1/48 Sopwith Camel F.1*** FINISHED Pg.4

What a fun thead!

You have done lots of cool things, and she's looking good, Stik. Couple of things that stand out to me are the cockpit padding, the seat-belt (the likes of which I've never seen before, so I presume you've done your research as usual!), and I like that you chose to hand paint her.

keavdog

- Still haven't overcome my fear of the bipes. 

Ha! I was going to say "Someday when I grow up I'd like to try a biplane", but John beat me to it.

Chad and Greg, thank you.

Greg, yes I did do research, but that was something of a multiple choice end result. So the lap belt was basicly a situation of picking one and going with it. Hand painting is fun... and biplanes are the perfect kits to practice that skill upon.

Very nice job Stik!

Jim 

Stay Safe.

Thank you Jim! I'm starting to see a finish line in the not too distant future....

Today’s update:

Paint touched up on the wings where I filled the seams and marred the paint work. I still need to touch up the struts. I also assembled the landing gear struts, painted them, and test fitted them to insure proper alignment while the glue dried.

I still also need to add the fuel filler cap.... and a few other things before I can get to applying decals

Nice! 

stikpusher

How many of us here built this same kit when we were kids. I know that I did. And it's fun to build these old kits with grown up skills and all these modern tools and techniques. Not that I'm using much of the latter... lol.

 

Thanks Joe. And that reminds me that I have a stalled old Monogram SBD to finish up one day... one day...

I assembled, painted, and test fitted the landing gear. In case you’re wondering about the tan tires, apparently during WWI, carbon had not started to be added to rubber, so the natural color was tan, like a gum easer.

Now it’s all ready for decals

I'm lovin' this build Stick. I built everyone of those old Aurora WWI biplane kits and have a few in my collection including a Gotha bomber. Monogram got a few of those old molds and reproduced the kits. I used to collect empty milk bottles and soda bottles to take back to the grocery store and get the deposit money to buy kits with. If I recall that Camel kit was $0.79 and the Gotha bomber was $0.99 (expensive). Those were the days.

I heard, or read somewhere a long time ago, that many of the old Aurora molds were destroyed in a train wreck. Anybody know what did happen to their molds, other than the ones Monogram has (had?).

As an aside, I had a 3 foot stuffed "Snoopy the WWI ACE" stuffed animal that my 3 year old grandson laid claim to and it is now in his bedroom. DRAT!

Now see.....I didn't know that about the tire color so I would've been stumped on the color of those. Lookin' good Carlos. Can't wait to see this one with some cals on it.

Ranger, I do hope that Atlantis got ahold of the old Aurora/Monogram WWI kit molds. I'd love to see the ones that I did not build get reissued. I was able to find most of those kits on eBay years ago. But there were a few that I couldn't get ahold of. Just maybe we will see them again.

Joe, I had remembered reading something about the tire color, and had to look it up to confirm. And that does add a nice different splash of color on the wheels.

And the decals are now on! 

Next challenge is the one that I do not look forward to... rigging... yikes!

Looks great Carlos!

Thank you John. It definitely looks better now.

I had read that the natural rubber tires used in WW I were indeed a pinkish color (like those grade school erasers!).  I also read that the Germans had synthetic rubber, which was the more familiar grey/black.

Such minutiae was never considered back when those Aurora kits came out!

very sharp!

RG, I just went with a tan that was close to those gum erasers or the sidewalls on some of my old bike tires. 

Thank you Crown. They are some good looking markings, both the squadron symbol and the aircraft code letters on the fuselage. 

You can make your own turnbuckles to any scale by simply stretching over a candle the hollow plastic handles from the cheap Dollar Store Q Tips. Cut them to proper length and insert the rigging and secure with a small drop of thin CA. I like using EZ line for it.

plasticjunkie

You can make your own turnbuckles to any scale by simply stretching over a candle the hollow plastic handles from the cheap Dollar Store Q Tips. Cut them to proper length and insert the rigging and secure with a small drop of thin CA. I like using EZ line for it.

 

Oh I am going a much simpler route. Fine wire cut to proper length and super glued in place. Maybe I'll go the turnbuckle route on one of the more detailed biplane kits in my stash somewhere down the road. But I'm keeping this build simple. I still want to get a few more biplanes under my belt before I dive into the fancy stuff with my Eduard and Roden kits.

Wire has never worked for me, can't get them all tight, especially after my shaky fingers whack them a few times.  EZLine and similar for me.

stikpusher

Thanks John. Same here on when the last time was that I built this particular kit. It is definitely something of a “nostalgia build”.

 

Last night I began construction. Actually though it was mostly just paint work.

 

First I took a razor saw along the seat to give it some texture to suggest that of the wicker seats actually used. Once painted and with a wash it should look more the part.

 

 

Then I painted up other cockpit components, and the interior of the fuselage halves. Just getting the base colors on for now. I’m not gonna use the kit pilot, so behind the seat is a glaring empty space. I searched thru my spares/salvaged parts and came up with a fuel tank to fill the void. It somewhat resembles the real thing. I’m not going for 100% accuracy, just stuff to suggest what should be there. I’m sure that must sound like blasphemy to some modelers.

 

 

 

I’ll get to work on detail painting and washes over the next few days, plus whatever mods I intend to scratch up for the cockpit. 

 

Stik I would suggest drilling out the seat leaving it open save for the center making it look like a bar and using thin cut tamiya tape and making a wicker weave inside and out. It might make it look more like a wicker seat from a distance and at least give the impression of it.

Mikeym_us

Stik I would suggest drilling out the seat leaving it open save for the center making it look like a bar and using thin cut tamiya tape and making a wicker weave inside and out. It might make it look more like a wicker seat from a distance and at least give the impression of it.

Kinda too late for that at this point. The kit is 98% assembled and painted now. 

That............looks KILLER with the cals on 'er Carlos!! 

Joe & TJ, thank you. I'll get the rigging started on this next week. No bench time this weekend.

Attempt 1 on the beginnings of the rigging last week was a crash and burn. Biplanes are outside my usual area, and rigging them way more so... so back off a week, got some advice elsewhere, and had another go at it.

Well, attempt 2 went far better than attempt 1. It did not turn out perfect, but I am not gonna put everything else on hold until I do get it perfect. My order of effort was: attach the EZ line to the upper front cabane strut/upper wing junction, cut a slice of tubing and thread the EZ line thru the hole in the slice, attach the EZ line to the front cabane strut/fuselage junction after achieving proper tension, adjust the position of the metal tube slice and position it. Unfortunately, due to the tension on the lines, it would not position properly, so this was the best that I could do. A better way would be to attach top ends of the line, position the tube slice and fix it in in proper place, then tension and attach the bottom ends of the lines. Live and learn. Anyways...

Now I can start working my way out from that area...

Next update on my Camel with a bit more progress. I rigged up the cross wire braces on the cabane and wing struts using some .008” steel wire. This took about and hour and 45 minutes or so over a couple of sessions.

I’m not sure how many more sessions that it will take to fully rig this Camel...

One step at a time here. In today’s session I finished up the wing rigging. Except for one wire on each wing that I can’t add until I have the landing gear strut assembly glued in place. Which I have left off for ease of handling up to this point. Next stage will be the tail area. Once I have that completed, I’ll add the landing gear and the final wires up there.

In the meantime...

More progress to show hopefully tomorrow...

Today I added the bracing wires on the stabilizers

next up, the flying surfaces control lines on the tail. That is gonna take some finesse... 

That is a fine job 

Thank you Nick. These rigging sessions are edging me closer to the finish line, slow but sure.