Toko 1/72 Sopwith 1-1/2 Strutter

TOKO 1:72 SOPWITH 1½ STRUTTER "Comic Fighter"

Reviewer: Mark B (SMAKR Webmaster) (smakr@bigpond.com)
Kit Built + Review submitted: 27 November 2001

Aircraft:
Best remembered by the nickname 1.5 Strutter, this trim single-bay biplane was more formally known to the Royal Flying Corps as the Sopwith Two-Seater or Type 9700. First flown in 1915, the two-seat prototype was powered by the 110-hp Clerget 9 rotary and introduced such features as air brakes and a variable-incidence tailplane. The type also pioneered the interrupted machine gun in British service, making possible the installation of a fixed forward-firing weapon in the fuselage for use by the pilot.

The 1.5 Strutter entered service in 1916 in single-seat bomber and two-seat fighter variants with 110- or 130-hp rotaries. The single seat bomber version could carry 102 kg of bombs in place of the two-seater's observer/gunner. British production totalled just over 1500 and the French built something in the order of nearly three times this number. The 1.5 Strutter was obsolete as an operational type over the Western Front after only a few months of service, but still remained active until the end of the war in its naval variants. The principal users of the 1.5 Strutter included Great Britain, France, USA, Russia, Japan, Latvia, Belgium and Romania.

The Kit:
The kit came in a flattened (happened in the post!) blue box with two main sprues of light grey injection mold parts inside a bag, as was the decal sheet but the instructions floated loose in the box separately. Initially I was pretty impressed with the quality of the kit but it is one of those that needs a wash before assembly. There are 42 parts in all but some parts are not for use in this version, with extra propeller blade, cockpit covering, cockpit interior and the like provided in the kit for other versions. The kit is well detailed and the fabric effect on the wings and fuselage is actually well defined. There are a lot of struts [duh! It is called a Strutter!! :)] and small parts in this kit making it look quite fiddly even before construction, so one feels that the build will be a bit of a challenge for this reason. There is also the absence of locating pins and alignment tabs on the main parts (there are small holes for the struts) so positioning will have to be interpreted from the instruction sheet - even the lower wing parts have to be measured out for precise placement as provided in the instruction sheet! The parts are quality parts with no flash and while this is no kit for a beginner it should go together quite well, just on first impressions before building starts.

The two main sprues seem to hold parts for most, if not all, of the versions that Toko have released (see some boxart examples below) while an additional very small sprue contains the cockpit covers for the single seat versions so I assume this is the replacement sprue for the two-seat versions as other parts for two seat versions (such as an extra cockpit interior set) are all inside this box. The bottom of the box provides a colourful painting option with Humbrol numbers and names for painting instructions - each labelled with a letter which is used in the instructions for corresponding painting information.

Toko have released a variety of different boxings of the same basic mold and they all share common parts although a different sprue is provided on each version depending on what the kit is portraying, for instance my kit covers only the single seater versions with the two types of propellers (fighter and trainer versions) while the two seater version has a different sprue for it's version. Here are the various boxarts:


Two Seat Fighter version	Two Seat Trainer version	Single Seat Fighter version

Instructions:
Two A4 sheets folded to make a small A5 booklet form the instructions. The front page contains brief aircraft history and specification data and inside the cover is a full sprue diagram showing the layout of all the parts and the identifying numbers (as they are not actually numbered on the sprue itself). The inside sheet is then essentially devoted to the half a dozen assembly steps which provide fairly clear and precise assembly directions for the kit and on the whole also positioning of the parts. In the case of a couple of instances precise millimetre measurements are provided for the exact placement of parts - for example the lower wing halves. A two-view diagram is provided on the back page of the centre section showing painting/marking information and decal placement. Painting information is provided also for some individual components during instruction which are labelled by a letter and cross referenced to a quoted paint number and name from the Humbrol range. A copy of the decal sheet is also shown on the inside back cover showing "alternative" markings for the kit, but don't let this statement fool you, there is as far as I can tell decals for only one version.

Construction:
The engine is the first part of assembly which includes a cylinder block attached to a cylindrical shaft unit that is sub assembled together. The instruction sheet did not advise if any of this "should not be cemented" [to allow moveable components] so I affixed it all together. The cylinders were painted aluminium with a touch of black wash thrown in to try and show some oil marks.

Next came the cockpit. This consists of a full floor frame, realistic looking rudder pedals, control column and seat and these fit very well. The framework was painted in natural wood and leather applied to the seat and rudder pedals - unfortunately though all this great work disappears later when the cockpit cover is put on. Using Revell Contacta I did notice how quickly the parts grabbed together and started drying almost immediately which was in some ways good, but I had to ensure the positioning was almost perfect on first attempt. The inside of the fuselage halves were painted in Matt Linen with the structural framework picked out with natural wood and then the cockpit assembly was affixed to one fuselage half. The instructions were very vague in exact placement of the cockpit so it was a matter of testing it against the inside of the fuselage to a point where it was clearly in the right position, taking into account that the top of the seat should just reach the cockpit opening, and also being able to affix the other fuselage half with ease.

The fuselage halves go together quite well but needed to be held in place while they dried - as already alluded to above, the Revell Contacta ensured this did not take long but join lines were apparent and had to be sanded. Using the measurements provided on the instruction sheet the lower wings were then affixed precisely to the model - again they had to be held in place so they could dry correctly and again this did not take long before I could leave the model to cure. Since the interplane struts will be needed to affix the top wing piece later it is of course imperative to get the lower wing sections placed exactly as instructed. The cockpit cover was then placed and needed smoothing on the sides to blend into the top of the fuselage.

