1/16 Sopwith Camel

[GAJouette]

   Rizzo,
It's funny thing I was just wondering how your Camel was coming along my old friend. Now it's clear even more outstanding progress has indeed been made. The instrument panel is awesome with all the details and it's construction,truly impressive quality of work throughout this project. The wooden fuselage members appear to be varnished in the photos just as the actual member would have been. What did you varnish them with?

Your project thread is clearly a benchmark for anyone wanting to model the Camel my friend. I as many others will be looking forward to the next outstanding update.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[Rizzo]

Thank you for the comments It does help my motivation to be able to share the progress here, especially when it seems like quite an uphill struggle sometimes!

Lance, saving the WNW kits for later is what I plan, but they're very, very tempting... I'll have to get this model finished before the Snipe is released, or it'll be doomed for sure!

Gregory, the varnish is just a clear satin varnish for interior decorating. Quite a forgiving finish, so small imperfections (of which there are many!) don't show up too much. The colour comes from a wood stain I use before constuction, so I have no need to worry about glue marks showing up.

[lcarroll]

Thank you for the comments It does help my motivation to be able to share the progress here, especially when it seems like quite an uphill struggle sometimes!

Lance, saving the WNW kits for later is what I plan, but they're very, very tempting... I'll have to get this model finished before the Snipe is released, or it'll be doomed for sure!

Gregory, the varnish is just a clear satin varnish for interior decorating. Quite a forgiving finish, so small imperfections (of which there are many!) don't show up too much. The colour comes from a wood stain I use before constuction, so I have no need to worry about glue marks showing up.

Now that the DVIIs and the Tripe are here the Snipe is my next big wish, unless they sneak a Camel into the fray! Keep at it and, as Greg said, your thread is a Benchmark, I'm going to add this to my references once you've completed it. Marvellous stuff.
Cheers,
Lance

[coyotemagic]

Rizzo, this is one of my favorite builds.  Very impressive.  That instrument panel is a work of art, in and of itself.
Cheers,
Bud

[pepperman42]

As others have said, very impressive. The i/p is a feat of fine engineering!!

Steve

[Rizzo]

I've been busy working on the lower wing for the last few weeks. There's obviously a few differences, but on the whole it's just a repetition of the process required for the upper wing... so I think it's been a good idea to put a whole load of fuselage work in between the two

I'm now making the pulley assembly for the ailerons, and once that's done I need to add the correct dihedral to the wing before getting it attached to the fuselage.

I've also scrapped the kits struts completely. They're mostly fictional, to allow for a simple way to attach the wings... and I was tempted to go with that. But in the end the quality of the parts is just too poor to use (they're noticeably different from one side of the aircraft to the other for one thing), and so I'll make something closer to reality. You can see the attachment points in the photo- just squished plastic tubing. This will have a wire glued inside it (and into the frame itself too), which should then give a strong enough joint for the wooden struts.

[GAJouette]

 Rizzo,
It's great to see this project is alive and well my old friend. Outstanding update,an excellent view into your Master Class skills and craftsmanship. I'm very much looking forward to the next awesome update.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[Rizzo]

The lower wing is in place now... and I'm slowly working towards getting it ready for the top wing.

[Chris Johnson]

Marvelous work! It's just like building a real airplane of the period. While I'd like to try my hand at this kit, I don't think I have the patience for it.

Cheers,

Chris

[coyotemagic]

Brilliant craftmanship, Rizzo.  She's coming together beautifully.
Cheers,
Bud

[GAJouette]

  Rizzo,
Go ahead and admit it this project is actually a 1 to 1 scale built in your garage. But seriously outstanding works my old friend.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[Epeeman]

Rizzo,

Brilliant work!!

I really would not have the patience (or the skill) to undertake a project like this, so I 'take my hat off to you' mate.

Regards

Dave

[pepperman42]

That one is shaping up to be a true museum model!!

Steve

[Rizzo]

Thanks very much for the comments

A test of patience is definitely a good way to describe this kit. I think it's a bit beyond my concentration span in all honestly, but I'm determined to not get distracted and get the thing done now,

I'll be very glad once I've got the panels smoothed down and the alclad paint on... things should start to move much faster then.

[Rizzo]

Here's a small update for now, but most of the work I've put into this for the last month is to get the upper wing in place. It's mostly ready, but before I glue it all together, the last task was to get the area around the guns ready.

It's been my first try with alclad (with airframe aluminium), and I found it very nice to use. The only hard part was preparing the gloss black for it to go onto- which meant getting those damn printed parts as smooth as possible!
I decided to gloss coat these parts, because of the amount of handling they needed to make it all slot together. It does dull the finish, but for the best really- looks much more like aluminium.



I was in two minds about gloss coating the outer panel- while it looks quite cool with the polished look, it doesn't look that authentic. But just as I had glued the guns in place, I discovered that I needed to move them slightly to get the panel to fit on. So that made the decision for me... I had to get it added in a hurry, with no way to gloss coat it now.



Next I'll get the rigging ready, and then glue the upper wing in place.