April 2007

 

Sopwith F1 Camel - B Flight Naval 10, Royal Naval Air Service 1917 (Academy OOB)

Last month's Ship's Camel was very pleasing, so I cracked open the stash and built this colourful land based Camel to accompany it. The Academy kit looked very nice in the box and is certainly less costly than Roden, but didn't build up nearly as nicely. It's "hump" is far too small, with the fuselage looking much more like a Pup than the short squat and distinctive shape of the Camel. Decals also failed to live up to expectations - roundels were out of register and lacking the white outlines that they should have had by this stage in the war.

Lycra rigging again; getting the hang of the superglue now !

http://www.airminded.net/camel/camel_rb_3oc.jpg

Sopwith Triplane – Naval 1, Royal Naval Air Service 1917 (ancient Revell GB)

I did feel a little bit guilty about building this very rare kit, which must be nearly 40 yrs old now, but models are meant to be made! Despite its age, it is beautifully moulded (clicks together almost like a Hasegawa kit) and the finished model looks superb (although, I have a suspicion it may be slightly overscale). Even the original decals worked without any problems. Rigging was a pain though - the lycra trick worked well, but the "Tripe's" rigging scheme is rather complex.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopwith_Triplane

Sopwith Pup - Royal Naval Air Service - replica Pup in FAA Museum (Airfix)

Actually I built this nice little kit in 2005, but used fuse wire for rigging, which was never particularly satisfactory, so I have now replaced it to match its contemporaries.

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