1000th Ruston Proctor Camel

[smperry]

I have always fancied doing a 1000th Ruston Proctor Camel, B-7380. I find myself with a Hobby Craft 1/32 Camel, Kit # HC 1681. It comes with markings for the early version of Barker's Camel and the Camel in the Imperial War museum. (F-6314  B-6313)

While I am by no means ready to start, I have been prowling the web and saving images, but my research is rusty. So before I go put any serious time and effort into this, is there anything about this kit that would be an obvious error that should have been corrected if I were to paint it like B-7380? I guess the most obvious thing being the engine. I don't recall enough to say which one the kit has and which one B-7380 had.  I also do not know if B-7380 had been fitted with guns yet when it was gussied up for the ceremony marking the 1000th RP Camel, which is how I want to portray it as to my understanding, they didn't wait long before they slapped a coat of PC-10 on it and sent it off to war.

Any info and pointers would be most appreciated.

sp

[RLWP]

From memory, the kit has a Clerget engine

Until recently, I'd suggest replacing the engine with a WNW one...

Richard

[smperry]

I believe you are correct Richard. There are 2 pushrods per cyl in front of each cyl. I vaguely recall that being consistent with a Clerget. Now I have to poke around some more and see if I can come up with what engine Ruston Proctor were equipping their Camels.

I found images of a Pheom decal sheet for this bird, but it does not show up when I go to their site and look at the list of In Stock sheets. I am more inclined to mask and spray than use decals, especially in 1/32 scale. I have the WnW camel kit as part of the dual kit with the LVG C.VI, so I can use interior parts from that as patterns for a decent interior. I don't intend to make more of a detailing project out of this than necessary as I hope the colors and markings will keep attention on the outside of the model.

I have had this kit in the stash for decades and at some point I sanded off all the wing surface details. Can someone with a Hobby Craft Camel look and tell me how bad the surface of the wings are? I am simply curious if they needed to be sanded or if I just did it anyway.

sp

[macsporran]

I used the info in The Camel File when I made my Blue Max 1/48 one twenty odd years ago. Haven't got it to hand right now.
Don't make the mistake I did though of drawing the black lines with a sharpie that turned out not to be too permanent when varnish was applied!

[smperry]

Thanks for the Sharpie tip, I was leaning in that direction, so your timing is perfect. Thin strips of decal material will likely work. Some how I never got a Camel DF. Guess I better go shopping before I start this one.
Thanks again for saving me a lot of trouble
sp

[ebergerud]

Sharpie would be very bad news indeed. For a starter, I think you'll find that a black Sharpie is a "chromatic" black - so if you cover it, it's going to look dark blue - maybe even a little purple. If paint's not what you want, there is acrylic ink - at least the color would be true.
Eric

[lcarroll]

  "I have had this kit in the stash for decades and at some point I sanded off all the wing surface details. Can someone with a Hobby Craft Camel look and tell me how bad the surface of the wings are? I am simply curious if they needed to be sanded or if I just did it anyway."

sp,
    I checked the two kits I have in the Stash here, the LeRhone and Clerget ones of the series HC 1693 and 4. The wing tapes are more "raised" then the Wingnut Wings versions, I probably will remove and replace them with less raised strips if I build them as well, they are too "pronounced" IMHO. (I am saving them to do a Comic conversion at some time in the future)
   Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Lance

[smperry]

Macsporran
what a lovely model. I am inspired to continue herding my ducks in a row and eventually trying my hand at a 1000th RP Camel. I looked in my Camel books and found nothing. Do you recall the exact title.

Richard
I recently bought a MicroMark casting set. No telling what engine this one will end up with. :-)

Lance,
Thanks for looking, I guess I did have a reason for sanding the wings down. Some primer, some future and then decal strips should have it looking about right.

I think the only things un resolved are whether or not the guns were mounted at the time of the factory celebration and the specific engine used. I believe this one will be fully ready to start.

Thanks for all the help guys.
sp

[macsporran]

Hi sp, on reflection I recall I had a soft cover booklet (about 16 pages) on the subject of Ruston Proctor and their Sopwith production history. Inside this was a full history and colour layouts of the Egyptian themed Camel.
I'm afraid I sold off my whole library twenty years ago and can't recall the exact title but if it comes to me I'll revert to you.
I seem to remember though that part of it was reproduced in some of the Datafiles (but I sold all of those too unfortunately so can't check there either!)
I'm sure somebody else here will know the booklet I mean
Cheers
Sandy

[FAf]

Hi So!
Did you ever find an answer to the engine question for the 1000th Camel? I've been thinking about this scheme myself.

Cheers Fredrik

[smperry]

I got sidetracked. I am thinking the Profile Publication or the Datafile might have a list of tail numbers which had certain engines, but I have not dug out the references as yet.
sp

[FAf]

Autocorrect changed sp to so... Sorry about that!
Thanks for the answer anyway, I'll look as well and will tell you what I find.
/Fredrik

[lcarroll]

   The question of "which Camel air frames or production batches had what engine installed" is one that I have yet to find a good list or reference on, and I've searched for one often. I have a pretty good library of References and even the classic Chaz Bowyer "Sopwith Camel-King of Combat" provides no answer. If anyone has a table, list, or volume that provides this info I'd be very pleased to have it!
Cheers,
Lance

[smperry]

I kind of figured that Lance. There were a lot of contractors. I do recall, now that it comes up again, I think I saw one photo of the aircraft in question that looked to have double pushrods peeking out from the cowl, though it wasn't the best of photos IIRC. So now that I am reminded, I will likely go with the Clerget. I can always attach the cowl and prop with white glue in case proof to the contrary shows up.
sp

[gbrivio]

My guess is Clerget9B, find two pictures on this page:

https://www.kingstonaviation.org/sopwith-day-by-day/1918.html

The livery is highly attractive and I'm looking to make this one also in the future, so I'm very interested in following a similar build.
Ciao
Giuseppe