Sopwith Schneider Trophy Racer (oz9898)

About this Plan

Sopwith Schneider Trophy Racer. Indoor scale model for radio control with Falcon electronics.

Quote: "The Sopwith Tabloid SS3 (oz9887) featured in the January 2005 issue of Flying Scale Models has given me a great deal of pleasure, performing equally well indoors or out. Its flying weight of just 3 oz and a light wing loading (2 oz/sq ft) made slow flying very easy and at 24in span it could be left in the back of the car for those occasional calm sunny days. But I still hankered after a model that was unequivocally for indoor flying; slower and lighter but still recognisably a scale model. Then I came across No-Cal and the penny dropped. A well decorated profile model still looks the part at indoor distances and with the Falcon PU01 and R/C gear weighing about an ounce, a flying weight of 2 oz would give a profile SS3 a wing loading of about 1.25 oz/sq ft.

I fancied a change of aircraft, so chose the landplane conversion of the Sopwith Schneider Trophy winner: the Sopwith High-Speed, a rare bird indeed and never modelled before. But after making the tailplane and the wings, I realised that, taking the width of the Falcon motor and fittings into account, a profile fuselage would actually weigh very little less than a carefully constructed three-dimensional one. So that's the compromise that this model represents: No-Cal wings and tail and a full-width fuselage, and it works very well indeed!

Please note: this is not a sturdy model like the SS3. It needs careful handling and must be fully rigged to in order to fly. If you have never built this light before, you will discover whole new areas of clumsiness you didn't know you had, but it can be made in a couple of days and repairs take just a few minutes. And - the whole point of the exercise - it can fly very slowly.

The real thing. The astonishing story of Sopwith's Schneider Trophy winner is well known, but what happened to it afterwards? As one of the most important aircraft in avia-tion history, does it hang in a museum somewhere, lovingly cared for by elderly Sopwith employees? I'm afraid not. On its return from Monaco, Hawker, Sopwith and the boys stripped off the floats, retained the 100 hp engine, added a 'V' undercarriage and turned it into a racer. There are pictures of it in the Windsock Mini Datafile No 9, which show that some minor modifications were made to the Schneider's fuselage..."

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