1:16 Sopwith Camel by Model Airways

[Garage21]

My intent is to use the wooden pieces in the kit but replace all the pot metal castings with scratch-built pieces in brass, aluminum and copper.  Also will be building a 1:8 scale Clerget engine to stand next to the plane.

This is my first non-classic car model so I'm pretty excited.

[aliluke]

Hi Garage 21
I look forward to this big scale build and your ambitions for it. Keep the posts coming.

Cheers
Alistair

[Juan]

Looking forward to your progress on both kits.  Both nice and big!

[Garage21]

Before I start building the Camel, I've got to fabricate the pieces and parts that I'm replacing form the original kit.  I figured I'd start with the turnbuckles since I need to fabricate over 100 of these things.  It took me a few tries, but I feel like I'm on the right track now.

[img width= height=]https://www.bellateq.com/g21photos/camel/012323[/img]

[lone modeller]

Those turnbuckles look super - if the rest of the build is to this standard you will have a museum quality model at the end.

Stephen.

[Garage21]

Thank you Aliluke.  All of the metal bits that came in the kit are going to be scratch built from brass, aluminum and copper.  The engine will be scratch built and a second, 1:8 scale engine, will be built to display next to the plane.

If this goes like the rest of my projects, I'm guessing 8 months to a year until completion.

Stay tuned.

Andy.

[acewwi]

Before I start building the Camel, I've got to fabricate the pieces and parts that I'm replacing form the original kit.  I figured I'd start with the turnbuckles since I need to fabricate over 100 of these things.  It took me a few tries, but I feel like I'm on the right track now.

[img width= height=]https://www.bellateq.com/g21photos/camel/012323[/img]

Hi Andy,
why you do not try this material http://www.gaspatchmodels.com/products/resin-turnbuckles-type-c-1-16.html

Cheers
Spyros

[Garage21]

Hi Spyros - I had thought about using those, but the actual units on the actual plane would have been made out of metal so I wanted to go with metal.  I know you can paint resin to look like metal, but the brass turnbuckles with the copper safety wire looks fantastic and you can't really get the proper look with paint on resin.

Ultimately, I wanted to get the look of actual metal against the wooden wings as I think that will be striking.

Andy.

[BillB]

Do you plan to leave the metal natural, paint it, or use a chemical blackener?

Chemically blackened with the safety wire added afterwards would really be eye catching.

- BillB

[Garage21]

I haven't really decided yet Bill.  I definitely will not be painting the turnbuckles.  More than likely they'll be blackened with a light acid dip and then the copper safety wire will be left shiny.

What do you recommend?

[BillB]

Micro-Mark has a wide variety of chemical treatments for metals, and Birchwood Casey has several, including an aluminum blackener.

For years I've used A-West Blacken-It, available from Walthers (though out of stock at the moment), and industrial supply stores, like McMaster-Carr, have carried blackening solutions for years, but the last I looked all they had was essentially black paint.  Some of the chemicals formerly used were a bit too toxic for today's consumer protection advocates.

A little Googling will no doubt uncover other sources.

BillB

[RAGIII]

Amazing work on those buckles! They should certainly look authentic!!
RAGIII

[aliluke]

Turnbuckles look great. Just some thoughts...
The turnbuckle will only be at one end of the line the other end is fixed - a 100 seems a lot - you might be double counting?
Snipes have no visible turnbuckles at all - there is good discussion here about this under the rigging section.
See photo below of a turnbuckle on a Pup (I think). Very small and bright steel in colour.
If you are blackening, Birchwood Casey, as recommended, is the best I've ever used - and I tried many - but that was for ship models.



Cheers
Alistair

[Garage21]

Aliluke - I was including the clevises in the count with the turnbuckles since those have to be fabricated also.

The clevises will be much easier to fabricate though.

[Garage21]

So I went through all the plans and confirmed that I was going to need about 100 of the double-eye turnbuckles.  I got them all fabricated (finally).  I need to sand, shape and polish as well as drill out the center hole and run the safety wire, but they're "done enough" for now.

12 hours over 10 days is the answer to how long these took.

*** COULD SOMEONE PLEASE REMIND ME HOW TO EMBED A PICTURE IN THESE POSTS.  I DID IT ONCE AND NOW I FORGOT HOW I DID IT."

Thanks,

G21