Roden 1/72 1.5 Strutter

RODEN (TOKO) 1:72 1½ STRUTTER

Reviewer: Richard Stracey (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 2 April 2003

Kit Details:

SOPWITH 1 ½ STRUTTER - RODEN 72158 / TOKO 139 1/72

Aircraft History:

The Sopwith Type 9400 two seat and 9700 single seat aircraft served many countries such as Holland, Japan, Belgium, USA and Russia as well as France and Britain as bombers, fighters and trainers on land as well as at sea. Surprisingly, 1479 were built in UK and over 4000 in France where they were known as SOP(WITH) 1A1, 1B1 or 1B2s. Powered by Clerget or Le Rhone engines of varying horsepower the 1 ½ strutter was on of the first aircraft to have interrupter gear to enable a (Vickers) machine gun to fire through the propeller arc, air brakes and a Scarf ring.

The Kit:

This kit was first issued by Toko in 1999. Since then Roden have acquired the dies along with the single seat fighter (72157), Trainer (72159 / Toko 138) and two seat fighter (72160 / Toko 118).

single seat fighter

Trainer

Two Seat Fighter

All the kits consist of two common sprues (A & B) plus an alternative fuselage top decking, in all, just over seventy parts in crisp, finely detailed grey plastic. The instructions are good and the painting guides give Humbrol names and numbers. The decals are generous in their options and are top quality and the box art eye catching. A bonus comes in the form of spare propellers, guns, cowlings etc.

Construction:

With two exceptions the construction is quite simple. No dashboard is supplied and the joy stick is the wrong style (it should have a triangular grip and only one gun button) but this doesn’t really matter as the cockpit is so well hidden under the wing that nothing can be seen.

The fuselage fits together well and for once I didn’t pin the lower wing but just glued the butt joint. The top deck (11E) was about 1 mm wider than the fuselage so I glued it in place and when well dry, trimmed it back each side. Unfortunately, this resulted in a “Coke Bottle” shaped fuselage when viewed from above so I had to “bog up” the sides and sand them flush again. I left off the gun, engine and cowling till later.

The tail fitted with no problems but the “W” carbine struts don’t fit the holes in the top wing. There are various ways of solving this problem. I filled the four outer holes, dry fitted the two struts into their centre holes and marked and drilled new outer holes. I then added the top wing to the fuselage using the carbine struts and, when dry, added the four main struts. Other than that this is quite a simple kit for a bi plane. Rigging should be attempted.

Decal Options:

The three decal options are for a Russian machine, an RFC machine, both in 1918 and a French SOP 1B1 in 1917. The Russian and French aircraft are in clear doped linen and the RFC in PC10 and linen. I chose the most interesting one, the French one with an art deco style Egyptian goddess Buto and a Cross of Lorraine on the side. As I always do with clear doped linen finishes I didn’t use Humbrol 74 as recommended. I paint the surface with off white or radome tan and when dry, brush on brown powdered chalk, blow off the excess and rub the remainder into the surface with a soft cloth. This picks up the surface detail such as ribs and gives it a natural, uneven finish which paint can’t. The cowling is aluminium and the foreword fuselage and top deck Humbrol 87 Matt Steel Grey.

As I said, the quality of the decals is first class but (as Rod Ulrich found in his review of the two seat fighter) not accurate. The upper wing of Buto should be horizontal not angled upward and the blue oval behind the Cross of Lorraine should be circular, not oval. For a quality product these are rather a strange and careless errors, which Roden should correct in the future. If you prefer something more exotic, Blue Rider produce quite a few decals for the 1 ½, just check their web site or Insignia magazine.

Reference:

As I said, Rod Ulrich reviewed a 1 ½ in Scale Aircraft Modelling of April ’00 and some colour side views appear in the October ’00 issue. Profile #121 covers this too and the Harlyford book “Sopwith – the man and his aircraft” is of interest as well as having three view drawings, data tables and lots of photos.

Conclusion:

In all, a quality kit (that should have been available 15 to 20 years ago with an Airfix logo on the box) for which any serious WW1 modeller should have at least two.

RHS/66

Related Reviews:-

Toko 1/72 1½ Strutter 'Comic Fighter'

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