Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

I recently purchased a 1/3 scale Sopwith Pup in the bones. It is a fresh build straight out of the box. No dust or discoloration of the wood. Would like to here from others who have built or own one of these beauties. Color schemes, servos, pilots, interior, tricks and things to look out for in finishing the model. I have a GT-80, which will pull it nicely. I have been looking on the Internet for a DGA 1/3 Scale Full Body Pilot Kit without any success. Several sites claim to have some of them left however after talking to them none are around. I know that DGA is gone. Does anyone have an extra one or know someone who does and is willing to part with it?

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

You can get a 1/3 German pilot form : http://www.flygtm.com/web/pages/NEW-PRODUCTS.htm He is an A.H. design pilot. Very light weight. You can also get an AH pilot from Proctor enterprise in the British design..

http://proctor-enterprises.com/produ...AH_PILOT-w.jpg

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Bob

Thanks for the information. The pilots at Proctor appear to be to small even at 1/3 scale. The AH pilot also seems small. The DGA pilots measure 23 1/2" tall which would be about 5' 9" tall in real life.

Thanks Again
Fred

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

5'3 would not be an unreasonable size.. a little short but not to bad. The average male soldier height in 1919 was about 5'7inches.

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Thanks again for the info. The pilots on the sites you listed look great also.
Fred

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

here is what i found with mine,
1. dont use the supplied clevises for the flying wires, they will come loose in flight during aerobatics use dubro # 302 instead
2. silver solder the flying wire fittings-not silver bearing solder, and not your normal acid core solder
3. change the flying wire fittings at the cockpit (upper wing rear wire attachment at the fuse) as designed they are attached at the ply sides, and will pull out, either add a bracket inside to the fuse former or run a support clear across the fuse to the other side
4. mine started at 31 lbs rtf was tough on windy days, once i increased it to 37 lbs rtf it totally changed the windy day effects, i have flown in 25 mph winds with gusts to 35. tail up landings work best keep speed up and chop throttle when on the ground. blip throttle if it trys to nose over. i will now even do cross wind take offs and landings. get used to using that rudder ALOT, this plane LOVES rudder, much more effective then ailerons.
hope this helps

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Thank you for the additional info. I will review these issues. I have someone who is going to finish the building of the plane. I just do not have the time currently and I do not want it to sit around unfinished. I will address these issue with him. As luck would have it there are a couple of these planes flying in the area which I can also view. Neither of these owners built their planes however they do have some experience on how they fly and are rigged.

I will keep everyone informed.

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Don't try to roll it , will scare you to death . Trouble is i think , that the fact it has 3/8 wood dowels to locate the wings & there is so much slop that the wings can move , I had a 1/4 sopwith pup & have a 1/4 scale sopwith triplane & both roll good , but differance is that the 1/4 pup had 2 wings in one piece , not joined , the Triplne is in sections but has s/head cap screws to bolt together . On scale builder web one time i asked if anybody had ever rolled this kit model , 2 replied & said "yes but never again " . Just try tapping the wing tips when it is assembled & see the movement . But if you fly around , do a loop , stall turn , its a wonderful model .

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Fellas,
Several years ago I flew a Balsa USA 1/3 scale Pup. It was built pretty much like the plans called for with a few scale touches added here and there. The flight characteristcs were fantastic! It looped, rolled (both snap roll and axial roll), stall turned, wingovers......pretty much the same manuvers that the full scale plane could do with a few more that the early pilots hadn't even thought about.
The difference between the smaller models and the 1/3 scale Pup is that the third scale Pup must be flown through the manuvers, in particular, the rudder must be used a lot! I was even able to do a rolling circle with mine. Don't be afraid of it......just take it up really high and give yourself a chance to learn the flight characteristics. Just remember, if you fall out of a manuver, back out of the throttle and slowly regain level flight. Just thinking about that old bird makes me want to get another one up and flying again!

