Sopwith Pup (oz2721)

 

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Bill Galloway's Sopwith Pup [main pic, 003-006] was my first attempt to build a scale model from a plan. His plans are works of art, and worth downloading just to glory in his fine draughtsmanship. There is some doubt as to whether his planes will fly... I've built two, thus far, this Pup and the Fokker D8 (oz3648), and they are both flyers: 55 secs for the Pup, and over a minute for the D8 - with some buoyant air under their wings, both capable of much more. This is definitely not a model for a beginner, it was my third model and took me eight months to finish. I built the first set of wings as described in the plan and, despite their fragile bones, when tissued and strung, they turn out much stronger than expected - though for long grass flying only. These wings were smashed by a ham-fisted friend in my hangar. (Lesson learnt, never let your friends touch your ships.) For the second set, I used slightly wider ribs (about 1/20"x1/32") which helped them to sit evenly on the spars without twisting. They also benefitted from a smart new paint job. Then the fuselage was smashed by an exploding motor. (Lesson learnt: use a blast tube.) So, that was rebuilt and repainted, too. Thus the Pup is rather like Trigger's broom, not much of it is original. The effort was worth it, the Pup looks absolutely beautiful in the blue but, with its constantly changing incarnations, has been a beggar to trim. Great care is required when setting the wings and adding the wires, to make sure nothing gets twisted. And, as with all short-nosed aeroplanes, keep that tail as light as possible, to minimize the weight needed in the nose. 2017 being the 100th anniversary of Edwin Dunning's famous flight, I chose to make his Pup, and then put together a short tribute video of the build and his story, see https://youtu.be/3kEOrFqMgLw Regrettably, because the original wings were smashed wings before she was successfully trimmed, I had only early, wayward flying videos to use. At some point, I'll assemble a YouTube video of some of the later flights.
Justin Baldwin - 07/08/2022
Absolutely beautiful! Loved the tribute and construction video as well as the scale/plastic flying prop shown in the photos. Congratulations all around!
Jan Novick - 07/08/2022
Much as it pains me, I have to agree with Jan :)) The only improvement I'd dare suggest would be to cover the structure in some clear colourless material so that the woodwork remained visible, it's that good!
Miguel - 08/08/2022
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