Full size printed plans Peanut Scale "SOPWITH 1-1/2 STRUTTER" WWI favorite

Full size printed plans No material

SOPWITH 1-1/2 STRUTTER

Everyone likes biplanes here's a Peanut version of a WWI favorite.

Full size printed plan on a sheet 11” x 17”

Three page article with building notes and photos

Peanut Scale

Wingspan 13”

Power Rubber

BY JOHN BERRYMAN

The prototype 1- 1/2 Strutter flew in December 1915 and the first production versions entered service in early 1916. Well liked by their crews and reliable by the standards of the day, the Sopwith soldiered on in various capacities (two-seat fighter, observation aircraft, light bomber, etc.) until the end of the war. It was probably one of the first aircraft to feature "dive brakes," indicated by the dashed square panels at the roots of the lower wing. Later versions of the fighter were powered by a 130-hp Clerget rotary engine, and the ship could top 100 mph-fairly sprightly performance for a two-seater. Sopwith's 1- 1 /2 Strutter (so boxy enough to withstand some judicious enlarging via the office copier without appearing to be excessively non-scale (the surfaces shown on the plans are about 120 percent of scale). Better still the fuselage is also boxy enough to permit fairly light building techniques to be used-always a consideration when inherently clunky biplane subjects are considered. And finally, a substantial number of 1-1/2 Strutters (including my version) seem to have been built as unarmed aircraft. Avoiding the necessity of building itsy-bitsy Vickers and Lewis guns and associated Scarff rings and the like, reduces complexity and saves weight.

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