the original very closely, down to correct position of spars, plus the fact that all of the wing ribs, including the leading edge small false ribs, are supplied.
It seems a great pity to hide all those details under the wing covering, and the design just cries out for leaving one wing, or at least the bottom side of it, uncovered. In that case, the spars and ribs should be recoloured to simulate wood. The designers very thoughtfully have included large chunks of patterns (for spare parts) which could be used for that purpose.
If you build the model with cut-away sections, many parts of the fabric covering will have to be painted to simulate unpainted fabric. Metal parts (such as the scores of parts for the engine) probably ought to be printed on grey paper, if for nothing else to simplify the otherwise very arduous task of edgecolouring all those tiny little details.
The engine will be a challenge to build it as a truly rotary engine, with an electric motor inside. Even at 1/16 a smaller electric motor than the ones I've used so far will be necessary. And I'm already thinking of how to get a small 2,4 V rechargeable battery into the fuel tank!
Leif
The first thought upon opening the long-awaited Sopwith Triplane in 1/25 scale by Orlik was how very small the aircraft is (for a moment there I had the crazy thought that the publishers had got their scales wrong - this had to be 1/33, I thought!).
The model is very detailed. One reason for this is the option to build every single wing and stabilizer rib, plus every single engine cylinder cooling flange (there is also an option to build simplified cylinders). Another example is the most detailed Vickers gun I've seen, plus the equally detailed prop-driven generator.
The kit is graded as "difficult", by the Lighthouse Transatlantik Paper Model Magazine, as compared to "medium" for the Halinski Spitfire. Personally I would definitely have graded the Spitfire at least as "for experienced builders" - which says a lot about the degree of difficulty of the Sopwith Triplane!
The kit comes in a standard A4 booklet, with five pages of coloured parts (four of them on thick paper, one on thin), one-and-a-half page of black and white parts for glueing on thicker cardstock, roughly three-and-a-half pages of construction sketches, two pages of instruction text, and a two-page black and white version of the cover illustration, neither of which are exeptional.
The design and execution of the kit, however, is of very high and precise quality, requiring cuts of fractions of a millimeter in places. In fact - and I keep returning to this point - I would despair to build it in the printed scale, and will scan & enlarge it to 1/16 without further delay. I think all parts will easily fit into standard A4 paper size even at the 156 percent enlargement required to get to 1/16. The Sopwith Triplane was quite a tiny aircraft!
The interesting part about the model and kit is that it continues a trend towards making more and more detailed interiors, as well as exteriors. As you can see from the instruction sketches, the entire interior is modeled:
I have yet to understand the proper construction method for achieving this, but it will be a most interesting challenge. I do lack an English translation of the instructions in this case, and will write in to the publishers to enquire.
As you probably quickly have realized almost all of the intricate detailing of engine, fuselage framework, and cockpit interior will be hidden from view, which is a pity. A model like this almost cries for cut-away sections, and I will devote some time to figuring out how this could be done.
Also, in a scale of 1/16 it would seem an urgent task to replicate the internal wire bracing of the fuselage, particularly if you have cutaway sections. I have yet to figure out a good way of managing that, too.
Some of the details of the fuselage, like the framework member metal reinforcement plates, seem to be somewhat of a product of the kit designer's imagination. I do not remember that amount of reinforcements from photos, but will check further before starting to build eventually.
As you can see from the excerpts of the parts sheets, shading and wheathering are not of exceptional quality. What is really exceptional, however, is the construction of the wings, which follow the original very closely, down to correct position of spars, plus the fact that all of the wing ribs, including the leading edge small false ribs, are supplied.
It seems a great pity to hide all those details under the wing covering, and the design just cries out for leaving one wing, or at least the bottom side of it, uncovered. In that case, the spars and ribs should be recoloured to simulate wood. The designers very thoughtfully have included large chunks of patterns (for spare parts) which could be used for that purpose.
If you build the model with cut-away sections, many parts of the fabric covering will have to be painted to simulate unpainted fabric. Metal parts (such as the scores of parts for the engine) probably ought to be printed on grey paper, if for nothing else to simplify the otherwise very arduous task of edgecolouring all those tiny little details.
The engine will be a challenge to build it as a truly rotary engine, with an electric motor inside. Even at 1/16 a smaller electric motor than the ones I've used so far will be necessary. And I'm already thinking of how to get a small 2,4 V rechargeable battery into the fuel tank!
Leif
