1/32 Sopwith Triplane “Raymond Collishaw”

Description

This is an injection-plastic aircraft model kit which includes some resin parts.

Adapted from Wingnut Wings:

Sopwith’s 80hp Scout (Pup) immediately impressed when it was unveiled in February of 1916 and quickly went into service with the RFC (Royal Flying Corps) and RNAS (Royal Naval Air Service), and long-term production. Sopwith’s followup machine, the 110hp Clerget 9z powered Sopwith Triplane prototype N500, was approved on May 28. 1916, only 4 months after the Pup prototype. It was sent to France in mid-June 1916 for trials with A Squadron (later 1 Naval Squadron) RNAS where it reportedly went into action as soon as it arrived.

A 2ndprototype, the 130hp Clerget 9b powered N504, was flying by August of 1916 and was also dispatched to France for trials. Even more powerful and maneuverable than the Pup, Sopwith’s new Triplane, or ‘Tripehound’ (often shortened to ‘Tripe’) as it became known, was an instant hit with the young RNAS pilots lucky enough to fly them. Although superficially similar to the 80hp Sopwith Pup, the Tripe fuselage was designed from the outset for the larger 110hp & 130hp Clerget engines. The wingspan was the same but the triple ‘short chord’ wings afforded greater visibility, more maneuverability, and a phenomenal rate of climb. Although initially armed only with a single Vickers machine gun like the Pup, the Tripe could out-climb and out-maneuver the best German fighters of the time, the twin gun Albatros D.II & D.III (and later D.V) — and it was faster, too!

This kit includes a highly-detailed Clerget 130hp 9b engine, and four resin pieces to build a 54mm tall Raymond Collishaw figure.

• [Mold Color]: Grey
• [Includes]: Cartograf decals forSopwith Triplane N533, photo-etched parts, unbuilt resin figure