1:32 SOPWITH TRIPLANE

Naval squadrons and their own habits

The triplanes served mainly with squadrons of the Royal Naval Air Service, which were considerably freer in their markings than the land-based units. Besides the compulsory roundel, the machines carried a name painted on the engine cowling, colored stripes according to the flight and sometimes a serial number on the rudder. The best known was a Canadian flight operating in 1917, whose aircraft had a black-painted engine cowling and names referring to death and darkness. The compulsory insignia stayed, but everything around it the squadron decided for itself.

The design that made it possible

Short wings of small chord left plenty of free space on the fuselage, and that is where the personal decoration moved. A rotary engine also gave the machine a characteristic sound and, when taxiing, a strong tendency to swing to one side. The pilot sat high between the upper and the middle surface and had a view that no contemporary biplane could offer.

Using the stencil

Apply the film to a cured finish and press it down with a soft point. There is one stencil in the box for the national insignia, so the flight decoration will have to be handled some other way, usually with a decal or by hand.

Once the film is lifted, we suggest leaving the area to settle overnight and only then applying the clear coat. A fresh edge is soft and the clear coat could dissolve it slightly.

On a model the combination of both methods works well. A national insignia sprayed through film has a firm edge and merges with the finish, while the name of the machine finished by hand with a very fine brush keeps that slight irregularity it also had in 1917.