Sopwith Pup by Eduard

1/48 scale
Kit No. 8011
Retail: $45.00
Decals: Two versions – Royal Flying Corps, 1916; and Royal Naval Air Service, 1917
Comments: Nice fabric-over-frame effects; photo-etched details for cockpit and engine; white metal cowling and radial engine; resin Vickers machine gun with PE detail parts

History

The origin of Thomas Sopwith company’s single-place biplane, officially designated as the Sopwith Scout (in Royal Flying Corps service) or Sopwith Type 9901 (in Royal Naval Air Service) was closely connected with the S-1 T.B.P biplane. That machine was built by a Sopwith Factory test pilot, Harry Hawker (who would later found Hawker Aircraft Limited, which produced the famous Hurricane of WWII and subsequently became Hawker Siddeley Aircraft) who used it as his personal mount. H. Smith, the company’s chief designer, adopted that machine as the basis for the then-new Sopwith Scout – an official name that never quite stuck, although the nickname “Pup” did.

On February 9, 1916 the prototype, serial no. 3691, was successfully completed, flown and sent to operational testing with the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). The test results proved the machine easily controllable and possessing excellent flying qualities. These virtues were at the root of subsequent operational successes of the Sopwith Pup in the Navy, the Royal Flying Corps, with the Home Defence units and, once supplanted in front-line service by more modern types, with the flight training units, where it helped to bright young fighter pilots up to operational standards.

Altogether 1,847 Sopwith Pups were produced, of which 97 were manufactured by the parent Sopwith Company, 80 machines were delivered by the Bearmore factory, and the remaining 1, 670 were built by the Standard Motor Company and Whitehead aircraft between them.

Among the major combat successes of the Sopwith Pup fighters were the destruction of the Zeppelin LZ 23 airship by B.A. Smart, and the shooting down of three enemy aircraft during a single sortie by J.S.T. Fail. The former achievement did much for the fame of the Pup, since night-time Zeppelin raids over England were a source of great concern, as they killed civilians far from the front lines who in previous wars had been safe from the threat of death and the terror that could accompany it.

The standard armament consisted of a single .303 Vickers machine gun, synchronized to fire through the spinning propeller. Further modifications were made according to the operational task assigned, including installation of racks for small caliber bombs for ground attack duties, and also installation of Le Prieur rockets and/or oblique upward-firing Lewis machine guns for Zeppelin busting. Some naval Sopwiths were also flown with a skid undercarriage instead of conventional wheeled landing gear.

For additional history on the Sopwith Pup, see the Kit Preview here.

Technical Data

Powerplant: Le Rhone rotary engine of 80 hp
Wingspan: 8.07 meters (26.47 feet)
Length: 5.88 meters (19.29 feet)
Height: 2.76 meters (9.05 feet)
Empty weight: 357 kg (787.05 lbs.)
Take-off weight: 555 kg (1,223.56 lbs.)
Maximum speed: 179 km/h (111.22 mph)
Service ceiling: 5,335 meters (17,503 feet)

Construction

Eduard’s Sopwith Pup was first released in 1995 and holds up quite well against modern day kits. Today it would be considered a Profi-Pack kit as opposed to a weekend build. The entire cockpit is photo-etched, consisting of an internal cage, seat, control yoke, rudder pedals, instrument panel and seat straps. There is also a resin Vickers .303 machine gun with photo-etched details. The kit lacks locator pins but is sufficiently well engineered that they are not necessary. Most notably it features a metal cowl and rotary engine (also with PE details). The former part will require a little clean-up with a file and perhaps a dull hobby knife (you don’t want to dull the blade of your best hobby knife on metal parts!), but it’s a very nice bit of detail that adds to the realistic appearance to the finished kit.

Overall the fit of the kit is very good. I had no major problems until I got to the landing gear — more on that later.
Although there is a metal pin protruding from one end of the engine, and a corresponding opening in the forward end of the fuselage once its halves are cemented together, care must be taken not to assume the pin is intended to fit into the fuselage. The pin must face outwards as the propeller fits over it, and a small indentation in the rear of the propeller hub will have to be drilled out for a proper fit.

The tail assembly went together smoothy, although there was a delay in cementing on the vertical tail and rudder while I painted it — I am a big believer in painting tri-colors on rudders myself, because except in very rare cases paint always looks better than decals, but admittedly it does take longer. The big challenge with bi-planes is always attaching the upper wing. Many World War I kits simply don’t provide interplane struts strong enough to take the weight, but not so with Eduard.