The engine cover/cowling was placed on the nose of the aircraft and this fits well with careful attention. The tailplane is trapped underneath the rudder and needed a bit of dry fit testing to get it into the right position. But the hardest aspect of this step was affixing the twin mounted machine guns on an A-frame just in front of the cockpit. The A-frame was delicately placed against the tiny locating holes just visible on the fuselage with the front of the frame as vertical as possible and then left to dry. No matter how hard I tried I found it almost impossible to glue the machine guns on the mount - even with the supposed fast tack-drying Revell contacta, as soon as the fingers were taken away the guns would slide over and off. I tried Humbrol glue and fast setting super glue without any real luck so in the end I had only one option and that was to hold the damn guns in place for as long as it took for them to dry enough to stay in place when I took my hands away - and that proved to be the major setback in getting this kit completed in a timely manner. In hindsight, another option may have been to attach the guns on the A-frame before placing the whole mount onto the aircraft. Best also to check references to ensure the guns are angled correctly bearing in mind the top wing needs to fit onto the model in front of the gun mount.

The next step is mounting the upper wing piece and here I worked out that I am severely in need of a bit more WW1 biplane experience because I did not fare too well! It is always an object of contention in how one should go about affixing the top wing on biplanes and obviously it will come down to personal tried and true methods. Some say to attach and let the struts dry first and then just put the wing on top of them, others believe everything needs to still be wet and flexible enough to move the top wing into position and finally, some will say only to connect the fuselage struts (in front of the cockpit), affix the top wing in place and then add the wing struts on later by sliding them into position. My method was a combination of the first and second statements above, with the fuselage struts fixed into place and the wing struts only tack dry. I spent an inordinate amount of time moving the top wing into place and I must admit it is not one of my best efforts, you can see it slightly off canter when looking at it either side on or top view. I did find attaching the top wing very difficult but I feel this is probably more out of not having made a biplane for some time than anything else! Those who are well used to biplane kits should not have too much problems with this step, the struts are of course small and easy to snap but with care they do go onto the model quite well. The wings and fuselage do have locating holes for the struts but don't be surprised if you need a good light and magnifying glass to find them!

I had much more success with the wheel base - ironically a traditional part of these kits I usually stuff up! I actually sub assembled the whole undercarriage: trapping the axle between the inverted A-frames and then adding the wheels on afterward, making sure they were of course straight when placed onto a flat surface. The frames were then affixed to the bottom of the fuselage and I found this quite challenging because the frames need to be affixed at an angle as the axle is a few millimetres wider than the fuselage! While holding down one frame the other would pop out! Having had so much problem with the gun mount as noted above I was determined that the undercarriage was not going to give me any similar grief! Thankfully it didn't and just needed a bit of patience to hold the frames in place at an angle. Alternatively you could affix the frames onto the fuselage first at the correct angle (after measuring the axle) and then use the slight flexibility of the frames once dry to slip the axle into place and then you can be sure that the wheels will be attached straight!

This completed the main part of the construction with the propeller being painted natural wood and left off until after applying all the decals and final coat before being superglued to the nose. Some of the Humbrol paints the box and instructions list are no longer in production so I simply painted the model in upper Dark Green (Humbrol 30) and the underside in Matt Linen (Humbrol 74). Knowing that the fin flash would be placed on the rudder (and guessing that the decals were going to be very thin and thus any colour will bleed through) I painted it white although after the model is completed, you can see a bright white in the fin flash but it is more dull on the roundels, so you might want to keep this in mind. The nose cowling was painted French Blue (Humbrol 14) as directed with the panels behind it and forward of the main wing in polished aluminium from the Humbrol Metal cote range. The struts were all painted natural wood (Humbrol 110), the wheel hubs in Dark Green but the tyres were painted Dark Grey (Humbrol 32). The whole model then got a gloss cote in preparation for decaling.

Versions & Decals:
In spite of what the kit otherwise states there is only one version provided for by the kit, a Single seat fighter "B'762" built by Ruston Proctor (that's a bummer of a surname!) and nicknamed "Comic Fighter", London, August 1917. You can use either the box bottom (in colour) or instruction sheet (in black and white) to guide you in painting the aircraft and decal placement as they are both the same. The decal sheet has excellent colour register. Unfortunately though I was very disappointed with the decals in that they were ultra thin and simply disintegrated when trying to apply to the model. In spite of this I persisted with using the kit decals - after all it was going to be a less than perfect completed project anyway, why skimp on providing a detailed kit review! As best I could, I ensured the broken decals were all joined up together. You really had to be extremely careful in applying them to the model as they need only seconds for soaking time, and they are best replaced with something a bit more tolerant. If you were too early with the soaking time the decal would break on the backing sheet with the slightest touch or if slightly over-soaked then they just started disintegrating in your fingers - good luck! One can see parts of my decals that were broken but overall I managed to fix them up okay - probably with years of Propagteam experience! The gloss coat to seal the decals was an absolute must afterward before applying the final matt coat.

Overall:
For the World War One modeller this builds into a fine replica of the Strutter and is highly recommended if you have a few of these types of kits under your belt because it is by no means one for the novice and even I have to brush up on my skills severely. Invest in some more tolerant decals and this kit should be a good one amongst Great War enthusiasts.

Related Reviews:-

Roden (Toko) 1/72 1½ Strutter

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