03 November 2011

Sopwith Pup - Assembled

Here's my first plane assembled, a Sopwith Pup. It's an old Airfix kit. I thought I would try assembling the whole thing first, then painting. In hindsight, I should have left the pilot out and painted him separately. But this is the first plastic non-gaming-specific kit I've done since I was a kid, so I was just following the instructions.




It was a little trickier than I thought. The cross-piece for the landing gear was missing, so I used brass rod and had to guess at the length. The upper wing was a pain in the ass to attach, as all its held on with are the struts connecting to the lower wing. But it turned out OK for a first try. I need to touch up the engine cowling a bit with some filing and maybe a bit of putty.

Unlike some of the other planes, this one is probably not going to be terribly interesting to paint.

I just cracked open what may be the next plane, a Fokker DR.1. It's another Airfix, but the quality is horrible compared to the Pup. More to come as I continue...


edit: As I just posted in a reply below, I found this site with some great photos to use as a reference for the rigging: http://www.werkost.com/Pup.htm

4 comments:

  1. Looks great so far... are you going to rig it? Aside from helping to make it look "right", I have heard that the rigging really makes the model more durable... at the cost of tons more work of course.

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  2. I was debating that and have decided that I am going to try it. I'm going to use wire, since the rigidity will (I assume) be easier to deal with than thread.

    I found this page when I was looking for a reference:

    http://www.werkost.com/Pup.htm

    I figure that since this is my first plane, I may as well go all out and try to do as much as possible on it, learn from my experience, etc. If things go wrong, I can always use the excuse that it was the first. (As long as I improve later on.)

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  3. Getting into stringbags!? Good man!!!! :-D
    If you´re going to rig..get some "invisible" mending thread...works a treat.
    Although I have a bit of nostalgia for Airfix...revell are way better. Thier Fokker DR.1 is peasy to make..and thier Albatross DIII is truly great. Do a few of the revells and Airfix..then rigging a DeHavilland D.H.2, then come the Roden kits :-D
    Cheers
    paul

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  4. I got a batch of figures on the way, a mix of Airfix & Revell.

    As far as Roden, I came across one kit that's been calling to me, but it's probably a *bit* advanced for me until I get a few other kits under my belt... their Gotha G.IV!

    As far as the rigging, I do have at least a little head start. I went to school for architecture, and have build some scale trusses, spaceframes, etc. before.

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