Reviresco Sopwith Triplane Build Project

Last night I started my first Reviresco miniature build... Figured I would jump in head first and go for a harder one, so I chose to do the Sopwith Tripe. I am going to attempt to photo-document my work here in this thread as I progress.

I will be following a set of tips and instructions kindly provided to me by Flying Officer Kyte. If this project should happen to blow up in my face, it will be because of my lack of experience and skill and not because of Rob's instructions.

1. Clean off any flashing on the model
2. Fill any cavities and rub down.
3. Photo copy several images of the card jig supplied.
4. Don’t cut up the jig but use each one as a full box to slip over each wing. It gives a firmer structure and makes it easier to position all the wing parts in alignment.


Here is a pic of the the kit straight out of the bag. There was quite a bit of flash, and the details on the plane were quite muddy in places. I purchased two Tripe kits, and this was the better of the two...There were also a few pits here and there. I assume this is because the kits came from a very well used mold:



I cut and filed off all the flash, filled in the pits with green stuff, and attempted to bring back out as much of the missing detail as a could. Then I scanned the wing jig image from the back of the packaging and used photo editing software to reproduce a few copies ( I will have lots of extras..):

5. Glue the bottom wing into place.

First a quick picture of the workspace... just because...



Now to the gluing of the bottm wing...The wing went on rather well but fits with some gaps along the fuselage that I will have to fill with greenstuff...




Time for a coffee break... more to come...

Now that I look closely at the pictures, I have decided that I will be going back to clean up some of the rib lines that I got rather crooked...

6. Do a dry run of the wing assembly with the jig.

After attempting this with the first set of jigs I constructed... well the whole thing kinda blew up in my face. To my frustration I had made sloppy cuts in the jig and because of this, nothing lined up properly and I even had difficulty inserting the wings in the jig... so I carefully and precisely cut and folded new jigs. Measure twice, cut once. Or try cutting it right the first time you dufus!! I think that's the quote.

Round 2: This time things went much smoother. I decide to pin the jigs in place as I lined things up so as to give me even more stability when I do the actual "glue run" on the wings... we will see how things go. Hopefully I can cut out the struts without mangling them and hopefully they will fit through the holes in the wings... Otherwise I will be scrambling to find new material whith which to build new struts.

Disaster has struck! Please see this thread for details...

Tripe construction will continue as soon as a solution becomes available...

You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming!

Update: Local Train store and hobby store were closed today... so still no brass or styrene rods to commence the repairs and finish the build...

I am thinking I will get ambitious and start the Se.5a while I am waiting on my chance to get parts...

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!

I now have a bunch of various styrene and brass rod, and flat rod, plus some new files and other hobby goodies... time to get building again!!! (After I play video games with my five year old nephew!)

No more scrimshanking!

7. Assemble the wings with the jigs in place. Don’t worry about trapping them, you can cut them off afterwords. Be very careful to get the alignment of the wings correct. They should be staggered forward. The jig will help here.

OK... so the "Thanksgiving Disaster" is behind me now... and after about 6 tries total, I have now finally assembled the wings and struts. At first I tried with the jigs, but found that I could not work within the confined space and had to bail on them. The other 5 tries were spent with me gluing, and "ungluing" the wings to get them positioned as close to "right" as I could. At least I will have more experience on my second Tripe mini... After wards I used white putty to fill strut holes and a few other spots and sanded the areas down... at this point I am not happy with how the details are looking... but we will see once I get some primer on the model.









At his point I think I am going to change up the order of the tips and go ahead and prime this model and parts and the SE.5a project as well. I may do some painting before assembling the last few small parts and undercarriages.

Step 8. Prime Aircraft and remaining parts. (Changing up the order of things a touch.)

This part was pretty simple... except that it is 32° F. here in Baltimore, Ohio, necessitating the creation of a makeshift spraybox in my attic so I could vent the overspray out the window as I sprayed in a warm environment. A window fan on reverse, cardboard box, an exacto knife, and some furnace filters... and Alackazam!! Ten minutes later I have a spray box! No fumes... no mess!










From here I will be airbrushing on some base colors, and then hand painting the rest of the model. I may also be adjusting that right center wing just a touch and filling in a few missed divots...

Where is the picture of your spraybox set up then? I love Heath Robinson affairs.
Rob.

Here ya go Rob... pretty simple... I use old t-shirts as rags to keep the box sealed against the window, I get pretty good reverse airflow that way! I also have one to drop down in front to help keep the fumes in the box after I am done (I leave a vent to get airflow.)





Works like a charm, and keeps me from seeing purple fuzzy elephants when I am spraying from a can!

Step 8.5: Start Painting, which makes more divots and deformities stand out, correct with putty and sand.

As the above states, I noticed some rough spots and a hole that I missed when puttying the model earlier... so I decided to fix them before painting any further.... I still have some sanding to do and will start painting again after that!



Back to painting!

1-2-2011

Update: Thumb has topped throbbing. (As long as I remember not to wack it on objects around the house) I am am well into the painting stage... should have some finished pics in the next couple of days as long as I have no trouble assemblying the undercarriage. Check back soon!

1-3-2011: Sneak Peak

OK so here are a couple of teaser pics... You might notice that I straightened out that center wing problem... the pending paint job should look familiar... (Come on... how did you think I was gonna paint it?) Not far from completeion... just a few more details and I need to find the right sized pins for the prop and undercarriage axle (the kit comes with neither.)

I have a Doctor's appointment early in the AM... so it is off to bed for now! Catch ya on the flip side!

Delays, Delays, Delays!!!

Gentlemen (and Ladies??? where are the Ladies?!?!?), I wanted very much to show you a finished product on both this and the Camel project for my upcoming tourney... however I hit a couple of small snags (Imagine that!)

Between not being able to hold anything tiny (like landing gear parts) with the big bandage on my left thumb; and having broken all my tiny Pin Drill bits, I find myself unable to continue until I can acquire both some new bits and a set of reverse action tweezers... hopefully both at my FGLS when I run the tournament there tomorrow. Its always something!!! Hopefully in a couple of days... hang with me!

Step 9: Paint Model and Remaining Parts
Step 10: Clear Coat, Apply Decals, Repeat Clear Coat
Step 11: Assemble and Attach Landing Gear and Prop
Step 12: Apply Dull Coat.

As you may have noticed, I have deviated quite a bit from the steps of my original plan. I think that as you build each model you are going to run into to different things that will cause you to be flexible in how you proceed. There were quite a few things with this model.

You will also notice that I have not used the pilot that came with this kit. Unfortunately the Cockpit opening in this kit was too small for the pilot to go in, no matter how I attempted to "size him down" . This particular Sopwith Triplane will have to be flown by remote control.

I used small diameter round brass rod for the axle and the prop shaft. I did end up having to fill in and re-drill the holes for the landing gear as they were in the wrong place.

I also had a few problems with the quality of the decals in this case. Despite a good dose of fixative before applying them, the color was a little "flaky". I was able to use paint to touch up a few rough spots.

All in all I think the final product turned out pretty good. Seven weeks, two Holidays, a major "crushing accident", multiple trips to the Hobby Store, and one trip to the ER to have my thumb-tip glued back on and here you have it:

(History Fanatics try not to go into cardiac arrest.)















And that finally concludes this Build Project!