Academy 1/32 Sopwith Camel F.1

Nice clean build.  Well done.

Regards,  Rick

You built this one in a week?  Wow, excellent work- especially considering the short time frame. 

Real nice.  I like it.

Love it!! I can't get enough of the WWI stuff! You have any pics of the 'pit? I'm also curious as to what medium you used for the rigging.

Thanks for the kind words. 

The only picture of the cockpit I have is attached.  You can't really see all that much of the cockpit due to the overhead wing. 

There was some dicussion in other threads about how poorly done the seat is in this kit, but frankly, you can't see it anyway!

NIce build...WWI rigging gives me nightmares.  Thanks for sharing

Thanks. 

The rigging was not that bad.  All of the wires passed through the frame, allowing me to use a needle threader to pull the wires.

http://www.shopwiki.com/_Dritz+Needle+Threader+Looped+6+pc?o=295585109&s=1838

A must have tool for threading!!!

Wow! 1 Week? Great job overall. Your paint work looks very good, as does the rigging. My only nit pick would be that it looks like the machine guns are upside down. Other than that, very well done! I'm currently building a Wingnut Wings Pfalz D.III, and really like these WW I planes! Keep up the good work!

Nate

Kudos for getting something that looks that good done in that short a time frame! I wish I had the space for those kind of monsters, but with my tiny apartment, I have to stick with 1/72 and 1/144 for airplanes. Well done, even with your decal nightmare.

Actually, upside down machine guns are a little known field variant.  It improved accuracy while inverted.  The historical community is divided on how often this was actually done.   Sorta like field-applied zimmeritt....

(Yikes!  Nice catch.  I will see what can be done about that.)

Ok, so a quick inspection reveals that the guns are installed correctly per the kit, but that they are, in fact, upside down!

The guns as provided have a very large pin protruding from the bottom that guides them into holes in the fuselage. So there is only one way to install the guns.

It looks like some surgery is required! Thanks for the tip!

I have fixed the guns.

It seems that the pins that slot into the airframe were on top of the cooling jacket, rather than on the bottom.

The pins are large, about 1/8th inch in diameter.  And the barrel jacket has grooves that would be really hard to re-scribe on the top of the gun.

So....

I got out the knife and cut the barrel and coolong jacket off of the receiver.  Then I cut the front of the cooling jacket off, including the barrel.

I re-assembled the gun with everything oriented the right way.  A little bit of putty and some paint, and voila!

Thanks for pointing out the error.

I still don't quite get how you rigged. Every photo rig I've seen has involved CA - most have some kind of buckle. Were you able to attach your rigging with some kind of knot? If you don't mind, spell it out for the third graders out here. I'm very interested in biplanes and something like this gadget might work for ships. BTW: very nice build from what I could see. I'm not a phot meister either, but from what I could make out you did a pretty nice job getting the fabric effect. Always though Academy didn't always get the respect it might deserve. My experience with them has been favorable - very good kit/dollar.

Eric

Thanks for the kind words.  The only effort I made to get a 'fabric' effect was to do some heavy dry brushing with oil paints.  The ribs are pretty pronounced on the wings, so you get a pretty good contrast between the peaks and valleys.

There are a few types of rigging attachment points in this kit:

Fuselage holes:  per the kit instructions, you tie one end of the thread around a short styrene rod. (I added CA to make sure they dont fall off!)  The free end of the thread is then passed through small hole in the fuselage, pulling the rod snug against the inside.  Voila!  A secure anchor for the wire.

Pass-through holes:  there are a number of points where the thread simply passes through the wing or the strut and there is an open hole provided in the kit.  I just used the needle threader to pull the loose end of the thread through the hole.  I then used a drop of CA to make sure it did not move after I pulled it tight, and to reduce the damage if thread broke at some point.  WARNING: some of the holes have 2 threads running through them.  Don't forget to run both lines before you close up the hole with CA, or you will have to drill it out again without damaging the installed thread.  Don't ask how I know this....

Indicator holes:  these holes are not open all the way through the wing.  They represent point where the thread would terminate.  I am not sure how the pro's do it, but I took the brute force approach.  I drilled the indicator holes out until they went all the way through the wing.  Then I passed the thread through them.  Pulling the thread taut, I hit it with some thick CA, zapped with accelerator, then let it set.   I then trimmed the excess thread, sanded down the CA and thread until it was flush on the wing, then primed over it.

I did not attempt buckles.  I was happy just to get the rigging complete and not looking like a bowl of spaghetti!

And I completely agree on the price-value of these kits.  The scale is managable for my clumsy fingers and old eyes, and the kit was only $14 or so, as I recall.

I pulled this together in just a few days over the holiday.  And if you consider that it kept me out of the bars for a few evenings, I am way ahead!!

Regards

What the hey. I "needed" some stuff (really some Tamiya flat base) on Scale Hobbyist and sure enough there was a 48 scale Academy Camel for $13. So I bought it. If the instructions really kind of hold your hand even a little they do more than most biplane kits do - including vaunted WingNut. Actually, I do like the look of bi-planes, and if this works out, then I will give a WingNut a crack.

Wonder if rigging a plane would ever call for the various forms of heating mono or stretched sprue (my favorite via guru Jim Baumann is using incense) to get it tight. It really works well - fun to watch, happens in a second. BTW: I like the idea of just drilling through the wing. Put some acrylic paste or even Gator Glue over a hole and nobody will see it after its sanded.

Thanks for the tip and a glimpse at your sweet plane.

Eric

What the hey. I "needed" some stuff (really some Tamiya flat base) on Scale Hobbyist and sure enough there was a 48 scale Academy Camel for $13. So I bought it. If the instructions really kind of hold your hand even a little they do more than most biplane kits do - including vaunted WingNut. Actually, I do like the look of bi-planes, and if this works out, then I will give a WingNut a crack.

Wonder if rigging a plane would ever call for the various forms of heating mono or stretched sprue (my favorite via guru Jim Baumann is using incense) to get it tight. It really works well - fun to watch, happens in a second. BTW: I like the idea of just drilling through the wing. Put some acrylic paste or even Gator Glue over a hole and nobody will see it after its sanded.

Thanks for the tip and a glimpse at your sweet plane.

Eric

Ok: my Academy Camel came - hadn't noticed it was 32 scale - Wingnut kits go for $60 plus. I'll put up with a simple cockpit to save $45. Very helpful to have that much rigging information in the directions - that's something Wingnut does not supply. (Nor does anyone else that I know of. Diagrams, yes, but no tips on getting it done.) This is so sweet that I might break the tank/ship/plane cycle I work on - a ship is up next. But if I can rig a biplane it will help greatly in getting a better rigging done on a ship. A rare win-win.

The kit even comes with some thread. I was watching a video about rigging a sailing ship, and the modeler (a very good one) used beeswax to help straighten the thread. Wonder if that might work with mono or even thin sprue. Anyway, did you use thread or mono? Certainly looks good.  Of course I'll have to come up with a different paint scheme, but I think that can be arranged.

Eric

I used the thread that came with the kit.   It seemed fine, though, scale wise. 

Straightening was not  a problem - I simply pulled it tight and, Voila! It was straight.