Building the Sopwith
Pup confirmed a variety of superlatives attributed to Wingnut
Wings' products. I quote Brett Green in his review summary to acknowledge
what also I found during the build:
"Cleverly engineered for
ease of assembly; modest parts count (not intimidating); outstanding (my
it) representation of fabric, tape and general surface detail; high
quality mouldings with fine sprue attachments; comprehensive decal sheet in
perfect register with minimal carrier film, photo-etched seat belts; full-colour
instruction booklet doubles as a one-stop reference."
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The building process
works like a breeze, at least for the first half. The parts fit well together.
You are practically spoon fed with the detailed instructions and accompanying
illustrations and photographs. If you miss that, then some parts are engineered
to fit the right way, Tamiya style. The fit of parts is tight and is
similar to Eduard's recent WWII models. In a hind sight, after examining my
photographs of the completed model, some putty is required but could have
been spared if I had paid more attention when joining parts together.
Now, for the bad
news; It is a WWI aircraft model. There is no way around it, which means:
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Very delicate parts
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Comprehensive wiring for
control cables, engine ignition wires, and fuselage bracing wires. You may
though, choose to skip this detailing phase without affecting the final
appearance of the model.
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You will do the majority of
assembly work after the parts are painted and the model is weathered
because this is the best way to gain the authentic look.
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Wings assembly is tricky. Take
a deep breath. All the struts broke in my first attempt and I had no
choice but, revert to epoxy glue. Wings alignment is critical and
does not fall in place. The reason is probably an engineering error from
combining fuselage ribs and secondary struts in one piece. The result, a
significant tendency of wings not to align properly with the main
struts. Solution: separate (a kind word for break off) struts in parts A19
and A17 for later attachment.
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No bracing wires supplied. I
flattened copper wires to attain the desired RAF type support wires.
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Although the rigging work
is relatively not intensive for this type of aircraft, it may test
your patience and endurance because of closely parallel wires across
the wing and the abundance of control cables.
Final verdict; highly recommended, although
I would guess that only experienced WWI aircraft modellers will
benefit from the finesse of surface detail to enjoy the build.
Rafi Ben-Shahar
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