• Special Building Box
• Fuselage Parts
• Engines
• Cowls
• Various Parts
• Fuselage Interiors
• Fuselage Exteriors
• Tail Skid Assembly
• Engine & Cowlings
• Undercarriage
• Generators
• Decals
• Wing Assembly
• Final Assembly and Rigging
• Conclusion

The Sopwith Triplane has always been one of my favorite WWI aeroplanes and in 1982 the Revell kit was one of the early additions to my collection. I have toyed with the idea of building another one but the plain vanilla decals of the Revell kit did nothing for me. I have always liked Collishaw and his Black Flight but the lack of decals kept that dream on the shelf.

Fast forward to 2009 with the release of a Sopwith Triplane decal sheet from Phenon Models with no less than 28 Sopwith Triplane selections. The entire Black Flight is represented. At last Naval 10 will grace my shelf. And others can be added in the future due to large number of aircraft on the sheet.

So I raid my shelf and find three kits. A friend brings two down from Portland, Oregon and Hobbytown USA provides the sixth. The re-released kit has a beautiful brand new decal sheet but this is one tired old kit. There is a fair amount of flash, the rear of fuselage did not get molded well, not to mention wheels, engine and prop leave a lot to be desired. There is no seat or contral stick. They will be replaced or added with Aeroclub metal parts. And the mold was not even cleaned. It appears that debris was left on the mold and it was cast that way. But it can be cleaned so I guess it's no big deal. So let's get started.

Since my plan is to build all six at the same time, one needs a special box to put all of his models in. A cut down box, some cardboard inserts and one has a Special Box™ for Triplanes. The Special Box™ is optional but it does look cool.

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There is no interior detail at all in the kit. To represent the framing in the cockpit area, I found Eduard 1/350^th ship railing fit very near perfect. This section is shown in seven steps.

1. The metal etch as it comes out of the box.
2. A Section is cut out the length needed in the cockpit
3. This section has railing removed to give me the gap for the plane
4. The trimmed section is super glued inside the fuselage.
5. The cross sections are built-up white glue.
6. The interior is sprayed painted and the framing is dry brushed
7. The exterior cross section is scribed with a hobby knife
8. The exterior is painted and the representation of the bracing through the fabric is complete.

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The kit engine was replaced by Aeroclub Part #013, 9 cyl Clerget Rotary and prop for five of the kits. Two Aeroclub Part #081, 9 cyl Clerget prop and etched push rods were used just to see how they look. (They do look good.) This assembly was completed by painting a metallic grey and dry brushing.

The kit cowl is correct was far as the front cooling slot is concerned. It needed to be opened up to look more authentic. Three cooling slots were drilled out in the bottom of the cowl and the entire interior was thinned out so the Aeroclub engine could fit. The lower bottom edge of the cowl was thinned paper thin for a more realistic look. They were painted black and put aside.

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Aeroclub Part #V054, Sopwith control sticks and seats were added as there is nothing in the kit as far as these two items. A little paint, some fake seat belts and they are ready to installation.

The kit wheels are the correct diameter per the Datafile, but they have a flat back. Aeroclub Part #V028, Palmer Cord 10mm replaced these wheels. The kit wheels are the correct diameter according to the Datafile but they were disqualified due to the flat back. The wheels were sprayed black and a medium grey was used for the tires. I found it easier to spray the wheels instead of applying the Pheon black wheel cover decal.

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Tamiya XF-52, Flat Earth, is a very close match for the PC12 used by the RNAS and my own mix of CDL was used on the lower surfaces. The wings required only minor clean up and after painting, they were sprayed with Future.

At this point, the wing decals were applied. I wanted to test the quality of the Pheon Decals and they are nice. The instructions say to soak the decals for no more than five seconds and then removed them from the water. The decals released from their backing in less than 15 seconds after removing from the water. They are not thin decals but they settle down exactly as designed. Setting solution is not recommended but I did use Micro Set and they responded well. They were sprayed with Future after they were dry.

Let me say something about Pheon Decals at this time. My sheet, 72003, Sopwith Triplane in 1/72nd scale is amazing. You have decals for 28 individual Triplanes. All of the fuselage roundels, markings, numbers and names are provided. However, only 14 sets of wings roundels are provided. At some point down the road, you will have to use the Revell kit decals for everything except the individual pilot markings. If not, you will have a mix of two difference colors in the national markings. The colors are very similar but there is a difference in shade. I used the Pheon roundel decals on my three older Triplanes and the kit decals for the three newer Triplanes. The Pheon decals will be used on all six planes for the individual pilot markings. I cannot say enough about the quality and reaseach that has gone into the Pheon Decals and I want to thank Rowan Broadbent for his excellent work.

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Steven Perry sent me some photos of a Triplane that he built and I used several of his techniques for the interior. I cut out a floorboard and painted it wood. Six seats were painted and three of them got the Revell seat belt decals and three are hand painted. The seats were attached to a peg and glued into place. A variety of seats were used as I didn't have six of the same seat. The Aeroclub control stick was attached and rudder pedals were installed, some from Roden kits, one from an unknown kit and two were scratch built.

