Plans is to build an aircraft from 4 Naval Squadron as piloted by Canadian Alexander MacDonald Shook. On June 5th 1917 while flying N6347, he would be responsible for first victory scored by a Camel. That's all I can find about the air frame. taken from the Osprey publication.
On to the kit:
The trio of aftermarket products are HGW lap belts, Barracuda resin wicker seat, and Gaspatch resin Vickers guns.
In the above photo, Eduard parts are pictured on the right side. Eduard PE belts are ok, but they look to be the WW2 Sutton type, though maybe this style was introduced very late in the war?
Started with the engine, but several push rods broke while removing from sprue:
Decision is made to replace all rods with metal rod/wire @ 0.2mm diameter. As I understand it, the RNAS preferred their Camels to be equipped with Bentley BR1. The Eduard kit I believe has the Clerget 9B, so some conversion is required. Note, I've no idea if the crankcase or cylinders are the same size or larger, but maybe best not known since it could affect fit inside the cowl.
1. - all push rods removed, drilled location holes in their place. Also added small sections of plastic sheet to the top sides of the cylinder heads. These also had location holes drilled for the piping that reaches out from the backside.
2. - each cylinder is surrounded by four rods, using 0.2mm size (same diameter as push rods). Decided to just drill one large hole to fit two rods as they come down into a V - but each hole was first packed with green putty.
3. - piping added in the rear, using 0.5mm rod. To aid in attaching to the cylinder, the curved end of the piping also had 0.3mm rod inserted to fit into the sheet plastic added in step 1.
4. - push rods finally added (0.2mm). The green putty was added afterwards for additional strength, but not really accurate in terms of detail.
5. - pair of spark plugs added to the top sides of each cylinder - no holes drilled for this. Basically just a 0.2mm rod inserted into 0.4mm section and super glued in place.
6. - Base coat of black followed by aluminum, ready for further detail painting.
Some quick numbers on the engine rebuild:
- total number of holes drilled: 54
- total number of sections of cut rods in various diamaters: 99 (11 pieces per cylinder)
Focus now turns to the cockpit...
Basic approach to instrument panel , but was surprised no PE on this (nor does Eduard make any separate IP for the 1/48 Camel - shocked!). Dials are individual decals, but they are oversized so had to fill in the bezels in order to accommodate the decals. The black bars (vertical and the one on top that looks like a bicycle handle) were replaced with brass rod.
Belts are put together, but I did apply an umber wash to dirty them up a bit and help some of the detail stand out. HGW provides two different styles of attachment points, either metal or a loop of fabric leather. Think will go with the latter in hopes it makes it easier to attach to the air frame.
The resin wicker chair paints up nicely, but still needs a cushion, and usually the top frame also has some padding - so out came the green putty. Also added some Uschi rigging line as the raised seam around the cushion. Painted flat black afterwards, and oil from the ole forehead adds some sheen.
regards,
Jack
