Sopwith Camel cockpit opening question

[Berman]

 I have the 1/48th scale Eduard Sopwith F.1 Camel kit. It comes with a choice of a cockpit opening totally enclosed by the coaming and one version that is open in front to the machine guns. I have alternate decals but I am not sure which cockpit part to use. What are the serial numbers for the full coaming version(I am guessing this was the early style) and the serial numbers for those Camels with the open front cockpit. Very difficult to judge just from either art profiles or photographs. Any other way to determine which is the correct opening to use?
  Minor point. There are cowlings  with no small oval hole at the bottom and others with just one starboard hole and some with port and starboard oval holes. What was the purpose of these holes? They seem too small to contribute to any sort of cooling.

[Ernie]

Hi Berman, about the holes in the engine cowling, all I can think of is maybe different
setup for different engines.  The Camel had a few different engines in it's lifetime.
  One source you might want to try is contacting Stephen Lawson, a noted historian
in WW I matters and very knowledgeable in aircraft.  Just a thought.  I found an
email address on the AeroScale website for him. stephen.lawson(at)kitmaker.net
Hope that helps.

Best Regards,
Ernie

[kornbeef]

I think like a lot of arcraft fuel and oil tanks were moved around during their development. I can't lay my hands on the datafile ATM but believe the small hole variation and cowling shapes were to do with this.
All I can say is try to find reference for the airframe you are using Serial No etc, with more definite info someone like Stephen Lawhead or others may be able to pinpoint better what you need to know.

Keith

[kornbeef]

the small hole front starboard is the oil tank filler opening, it should be round but guess molding restrictions distorts it.

[Berman]

 Red Baron and kornbeef. The small oval hole that I am referring to is on the bottom lip of the front round cowling. I am not really too concerned if I get this right for a specific aircraft because it is so small. However, installing the incorrect the Eduard cockpit opening, parts C2 or C7, would be a major mistake.

[kornbeef]

Berman

Ahhh gotcha now. well looking through the datafile it seems very common to have that opening and the Later/better 1/32 Hobbycraft kit has it too. As for it's purpose I can only speculate so won't. 

So I would use it, or drill out the blank cowl to save messing about with the seam.

Incidentally on my Eduard Instructions part C2 & C7  are labelled the same where it gives you the option, I'm taking it that part C2 is the upper one.

Good luck with your build.

Keith

[Berman]

 I heard back from Stephen Lawson. He said the the cut down forward portion of the cockpit, in order to expose the machine gun breeches, was a field modification not done in production. The enlarged central opening in the upper wing was also a field modification. If you have the Eduard kit with decals for the two versions of Barker's Camel, the color profiles are in error as these use the part C7 cut down front cockpit opening. His last version  of B6313 did have the center wing opening enlarged as shown correctly by Eduard. However, according to information obtained on Aerodrome Forum, the Barker's last version had all the black paint stripped from the plywood  surrounding the cockpit(as well as the forward aluminum) and this was brought back to its original natural finish.
   I guess you will need to find photos of the specific Camel that you are modeling to determine if the cockpit or upper wing were changed.  Fortunately most were not.
 Note: Eduard still has not corrected its instructions. Interplane struts B19 and B9 are shown in the wrong positions. B19 is .020 inch (.5mm) longer and needs to go to the rear position.