The instructment panels are resin cast using the Roden Sopwith Camel as a pattern. Five were cast for the single machine gun versions and one was cast for the twin machine gun version. These were glued to one side of the fuselage.

I was going to make new cabane struts that went all the way to the floorboard but decided to use Steven's method of cutting a small strut piece and gluing it to the side of the fuselage. The results are pleasing. The cockpit assemblies were then glued to the fuselage side and the fuselages were closed up. At this point all interior work is completed.

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With the fuselages closed up, the firewall and bottom piece is attached. This the poorest fitting piece of the kit and required a considerable amount of putty and sanding to get it to look good. The machine gun slot is closed with epoxy, heat sink holes were puttied along with the bottom of the plane. A fair amount of sanding and putty is required especially in the nose area. It sounds like a bigger job than it really is because the plane is tiny. Unless, of course, you have some crazed reason to build six at one time.

The Triplane had an open frame work exposing the tail skid assembly. Again, Steven's method came to the rescue. Using the very thin plastic at the rear of the fuselage, I was able to notch out the plastic and then close up the rear with a piece of flat stock. A piece of round stock was added to the opening and I had a pleasing representation of this open frame work. Also, at this point, I have not knocked off any of the tail skids that are molded on the fuselage.

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It is now time to install engines. The hole in the firewall is too large so it was closed up and re drilled for the smaller shaft I used with the engines. The cowlings fit over the engines but only because they had been thinned earlier. The cowlings turned out to be slightly larger than the fuselage so they were sanded to size after the glue dried. My method of painting the cowlings black prior to assembly may look good in the photos but they will have to be repainted later. This completes the fuselages and they are now ready for some touch up sanding and then paint.

It would be nice to say that the undercarriage of the kit was correct but, alas, I cannot. The kit legs are too long per the Datafile and the spreader bar is just not right. So I squared the bottom of the kit part, cut out the upper half of the molded circle and shorten the legs. A small piece of round stock attaches the two sides. I have not decided if I'm going to add the small vertical piece of round stock to this area. The spreader bar has a slight airfoil shape to it and the axle is attached to the top of it. So, some airfoil material, some round stock for the axle, glue the two together and flair the axle up at each end of the spreader bar. I then drilled the hole for the rigging and painted all 18 pieces. By now I'm beginning to question my sanity. Tech Support said that question was answered a long time ago. I'm not sure what she meant.

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OK, it's now official: I'm crazy. Maybe it's the pressure of building six models at one time or some other unknown factor. Whatever it is, I needed five generators for the Triplanes. John Adams at Aeroclub sent me free of charge some of his different generators a number of years ago and I filed them away. They came out today and got modified to fit the Triplane. The rear portion was cut off and sanded smooth. Then, using tiny plastic wedges, I attached them to the generator. Five of the Triplanes will get my new creation; N533 did not have a generator per the Windsock photo.

At this point I like to apply the decals on the fuselage as it becomes so much harder after the wings have been attached. Also, at this point each plane gains its own identity, so card must be taken to get names and numbers on the correct planes. Also remember that Collishaw had two Black Marias so you much exercise care to get the numbers and letters correct. After the decals were applied, they were sprayed with Future to prevent damage when the model is handled in the final assembly and rigging.

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Now the hard part. The outer struts were marked at the halfway point as the Revell locating piece was sanded off a long time ago. All four struts were attached with super glue. I should have let the middle wing float at the cabanes but I didn't due to the fact I needed to drill the hole in the wing for the rigging. After getting the rigging hole in its proper place, the top wing was attached and the fun began. Due to the fact that the wings were attached with super glue, there was no flex in moving the wings into position. Several broke loose but eventually I prevailed. With this step, the planes are virtually complete. All that is left is the rigging and the attachment of the props and generators.

The rigging is one of favorite steps and no problems were encountered. I made the rigging my project at my workshop on Fridays and in between lunch and students, I rigged five of the kits. Number six was competed in the evening and the rigging is complete. The Triplane had a fairly unique rigging system so make sure to check your references as you go.

Next up was the props and generators and they went on exactly as planned. The most tedious parts was cutting the control horns for the wings. This is the part of any build that I like the least but it adds to the model, especially on the wings.

After the control horns, it's spot painting time and another light coat of future. The models are now complete and are heading for the photo booth where they can say "cheese". By the way, Sopwith Triplanes do not say "cheese."

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A very interesting and ambitious project for me. The only reason I even started this project was the fact that I wanted the Black Flight for over 30 years. I did go above and beyond my normal building habits but the kit so needed help. I am pleased with the results but I doubt that six planes at one time will ever be done again by me. Besides, its all Pheon's fault. If Rowan hadn't put out such a beautiful sheet of decals, I would not have been tempted beyond what I could bear. A special thanks to Steve Perry for ideas that made the build a little easier. The sole reference used was Windsock Datafile 22, Sopwith Triplane by J. M. Bruce.

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