Holes must be drilled in both the upper and lower wings to accommodate the interplane struts, but the locations are clearly marked so this presents no problem. The four interplane struts held quite well with the use of cyanoacrylate glue and a jury-rigged dolly to support it while the adhesive dried. There was a moment when I was afraid the upper wing would look crooked in its alignment compared to the lower wing, but a slight adjustment while the c.a. dried fixed the problem.

Fitting the Vickers machine gun did not go as smoothly as I would have liked, as it is supposed to nestle down in the forward cockpit and sit flush against the upper engine decking. The Vickers gun was partially blocked by the instrument panel, a photo-etch part which rests just beneath the gun position in the forward cockpit, and as a result the gun sits a bit high.

The V-struts for the landing gear seem as though they are too spindly for the task, but they hold up well. The cross bar between them is another matter, it is too light to withstand much stress at all. It is best to drill holes in the lower fuselage for the V-struts before trying to assembly the landing gear, as the struts must extend outward at a precise angle in order to accommodate the width of the cross bar. Likewise holes must be drilled through both wheels for the metal pins — but the pin themselves are a problem, as they slip through the V-struts just fine but do not fit into anything that will secure them, nor is there is anything to secure them to the crossbar once they are run through the wheels and V-struts. I tried cementing the pins to the crossbar but this was not effective and turned into a mess.

My remedy was to construct a separate axle out of plastic rod, run it through the V-struts and cement the wheels to either end of it — a far simpler approach. This represents the only area where the kit’s engineering seems to break down completely. The other construction challenge was the cabane struts attaching the fuselage to the . For some reason Eduard opted to present these as small, photo-etched parts despite providing the interplane struts in plastic.
While the interplane struts were up to the task of being the main load-bearing struts holding the upper wing in place, they were barely up to it in this modeler’s opinion. The PE parts provided for the cabane struts did not inspire confidence, so I scratchbuilt my own cabane struts out of plastic strips cut and sanded to fit the Pup. This alternative gave the kit a noticeable amount of additional structural strength, so much so that I accidentally dropped it in the latter stages of construction and the kit remained completely intact.

For the rigging, I used glass wire from a company that may now be defunct, Precision Enterprises Limited.

Painting

The Sopwith Pup is mostly airbrushed in Roof Brown, a Badger acrylic approximating British PC 10 (described in the color plate included with the kit as “RFC Green”), and Navy Buff, a Model Master acrylic that has the rich viscosity of an enamel. The cockpit interior and rudder were painted by hand, the latter purely in enamels: Tamiya Royal Blue, Humbrol Gloss White, and Humbrol Gloss Red. These colors were used on the wheels as well. The area aft of the metal part provided for the cowling was airbrushed in Humbrol Polished Aluminum Metalcote. The propeller was hand painted in Humbrol Wood streaked with Model Master Rust and lacquered in Gunze Sangyo Clear Yellow.

Markings

For the roundels, I mostly abandoned the kit decals since the blue in their roundels was too light and did not look accurate. The roundels on the upper wings are by Blue Rider decals, and all other roundels are from an Xtradecal set. All of them gave excellent results. I used the other kit markings, “Do-Do” and the registration number “N9899” with equally excellent results. This represents a Sopwith Pup of No. 4 Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service, based at Dover in October 1917. No. 4 was very likely a Home Defence squadron, since by that stage of the war the Pup had been withdrawn from front-line service on the continent, but was still good enough to defend against Zeppelin raids and the like. Introduced into service in the Autumn of 1916, like many World War I fighters the Pup had grown obsolescent within several months, as combat aircraft were constantly improving during this period.

Conclusion

This is a (mostly) well -engineered, highly detailed kit of a World War I fighter that so far as I know has no rival in 1/48 scale. Highly recommended despite the mishap with the machine gun and the flawed design of the landing gear, for which modelers may have to craft their own remedy as I did. Aftermarket decals are advised due to the to-light blue of the roundels. I built the much simpler Airfix kit of the Pup in 1/72 scale years ago, which was great fun. This was a very satisfying build and a quantum leap above the 1/72 scale version, but it is not for beginners and will require patience.

References

Sopwith Pup instructions

November 2026