Our Señor Rafael is the King of wood scratchbuilt models, I agree, and I will never try to compete with such a Master... just clapping my hands
(see his http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,22183.0.html and others)
BUT for my 45th birthday, in the Philippines, I received wooden raw kits Made in China... so I am building them (badly, sorry).
My nephews and nieces felt very ashamed when I unpacked the gifts: two of them had bought the same models. I smiled and told them: "don't cry, this is even better for me, I will built them as twin-aircraft!". The smile was back...
So here is the Twin-Triplane of Sopwith-China (below).
Just, as I love weird asymmetric airplanes, I turned it slightly asymmetric: single-seater, with port bigger engine, 2+1 main wheels, just biplane on the external starboard wing (so half-triplane somehow), complicated tail link trying to be rather solid with what was included...
Am I crazy? I am a what-ifer, that is the answer...
Going to enter it in any shows? I'd love to see the look on the face of any offical when you plunk that down with an entry form.
Tophe, that's a great idea to recover the kids' embarrassment, and certainly an oddball of a concept.
PS - Sanity is for the weak!
Thanks Sauragnmon, for your psychological support. ;D
Sorry, I just feel uncofortable with your sentence "sanity is for the weak". Unlike our "Christian" West prefering Nietszche Antichrist and the Old Book to JC's New Book, I prefer the weak than the strong, while I prefer insanity than sanity, so... your sentence is tearing me apart... :unsure: ;D
puddingwrestler: here I am shyly "showing", accepting with smile to be classified worst of the worst ever. I had fun thank you, and if I provide other with smiles (saying "completely ridiculous and stupid and even badly done"), I am happy. Thank you...
Well, you could take a perspective, in understanding, that tone of voice, such as sarcasm, do not transfer very well through voice. So "the meek shall inheirit the earth" might indeed have been said sarcastically, but nobody caught the joke. You never know, right?
I agree with PW though - it'd be hilarious, and you must take pictures, of the faces on the people when you plunk that down with the entry form.
Talking about faces: have you seen the face of the pilot there? Not Chinese (while MadeInChina) but a 'slim' British young boy! JMNs would clap their hand: this kit is a winner (properly built, not by a what-if stupid dreamer like me)...
Oh, my....Gooood!!!! :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:
This....is......wonderful, Tophe!!!!
I can only imagine you, a big grin on your face, slapping together this little airplanes to create the perfect beauty of the arithmetics of 1+1=1. :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:
Only a whifer of your grandeur could make such a great model, with such humility.
Attention in the house: standing ovation for Tophe!!!! :drink: :drink: :cheers: :cheers: :party: :party:
Saludos,
Rafa
(humbled by your great gesture)
Ho, I feel ashame of such GREAT words for my little shy try, from the wood-kit Lord, Himself... :rolleyes:
How do you say in English? "Thanks a million"... (and in Spanish, I know even less, maybe "cuando se come aqui"...) ;D
Not only really neat and crazy but very amusing ;D :lol: :rolleyes: :wub: :thumbsup:
Oh I forgot to tell you if it was Airfix or Hasegawa, while many ones among you "probably" want to buy copies to build in different colours (French oak-tree, Canadian pine-tree, Egyptian palm-tree, ...), so I enclose the name of this kit with the collection mark. So famous ;D (PS. for me, saying a model is a toy does not sound as an insult - I do agree: a toy providing some fun somehow).
Uh, I am ashamed to read the kit name was not at all sOPwith triPlane but a little word game: sPOwith triTlane, I did not notice at first, my mind correcting by itself... The translation in French is hilarious too: translating back (in English) to "for the age number 6 or to the top" ;D
So many smiles from these gifts, thanks to my nephews and nieces.
Bravo for the kids, Tophe!!!
Rafa
I second that last Bravo! Excellent. You really MUST put that in a show. On the table with the most FW-190's/Vipers. Please, I'm begging you. The other whiffers are begging you. . .
Another view of the slim pilot, from above. The fuselage is not waterproof but there was no pressurizing yet in 1918, and airflow in the fuselage was welcome to remove oil vapors.
Well, I guess the pilot is more aerodynamic that way...
Quote from: puddingwrestler on January 29, 2009, 12:07:23 PM
Well, I guess the pilot is more aerodynamic that way...
Good word!!! ;D ;D ;D Thanks!
Maybe Darwin was right: before closed canopies came, "survival of only the best suited" made the 'aerodynamic' pilot as winner of the skies, the only one to make babies (little babies, like puppet toys).
However, that will not make me the winner of a model show, or... what if the judges smoke special mushroom?
Heh, heh, as soon as I saw the subject title "half-twin-triplane" I knew it had to be a Tophe creation, even before I saw your name!
Will you paint these/this planes/plane, Tophe?
Quote from: John Howling Mouse on January 30, 2009, 10:30:44 AMWill you paint these/this planes/plane, Tophe?
The wood natural colour is already a camouflage on my wooden floor and wooden shelf...
Usually, I put paint to hide the putty but here no putty so no paint. (But I do respect the great paint work of all modellers here, I am just far worse, sorry).
Very cool Tophe! It's alwaya a real treat for me to see your imaginative projects, and even more so when you use such unique kits as the starting point.
Hmmm wood grain camo, now that's an idea!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Brian da Basher
As this model of mine is made a single-seater from 2 single-seaters, one pilot is remaining plane-less. I will use him/her on another one. Because the Chinese wood models I receive were more than 1+1 but 3+2. I will start another topic with the new ones I am building this week-end (I could post them here, but I prefer different addresses/links for my personnal what-if web-site). Thanks for all the nice comments above, concerning what I judge as severe delirium without skills...