The SAAF Forum

The Project

I am building Academy's Sopwith Camel for a colleague, the model will represent Capt. AR Brown's aircraft BR7270 on 21 April 1918 the day that Manfred von Richthofen the "Red Baron" was shot down.

So far its been an interesting project with many firsts. I have never really researched WW1 aviation, and it has been a eye opener.

The Kit

The kit whilst is not bad is pleasant to build, but at best be can only be described as a general representation of the Sopwith Camel. In fact the kit is rather curious with few a oddities, it was first released by Hobbycraft in 1990, Academy bought the molds and then issued the kit in 2000 followed by subsequent reissues. In 2005 Hobbycraft released an new tool 1:32 Sopwith Camel.

http://hsfeatures.com/features04/camelcompbb_1.htm
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/hobbycraft-hc1693-rfc-camel-le-rhone--939203

The Markings

The box markings are not historically correct for BR2720, I will use the Wingnut colour scheme as reference for this build.

The Materials (so far)

Tamiya Acrylics
Tamiya panel accent
Tamiya Filler (lot's of it)
Perfect Plastic Putty
Mig OilBrusher (awesome stuff)
Evergreen styrene

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Brown_(RAF_officer)

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/141742650@N08/albums

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/141742650@N08/albums

Wood effect achieved with Tamiya acrylic desert yellow base and Mig OilBrusher sealed with Humbrol matt cote, great combination super easy technique very effective result.

Seat belt was made from Evergreen plastic card, buckle was made from wire. The belt serves two purposes, firstly to add detail secondly to conveniently cover ejection marks.

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/141742650@N08/albums

Replaced the kit rear bulkhead(?) with Evergreen using fairly thick stock, overkill yes but I like the rigidity it offered. By fabricating this part one could see that the left side was not symmetrical to the right.

Looking at the photo now I should have added in a fuel tank.

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/141742650@N08/albums

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/141742650@N08/albums

This is one of the oddities, the Vicker's machine gun's in the kit are upside down and the gun sight is in the wrong place!
Easy to fix, though.

Built up the fairing mid-section between the the guns with Evergreen extending backwards to the panel.

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/141742650@N08/albums

Hey Marc. This must be your first build post on this forum ? . Looking forward to seeing more and the final result

I am not sure if the rib detal is also so over done on your kit as on the 1/48 Revell one I am doing but I had to tone it down by sanding it carefully.
Note difference between LH and RH pannes.
IMG_20200120_081546 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Very nice wood work

T

Check out this vid on painting fabric, work very well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDlg-AIYn0U

T

Thanks Malcolm, it is indeed.

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/141742650@N08/albums

Thanks Theunis, good tip.

Another problem I am concerned about it is that I think the top wing sits too high and back, or the cockpit is too forward. Not sure which, trying to figure out how I am going to fix that.

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/141742650@N08/albums

engine, guns, fueltank and pilot was all in first 6' of fuse on full size so I think it OK

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/141742650@N08/albums

Now that would work well in my 1/1 Neiuport 24 I want to build

Thanks for the chat yesterday Theunis, very insightful a couple things I need to incorporate.

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