W. G. Barker's Sopwith F.1 Camel B6313 1/144 scratch

[ondra]

Hello everybody,

the Eindecker is resting in the cabinet, the drawings for the Camel are done, sot it is time to start working.



The subject will be W. G. Barker's Camel B6313 in its final layout from Autumn 1918



After taking a closer look at this particular machine I went: "Holy ..., what subject have I chosen again?"

This machine namely had not only most of the decking before the cockpit removed...



... but also the fabric on the centre section of the upper wing. This means basically the whole cockpit interior will be very well visible, so I will have to create something resebling this:



Ehm, yeah, this will be a big portion of fun and a few sleepless nights, I guess. Currently I am thinking about vacuformed fuselage halves and cockpit interior to be inserted assembled from the front. But will see what other ideas I might get. Should you have any suggestions, many thanks for any input!

Cheers

Ondra

[lone modeller]

Gee Ondra, I know that you and I like a challenge when we choose a subject to model, but......... Sorry at the moment I have no suggestions, but I will certainly be following along to see how you do get over some of the practical problems that await.

Stephen.

[GazzaS]

Though it may hurt my (mental) eyes, I'll be sure to follow along. 

[RAGIII]

As always I am sure you will get this figured out and work wonders!
RAGIII

[Juan]

Getting popcorn before the show starts...   

[lcarroll]

    This is going to be a classic! I'll be following closely and cheering you on Ondra!
Cheers,
Lance

[Trackpad]

Best of luck on this challenging build. I'm sure that you're up to the task! 

[Manni]

Wow, finished one and the next is on the desk, will be very interesting.
Gruß,
Manni

[ondra]

Many thanks for your encouraging comments and support, Stephen, Gaz, Rick, Juan, Lance, Trackpad and Manni! I will do my best not to disappoint your expectations.

This weekend I would like to start experimenting with fuselage vacuforming so my question to the forumites - anyone here having experience with this technology?

So far I took the "mathematic" approach and rescaled the fuselage drawings for use of 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 mm styrene. I guess I will start experimenting with the 0.75 mm and see how it goes. I will glue the drawing on a piece of 0.5 mm styrene and then cut it out. Once glued together and the gaps filled with putty, this should give me a proper core for the vacuforming.



Cheers

Ondra

[ondra]

Time to cut some styrene.

I started working on the core for the vacuforming, the idea is to fill the gaps with black miliputt, which should give me a good guide while removing the excesses (the contrast between white styrene and black miliputt). New technology for me, so this will be a trial-failure learning.


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Cheers

Ondra

[RAGIII]

Your framework looks good Ondra. I am looking forward to seeing how the milliput works for you. Knowing your skills I am sure all will go well!
RAGIII

[Borsos]

You are doing a great job, ondra. I do have a DIY vacuform machine and vacuformed some parts yet. I am far from being an expert but I'll help as much as I can!
Andreas

[gbrivio]

Great subject, this is a very promising project. Following with great interest.
Ciao
Giuseppe

[Jeff K]

Watching closely. Barker's one of my favorites, and this is the single most successful airframe of the entire war; 46 of Billy Barker's 50 kills were achieved in it. The other 4 were achieved in his VC Snipe (in my queue thanks to WNW and Pheon).

I have no idea how you do what you do in such a tiny scale, but it makes for damn fine viewing.

[GazzaS]

Amazing!