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hi  Timbo and Rafa..  v/nice pics and the build quality looks superb. best looking wheels i have seen yet and complete with tires! er' tyres. looks like u are making a spare for those bumpy landings.

hi Rafa L. that reinforcing frame looks really good and has the advantage that more space becomes available for the pack which is needed as mine is a bit tight.  u seem to have used depron side cheeks where-as i used 0.8mm here. i must admit that since xmas the winds here have been too much for this little bird, but i have had a couple of flights and must say i am tickled pink with the performance.  if u have ever flown a gws tiger-moth the SOPWITH flies very much the same. even at the slightly overweight of my model.     hand launch here as the grass is too long but she flies out of the hand with a gentle launch and stooges about with what i think is the right sit namely slightly nose up.      easy turns did not drop a wing and i found the outing rather good. i am sure u will be pleased when u come to fly your model.  nb i do try very carefully to get the balance point right on the C of G happy hours

hi all. looks like very nice template by Rafa L to fix the struts on the sopwith. you might be interested in  the following data that ended up with my sopwith balancing just right. motor pot50 weight about 35g with 8x4 pot folder 1250 lipo 7.4v weight 54g 2x titch servos about 5g each gws nano rx 4 about 9g fly 12a esc very light weight. all up flying weight of aircraft 244g  8.625oz. these parts were available to me from a previous plane and alternative cheaper items would probably do providing weight is kept as low as possible.   Can anyone report on their flying experience with this Sopwith?

hi jono.    i bought some bamboo sticks from tesco bar-b dept. but that was after i fabed the wire u/c.    the bamboo sticks are quite sturdy and if i try to break one it  tends  to shatter rather than snap off.      i have never used bamboo but the rigid hard balsa/hard wood legs have always used have snapped off usually taking the fixings with them.    timbo says he will reinforce the mtg. points and i agree as the plan indicates that u just pierce the fuz and glue the sticks in. must say however this model is not fast so any reasonable pilot ought to be able to drift it in ok but most bi/tri planes need some power on right down to the deck so a u/c is needed to save the prop. somewhere in these threads some-one named the drinks bottle that suited but i cant remember if it was for the fokker or sopwith.   good luck and i am sure u will be pleased

hi timbo    the wings certainly look much better with sim. stiching  that i did with a little 2mm wide rolling device with handle. i inherited it in my tools and never did know what use it would be.    looking in the wifes bakery drawer i have also found a pastry marking device that is similar and test running it across a gash piece of depron provides a ziz-zag pattern that looks quite effective.  beware though if you  bungle it  u cant remove the dent. i think u are very wise to upgrade to 6mm at least on the lower wing.  i went the whole hog and laminated all 3 and i think they look better and u can form a camber by doing so. i am no expert but just eyeing up the incidence angle when u stick the wings on did work ok for me.  i dont think u need more than 2 degrees or she will climb like a scalded kitten. the very clever device shown on this thread for the fokker build would be well worthwhile making.    the dihedral angle i found was easy with the rigging threads and really stiffens up the wing if u keep the thread straight. takes a few trys thru mid wing.

hi timbo and jono    few pics of the u/c fixings.  the piano wire is about 18 swg. that most model shops keep.  the joints are soft soldered.   at the nose fix i have used a thin rubber band to give movement for those hard arrivials. at the rear i araldited a ali tube accross the fuz.  this could go right thru the inside of the fuz for more neatness.    couple pics more on wing fixing follows.     Hope Cyril does not object to these alterations. NB i am still smiling after the short flight i got before the wind came back. Its a cracking flyer!

hi juno   thanks for that.  the paint used on the wings i found in B&Q paint dept in little pots called colour tester pots that i think are to save u buying litres of the wrong color for the living room.   the paint cost £1.99 and is called chalky emulsion 1829 Tang Yellow.   it might be a bit too yellow but u can thin it down a bit with water.  when i do it again i will probably try s Silk emulsion in magnolia and i think we have some left over from the last decorating job.   silk would give a slightly shiny finish that would look better.   also i have pictures of the wire u/c and fixing and the wing fix but i cant make them attach to the thread although others went thru ok last time. timbo also asked about the points u raised so i will keep trying to post the pics.  NB I am not a proper scale man as i was weened on KK kits in the fifties and if themodels look ok i am happy

hi timbo   i will get some pics of wing and u/c fixings asap.    The tailplane has not got camber it is just a flat piece of 3mm depron with a couple of bracing wires ie threads that are shown on the plan.     Finding the rigging layout requires careful study of the photos in the magazine and then u have to guess quite a lot. not all of the rigging wires are shown on the plan.

thanks timbo. after a few tries a pic arrived! although i did use photobucket.com as it was already a loaded application on my computer. thanks again.

hi timbo.  nice to get a reply on the sopwith.  i am still trying to understand how to post pics to the thread. looks like trying a few attempts would help. fixing the wings did not cause any particular concerns. i did not like the cocktail stick idea as they are brittle so pressed a 6 inch length of 1.5 mm carbon rod thru the fuz and about 2 inches into each upper and lower wing. Centre wing i notched at the inner strut position then added a strip of depron on the inner side of the strut.  then with the struts losely in place and with the carbon rods ready to slip into the wings i POR glued the lot together and carefully eyed it all up to keep it true and soon the glue set ok.  I must say i usually build in balsa an this is my first depron job so possibly i have much learing to do. i was however pleased with the result and the interplane rigging stiffens the wing enormously.

hi david. cant claim that great photo of the fokker is my sopwith. must be the thread owners work that obviously has an engineering brain behind it as that wing rigging jig looks just right to getting the stagger and dihedral right.     have not received any replies re my request for performance details but i just snatched a 15 min session during a totally calm evening and confirm that the sopwith handles perfectly!  not unlike the GWS tiger moth . slow and easy!     great to cyril for a grand design effort.

hi all. ref to my sopwith and the laminated wings from 2 pieces of 3 mm depron. seeing terrys remarks about pva i remembered that it was not pva but rc modellers glue with a drop of water to thin it down.     i did intend to use pva but have mislaid the tin somewhere so it seems i may have excaped delamination at 50 metres!   i am new to forums so please excuse any silly mistakes i make.

hi all. ive just about completed the sopwith and i am quite pleased with the result. i would like to know if anyone has flying experience with this model except of course cyril. i used a potensky 50 brushless i had available and with a 800 mah lipo it seems to balance in the right place. i laminated the wings from 2 pieces of 3mm formed over a biscuit lid that seemed the right curvature. all up wt is 8 oz.as it is too windy here at the moment i would like to know how others find the flying performance

hi everyone. ive just about finished the sopwith and i am quite pleased with the result. has anyone flown one except cyril of course. lets hear how it goes. i have fitted a pot30 and will start with a 8by 4 folder with a 2 cell lipo. weight with 800 ma pack is 8 ounces. i laminated the wings from 3mm by pva glue on curved biscuit tin that had the right curvature. looking forward to replies