After working on this Sopwith Camel for over a year and a half, it is down to the little details that make a model complete. All the building, painting and finishing all produce a 3D canvas to add the miniature details to. Here’s some of the details that did not show up in any of the building techniques that we shared in the Build-Along Series.
Instead of using standard RC hardware, the use of these scale clevises add much to the tail of the Camel. These are available from several sources including Proctor Enterprises and vogelsang-aeroscale.com.
The little Mini-Me pilot figure from Best Pilots is the center piece of the cockpit. So the rest of the bust had to be painted to show some of the amazing molded in detail. I think his cold weather clothing looks pretty good. Highlights and shading are very important.
Here the pilot is snug in his office space and I added some basic instrument faces for him to look at. these are 1/4-scale British WW1 instruments from Iflytailies.com. Some black rubber tubing (automotive vacuum hose), makes a big improvement to the cockpit cut out.
Using my laser cutter, I made some basic nomenclature marking. Here the markings are cut into white stick-on vinyl.
The vinyl peels off (weeds) easily without any difficulty
A little clear transfer tape and we are ready to lift off!
Looks pretty good if you ask me.
Hmmm. the adhesive is pretty mild. These would make some great painting masks! I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Here’s a before and after treatment of the Petrol tank caps. Simple plywood disc with a G-10 disc glued on top with the handle glued in place with thin CA. All laser cut. The Brass paint is metallic “Gold” from Rustolium.
There are two tanks in a Camel, one with gravity feed to the engine, and one that’s pressurized.
Not too bad looking when added to the plywood paneling on the aft turtle deck. These great looking Petrol decals are made from printed vinyl by Cal-Grafx.
That’s it for now, be sure to stay tuned as we get even closer to the test flight of the Sopwith Camel.
Of course, the Camel would not be a proper WW1 aeroplane without Williams Brothers’ vintage wheels and a pair of Vickers Aero Machine guns.
(Above) Basically the Camel was built around the Zenoah G38 engine and for the use of the Vintage Williams Brothers’ Wheels and Vickers Machine Guns.
Watch for a complete Construction article in the upcoming December scale special issue of MAN! Any yes, I will also be including a scale dummy rotary engine. But for now we’re flying the pants off the Camel. So stay tuned!
As they say Ger, “it’s all in the details”, and you are doing some fine detail work. Looking forward to seeing it at at Old Rhinebeck in the fall.
Lee
Hey Lee. Good to hear from you. Thanks for your comments. Yes I am happy how the Camel turned out. Only thing is, it came out a little heavier than I was hoping for and the wing loading is in the high 20oz. range. Won’t be a floater but that’s a good thing with the wind we have here in the Northeast! See ya in September.