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Hello fellow Pup pilots; Just came upon this thread. Been building Pups since 74 ,from .40 to 1.2 in one scale or another and now finishing a BUSA 1/3 scale that I started 14 yrs. ago but always had something interfere with finishing it. I do want to suggest that this plane was a scout/fighter, not an aerobatic plane. A snap roll? Never. Axial roll? Not on your life. But a long ,graceful, rudder roll is a thing of beauty. A well executed chandelle with the Pup hanging on a stall at the top could befuddle any plane chasing it.Please fly this plane like the real one. A 850 lb. machine powered by a mere 80 HP rotary. Remember your visuals ! I'm OK now , just had to get that out!! puplover

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

It's good that you posted that information. Many (most?) people think that they are flying some kind of 3D machine instead of a WWI plane. This even goes for the WWII subjects! As an example a WWII Fighter had an average roll rate of 3.5 seconds.. WWI planes were about twice that or greater. These planes are much more convincing when flown prototypical.. IMHO.

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Hurri, R/C Art, puplover & BobH:

Thanks for the information. I spent the morning building my Balsa USA wheels for the pup. They came out better than I thought they would. Yesterday I received my cockpit and machine gun kits form Arizona Models. I have not opened the cockpit kit yet however it looks good in the pictures. I have seen the machine gun kit and look forward to building it. Has anyone built one of these cockpit kits and or a machine gun kit? Any advice and or pictures would be appreciated.

Thanks again.

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

HI ZERO , Thanks for remarks , did you know the wheels for Pup should 10" diam; the Balsa USA ones are only 9". Thats if you want it more scale of course . Dave Reid in Phelps, New york sells them ." Reids models ".

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Thanks for the info. I am trying to keep the model pertty much sport scale. The 10" wheels may be something that i look into later.

Fred

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Two pictures.. One is of an AZ instrument set. I used the ones that I needed and made the others by scratch. The other is a top view of my SE5a. The top gun is from an AZ kit as well, modified to look like I needed. Take your time and their stuff looks fine.

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

BobH
Your cockpit photos look great. My Arizona Models cockpit kit does not come with a compass. I have built cockpit and it came out great. I will post a picture in the future. Could you shead some light about your compass. How did you build it? Any building photes you would like to share? I hope to have it complete before the end of September. I finished building a Mick Reeves dummy engine for the Pup this weeked. Because the Zenoah GT-80's prop hub is not long enough to fit the dummy engine inside the cowl with out butchering it up I searched the net and found a 1 1/2" longer than standard prop hub. This will allow me to use the dummy engine and still clear the cowl. I am also going to explore changing the landing gear to scale with the bungee chords.

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Zero my compass was scratch built. I found a solid wooden ball of the right size and hollowed it out with a dremel tool. Then I added the compass it self made from styrene. The outer ring with lettering is also made from styrene I cut to fit. The gimbels are made from dowl rod. The mount is also from styrene. Sorry I don't have any pictures from the side.

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Zero,
Puplover is correct that a Pup is not an aerobatic plane. I built the Balsa USA pup years ago and flew the 30+ pound plane on an old tired Q-35 and it flew great as long as you flew it on the wing. I think a lot of the Pups now are getting lost in the 'as much power as I can get on the plane' idea and that is not what the Balsa USA Pup was designed for.

I have another Pup kit I hope to get built this winter and plan on a G-62 for it.

Just my thoughts.
Cliff

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Zero most I have seen have a G-62 for power but this year I have seen a copule with 80 twins...

Gerry

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Suggestion;

The Toni Clark reduction gear for a ZG38 swings a 32x18 prop, incredible torque and beautiful sound?

http://foto.modelbouwforum.nl/albums...ion%20gear.jpg

This way you'll have a prop with scale diameter!
Using the reduction gear on my pup for six years now without any problem,

http://foto.modelbouwforum.nl/albums...ithPupBUSA.jpg

Frank

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Fred,

the pics you sent me were great. One thing, since your plane is still in the bones, you may want to consider dumping the aileron setup and mounting your servos out by the control surface. Others can chime in; but I think the general consensus is that tip mounted servos are much superior to that pushrod and bellcrank setup in the plans. Every connection adds a little more slop. Over time that 90 degree bellcrank setup will get real sloppy - ask me how I know.

Steve

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Absolutely!
In my PUP each aileron even has its own servo, though it is enough having a strong one in the lower wing with a push rod to the upper,

Frank

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Frank,

What is the ratio on that gear reduction?

Thanks!
Cliff

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

2.8:1
so this unit is also easy to start 'cause one rotation of the prop means 2.8 revs of the engine

Frank

RE: Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Sopwith Pup
 

Thanks Frank!