1/72 SPAD XV Triplane

[Brian da Basher]

With the development of the Sopwith and Fokker triplanes in late 1916 and early 1917, the Great Triplane Race of W.W.I was on and France was not to be left out. After seeing both the Sopwith and Fokker tripes in action, the SPAD company entered the fray with their own SPAD XV triplane. Designed by that technical genius, Marcel d'Cognac, this fantastic machine boasted an uprated 250 h.p. Packard engine and three .50 cal. Marlin machine guns imported from the newest allied power, the United States. Two of the .50 Marlins were mounted over the cowl and the third fired through the propellor hub. Experienced gained with the cannon-armed SPAD XII was used to good advantage increasing the armament of the SPAD XV. The third wing gave the SPAD XV a rocket-like rate of climb while the concentrated firepower of the three Marlin machine guns could turn any foe into splinters in the blink of an eye. The SPAD XV (christened the "Fifi" by its pilots and crews) entered service in late 1917 and was in no small measure responsible for the French being able to gain air supremacy from the Germans in the Arras sector which helped turn the tide of the war. The example pictured here flew with the famous SPA 315 squadron and now resides in the Museum of the Great War in Toulouse.

1st of 7 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

This is a project I've had in mind for quite a while. What do you do with broken bits of a 1/72 Airfix SPAD VII, Revell SPAD XIII and a really cheap ($5) Academy SPAD XIII? Why build a SPAD triplane, of course! Actually, my "non-profipack" 1/72 Eduard SPAD XIII was originally slated to be the base kit for this project, but I was overwhelmed with guilt at mangling such a wonderful kit that when I saw this inexpensive Academy version at the LHS, I had a new donor kit.

2nd of 7 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

As I mentioned before, the base kit for this prject was the 1/72 Academy SPAD XIII. This is hardly the most accurate SPAD XIII, seeming to me to be a cross between a SPAD VII and XIII. The fit is so-so, and the detail in much of it is laughable. I'm very glad I added some gun barrels to the cowl guns, as without them, they'd hardly resemble machine guns at all. The cockpit is just a shelf and major surgery will be required if you want to detail it. One good thing about the Academy SPAD XIII is it comes with some really cool U.S. squadron markings which I'm sure will find use in a future project.

3rd of 7 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

Last summer while digging through some boxes in the basement, I happened upon a box of busted up old models. In there were pieces of the 1/72 Airfix SPAD VII and 1/72 Revell SPAD XIII. I've since used most of the pieces of those models for other projects, but I still had half of a wing from each left over. I was always intrigued that the British and Germans had fielded triplanes but not the French. I wondered what a SPAD triplane would look like and an idea was born. With some careful cutting and sanding, I was able to make these two dis-similar wings work as the middle wings on this project. If you look real close, you can see the differences between them, but being somewhat hidden in the middle, those differences aren't as glaringly obvious as they might be.

4th of 7 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

A wonderful thing about the Eduard SPAD XIII is the wealth of decal options offered with the kit. I raided those decals (or "deckles") to tart this project up a bit. The Eduard decals were just about perfect and the only modifications made were printing the roman numeral XV on the tail and re-painting the blue center on the upper wing roundels. There was a gray line running through the white portion which I tried to paint out but I managed to smear the white over the blue part. After a little trial-and-error, I mamanged to match up that beautiful duck-egg blue with artists' acrylics. The roundels on the lower wings are from my D.520 decals as I wanted to save some of the larger Eduard roundels for other projects.

5th of 7 pics.

Brian da Basher

[B777LR]

VEry nice and interesting

[Brian da Basher]

Rigging was accomplished with .009 size guitar strings, white glue, and lots of patience. Given the narrow space between the the three wings, my usual method of rigging with sewing thread just wouldn't cut it. I was able to use my new dollar store nippers to good effect cutting the guitar strings to size. I really like this method of rigging and will probably use it again on future biplane projects.

6th of 7 pics.

Brian da Basher

[The Rat]

WOW! I bet she would have climbed like a homesick angel!

Where's the spats?    

[Brian da Basher]

Acrylics were used for the paintjob. The colors were Testor's Tan and Olive Drab, Polly-Scale Light Olive and PC-10, Model Masters Euro Green for the uppers. Tamiya Dark Green was used for the dark patch on the uppers. Polly-Scale French Beige was used (in multiple coats) for the undersides. Tamiya Gunmetal was used on the guns and Model Masters Steel was used on the grill and exhaust. Model Masters Rust was used on the struts and I used Testor's Dark Gull Gray for the tires. It's a little known fact that W.W. I rubber tires were not black, but ranged in color from an almost pink to a dark gray. Apparently black tires did not appear until after W.W. I. I like to think of this project as a tribute to all the French members of the board. I hope you enjoyed seeing this little triplane as much as I enjoyed building it and sharing it with you.

Last of 7 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

Thanks for the comments, Trip 7 & Mr. Rat-San! You know, I did consider adding spats, but they would've gotten in the way of that Great War look I was after. I think my next project will have to have spats. I'm jonesing hard for them!

Brian da Basher

[Archibald]

Cool!!!
Did I remember that you love spats ?  
Always asked why there had been no French triplane after all

[cthulhu77]

very great idea and build...totally    

[Mike Wren]

 very nice Brian, great stuff!    

[ysi_maniac]

B)    B)    

[philp]

Nice build Brian.  I still have a bunch of 72nd scale WWI planes left from my estate sale, hmmm...

As to why the French didn't develope a triplane, for once, truth is stranger than fiction.  You just picked the wrong manufacturer.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...6lr%3D%26sa%3DN