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

[NigelR]

This is sheer madness! Very, very impressive work!

[ondra]

Many thanks for following the build and for leaving such generous and supportive comments, Frank, Andreas, Stephen, Juan and Nigel!

The build pace slowed down again due to various reasons, but from time to time I found an hour or half to continue with filling and sanding.

The fuselage looks close to acceptable now, so hopefully one last shot of primer will be needed and I can start with the scribing.




The wings look acceptable too, I am rather satisfied with the way the pulley inspection windows turned out. Some touch ups will be necessary on the centre section cut outs, though.



Next up will be the wing ribs, so I made this little jig to help me separate the masks from the paper, hopefully it will work as intended. Testing will start this weekend.



Cheers

Ondra

[coyotemagic]

Excellent progress, Ondra!  I'm currently rigging my AEG C.IV and having a hell of a time seeing the eyelets.  In 1/48 scale!  I can't begin to imagine doing those inspection ports in 1/144 scale!  As I've said before, you're a wizard!
Cheers,
Bud

[ondra]

Many thanks for following the build and for your generous comment, old friend!

The pace of the build slowed down quite significantly due to various reasons, one of them being that I struggled big time with the wing ribs. I could not seem to make the masking foil work. After several attempts I found out that the foil simply had gone bad and the glue had changed its behaviour, thus becoming more sticky. So I ordered a new foil and the masking was finished within one evening.

I know I presented the method here before, so just a brief description - I take the drawing of the wing I had made in the preparation stage and cut it on my plotter. Afterwards I put the mask on the wing and remove the foil in the areas where the ribs will be. Once done, I give the wing some layers of surfacer which creates ridges in the unmasked areas.





Cheers

Ondra

[coyotemagic]

That wing looks spectacular, Ondra!  I love what you do in this scale!
Cheers,
Bud

[RAGIII]

That wing looks spectacular, Ondra!  I love what you do in this scale!
Cheers,
Bud

As always I agree with Bud. Spectacular indeed Ondra!
RAGIII

[Mike Norris (UK)]

Hi Ondra,
This build is amazing in such a small scale!!

I hope I'm not too late with this information about the cockpit decking, but this is what I think is correct.  Of course I could be wrong.
Here's extracts from my PDF build log of the same aircraft.

Mike

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cockpit Decking:
‘Field’ modifications’ to aircraft were quite common and the pilots cockpit decking was modified by certain squadrons or pilots, again to improve visibility and to aid in clearing gun stoppages.
Normally the decking was fitted side to side of the fuselage and also between the two Vickers machine guns.
Some aircraft had the decking reduced at the right side of the cockpit decking as well as having the decking removed across to the left Vickers machine gun.
It appears that William Barkers B6313 was modified further by having the left side of the decking removed.

Fortunately the ‘Wingnut Wings’ kit covers the earlier B6313 (as can be seen in the
following photograph) and makes provision for modifying the cockpit decking.



William Barker with his Sopwith ‘Camel’, Serial No.B6313 (earlier version), France, 1917.

The kit instructions show how to modify the cockpit decking panel (kit part B7) for Barkers ‘Camel’ B6313 (earlier colour scheme), which indicates that that lower portion of the decking, at the left side, needs to be retained. However photographs taken at the time seem to show that the left side of the decking was completely removed, whilst the right side appears to have been
retained, but reduced in size.





The removed cockpit decking can be easily seen when the above photograph of Barkers B6313 ‘Camel’ (earlier scheme) is compared to a more standard ‘Camel’, as can be seen in the
following photograph.



A close up photograph of Barkers later colour schemed ‘Camel’ B6313 shows that the cockpit left  side frame is exposed where the decking had been cut away. This exposed frame also appears to be shown in the earlier scheme profile in the ’Wingnut Wings’ instruction manual.





Therefore the forward section of kit part B7 was cut away to be used with reduced right side (kit part A32).





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[jeroen_R90S]

Amazing stuff, Ondra! A real pleasure to watch

[GazzaS]

Brilliant looking Wing Ondra!

Gaz

[ondra]

Many thanks for your supportive and generous comments, they are highly appreciated!

And many thanks to Mike (Sandbagger) for the priceless photos of the original. These are showing me clearly that the cockpit opening will require adjustments as I am currently not on the right path:




Cheers

Ondra

[Mike Norris (UK)]

Hi Ondra,
The photos I showed are of Barkers B6313 in its earlier state. 
Later the colour scheme was changed to the version you are building.
Also the engine cowl and upper wing of B6313 were further modified.

Mike

Extract from my build log:
-------------------------------------

Later, Barker had B6313 further modified by having extra cooling slots (four in total) cut into the engine cowl and also had the linen covering removed from the rear of the upper wing centre
section, again to improve visibility from the cockpit. The personal colour scheme was also changed to have fourteen alternate black and white stripes (white stripes slightly wider than the black stripes) around the rear of the fuselage. On the fin, the arrowed heart was reversed with the arrow head this time pointing down towards the bottom, front of the fin. Throughout its life, B6313 had the linen coverings recovered several times.

[ondra]

Many thanks for your advices, Mike, they are a major help!

I have to admit that the exact shape of the cockpit decking is still not very tangible to me, so I made two sketches of how I understand the adjustment to be done - the red sections have to be removed. Is my understanding correct?




The part I am most worried about is the engine cowl with the additional cooling slots. In this scale the material is almost paper thin on the front side, so if I add the cooling slots, I have serious concerns about the rigidity.



I might go for "artistic license" by omitting the slots and claiming that there must have been a period of time where the plane was carrying this camo but the slots had not been cut out yet - he mechanics said: "ok, guys enough for today, we have repainted the whole plane, repainted the heart and stripes, removed the linen from the wing centre, so the cooling slots have to wait for next week".

Should anyone have an idea how to cut out the slots without the danger of ruining the part, all advices are warmly welcome.

Cheers

Ondra

[aliluke]

My reading of your palm says "Do not cut slots" - that is in the third wrinkle from the left - written since birth.

But seriously - I struggle at 1:32. What you are doing is utterly incredible!

Cheers,
Alistair

[Mike Norris (UK)]

Hi Ondra,
Below are shots of the test fit for my modified decking.
As for the slots in the engine cowl, I think you are probably correct - trying to actually cut slot in such a small and fragile piece could spell disaster.
I had to be careful cutting my cowl and it's in 1:32 scale!!
Could you paint the slots on the cowl - as your scale is so small it would be difficult to tell the difference,

Mike

[lone modeller]

I tend to agree with Mike: painting the slots on the cowling would be easier, and if you make a mistake you can correct it much more easily. Just how you produce your quality models in this scale is still a complete mystery to me.

Stephen.