1/72 Sopwith "Night Tripe" for the R.A.F. 100

[Brian da Basher]

On New Year's Eve, 1918. Londoners waited to ring in 1919 as the Great War ground on into its fifth year. Before they could pop their champagne corks, the British capitol was bombed by the new German High Altitude bomber, the Zeppelin-Staaken N.H. III. These Hun raiders bombed from the hitherto unheard of height of 30,000 feet and no fighter then in production could climb high enough to touch them. The German Zeppelin-Staaken N.H. IIIs continued to bomb with impunity, but since accurate high-altitude bombing was merely a dream, they caused more panic than damage or casualties.

Fortunately for the frightened Londoners, the Sopwith Aero Co. came to the rescue. They resurrected their triplane which had been the scourge of the western front years earlier and re-engined it with the powerful 450 h.p. Woosley Whisper 9 cylinder radial and provided the pilot with an enclosed canopy and oxygen supply for high-altitude ops. The new aircraft was also armed with a .50 cal. Browning machine gun synchronized to fire through the propellor as well as two wing mounted .303 Lewis guns as well as the sleekest, most streamlined landing gear yet seen in the Great War.

The new "Night Tripe" was capable of reaching the Zeppelin-Staaken bombers and was soon rushed into service in March, 1919. They decimated a raid of 25 German bombers, only one of which managed to return home, crash landing from battle damage.

Once the Germans realized they could no longer bomb London with impunity, this caused their morale to sink to such a point that they felt compelled to sue for an armistice in August, 1919. The Sopwith Night Tripes were soon replaced by more modern types, and only one example exitsts today. K498 can be seen on display at the R.A.F. Night Ops museum in Bolton, Tuesday through Saturday after sundown.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

The basis for this project was the Revell Germany re-release of their classic Sopwith Triplane I got from Upnorth (thanks, Kev!). Considering the molds must be around 40 plus years old, it's a very fine kit. There was a bit of flash to trim, and in doing so, I inadvertantly trimmed the tip off the end of the fuselage, but I was able to fix that with some sheet plastic. The way the kit is engineered lends towards putting on a different engine and I had one in the spares boxes that fit like a glove. I also had a prop and spinner that that fit too and I made an exhaust ring from wire from a wine bottle. I was able to make split-axle landing gear with no problem and the spats were scratched from half wheels and sheet plastic and a dab of putty. The canopy was a spare vacform. The underwing gun pods are made from sprue and spare axles and I used more plastic card to make ammo feed trays which you can see in the shot of the undersides.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

The entire model was brush-painted by hand with acrylics. I used a custom mix of N.I.V.O. for the uppers and then darkened it for the "tree branch" camo pattern. I used Model Masters Gunship Gray on the undersides and struts. The roundels and rudder stripes were painted with Liquitex Pthalo Blue and Polly Scale Red. The guns, engine and exhaust were painted with craft-store Gunemtal and I dry-brushed Model Masters Rust on the ends of the exhaust. The decals were from my decal stash. The model was rigged with .008 steel wire and Gator Glue.

I hope you enjoyed this little Night Tripe as much as I did building it!

Brian da Basher

[Arc3371]

Looks good! Any thoughts on visibility from the cockpit?

[sotoolslinger]

Good golly , effin brilliant, mind if I steal part of the backstory for some of my Republic of Texas stuff?
Also can we have  some more pics ,some from below so I can steal that too?

[Brian da Basher]

I'm really glad you guys like this little triplane. I figure the view from the cockpit would be no worse (and possibly no better) than that on the original. Unfortunately, the pics I posted were the best of the lot. I just got inside before the rain came. Toolslinger, you may always borrow freely from anything I post. I'd be very flattered!

Brian da Basher

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Nice work again Brian.  Surprised you have not attempted to make any spats from the tiny spoons that I sent to you. 

[K5054NZ]

*obnoxious applause* I looooooooove it! That engine is seriously kicka**, my dear friend! Superb! I like Tripehounds at the best of times, but bespatted and souped-up?


       

     

     

(that's an emoticon Triplane, btw)

[Taiidantomcat]

Great combination of old and new, great Camo too.

[lancer]

Damm, he's done it again!!! amazing little build Brian! Love the back story, pure genius, although I was surprised to see only a passing reference to Spats though. I am going to have to borrow that cammo scheme for one of my builds at some point inthe future as it is very cool looking!

[upnorth]

Man, Brian! You had that critter together almost as quick as the Czech postal service got it to you!

Nice result and backstory too!

[John Howling Mouse]

Hey, you're supposed to E-mail me whenever you build up and post something this cool-----I nearly missed this one (I think).  If it wasn't for STS's recent post which linked to this thread...   

Anyhow, very cool model, Brian.  How does she feel flying around the cottage?

[Sisko]

Wonderful stuff as always!

[jcf]

It makes more sense than what was actually built...




Although, now that I think about it... the Night Hawk could be a BdB special.

Cheers, Jon