1/8 Sopwith Camel

[Don Garrett]

There were 3 kits in this series guys....the Camel, a Fokker and the rarest of all the R.A.F SP-5. A Camel recently sold for (buy it now) $750 on ebay. Sounds like a lot of coin huh?
I was bidding on an SP-5 on Mario's behalf and I let sensibility take over when I couldn't purchase it for $1,050.
The (unmolested) kit sold for a little over a grand but I'm sure the buyers maximum bid was around twelve hundred. Yeah these kits bring a-lot of dollars, if you can pick any of them up for under $650....you got a bargain...fantastic kits right out of the box.

[Mario Lucchini]

There were 3 kits in this series guys....the Camel, a Fokker and the rarest of all the R.A.F SP-5. A Camel recently sold for (buy it now) $750 on ebay. Sounds like a lot of coin huh?
I was bidding on an SP-5 on Mario's behalf and I let sensibility take over when I couldn't purchase it for $1,050.
The (unmolested) kit sold for a little over a grand but I'm sure the buyers maximum bid was around twelve hundred. Yeah these kits bring a-lot of dollars, if you can pick any of them up for under $650....you got a bargain...fantastic kits right out of the box.

And Mario and The Shadow silently weep in the dark......

[hot ford coupe]

Looks like we're getting some new blood here. A bunch of us are also doing aircraft, me for one. I used to be pretty good at doing scale WWII American aircraft but got burned out in the 80's. To get myself going again, today, I bought the Revell B-17G kit in 1/48 scale. That's the kit that got me started way back when and now it's gonna do it again.

[Don Garrett]

As long as it's BIG have a ball. Are you going to build a Dio to go with?

[Thrillbilly Rich]

I gotta ask what's the wingspan on it? Detail is great in the photos!

[Daniel]

Hasegawa have both the Fokker and the Wright flyer listed on their website in their current product range. The 1/8 Fokker DR I is still available new direct from Japan for about $650US, Rainbow 10 still has it listed. The 1/8 scale Sopwith Camel, Fokker DR. 1 and RAF S.E.5a where originally released by Hasegawa in the early 80's. A Wright Flyer 1/16 scale was added to this museum series later. The Camel was re-issued in the 90's and the Fokker was re-issued in the late 90's. Hopefully Hasegawa will see it fit to re-issue the SE5a some time soon. Hasegawa claim these models are exact scale reproductions of the original aircraft. Looking at the Camel and Fokker kits I have, I cannot fault their claim. These are great airplane kits and much more accurate in detail than the Pocher car kits K70 & k72 I have.

[Daniel]

Thrillbilly Rich I gotta ask what's the wingspan on it?

Details of these kits:-

[B]Sopwith Camel[/B]
Length 714.5mm
Wingspan 1067mm
Total parts 1198pcs

[B]Fokker Dr 1[/B]
Length 722mm
Wingspan 838mm
Total parts 858pcs

The Sopwith Camel had a wooden fuselage and wings which are reproduced in wood in the kit. The Fokker had a metal fuselage and wooden wings which are reproduced in plastic fuselage and wood wings in the kit.

[Don Garrett]

Thanks for the info Daniel, I'd love to see a re-issue of the SP-5 but I'm a little concerned that it might be too expensive to reproduce (even overseas).....as far as attention to scale and accuracy goes, it doesn't get much better in any kit period. They really get close to the (over-used) museum quality term.

[Daniel]

I agree with you Don, to many kit manufactures use the term 'museum quality' and Hasegawa 1/8 scale planes are the closest it comes. I have read somewhere these kits have been used by 35 museums around the world for their actual displays, you can’t get any closer than that to museum quality. I don’t know if the kits would be so expensive to re-issue. Hasegawa have already done all the hard work, researching the models and producing the dies. Sure the dies may need some cleaning up before going back into production, but the cost is no-where near producing dies from scratch. Tamiya have recently been able to re-issue a large number of their 1/12 car kits, after years of people saying it would be too expensive. I believe the manufactures want to keep exclusivity on their kits so they can attract premium prices. I wonder who has the Pocher dies and if they have any intent on re-issues??

[Don Garrett]

Last I heard about Pocher was a mixed bag, rumors and hear say. Time will tell I guess.

[mouppe]

I believe Hornby have the Pocher dies, since they bought Rivarossi in the late 90s (?) who were then the owners of Pocher.

I bought this kit for $610 on Ebay. It is true that the Camels are cheaper than the S.E.5.a, but you get so much more history with the Camel that a Camel was my first choice. I went to the National Aviation Museum in Ottawa where they have a Camel on display and I have to say that this kit is as close as it gets to the real thing, even down to the colours on the tail skid and the dashboard!

One thing to be wary of with the Fokker re-issue is that it comes with a plastic prop. Somewhere on the web I came across a tutorial on how to make a model wooden prop- I can look for it again if anyone is interested. The Camel kits have beautiful wooden props.

The biggest problem with these kits is that with a wingspan of over a metre, where do you out the bloody thing?!

Mouppe.

[Daniel]

Great work Mouppe, I hope you will post more photos as your construction continues. I agree with you in that the Camel is historically a more notable subject to model. I also bought the Camel model first for the same reason, actually it was the first 1/8 scale model I ever bought. I got it on eBay a couple of years ago for around $AU700 including postage within Australia. My kit is a re-issue which is packed in a mauve colour carton, the original issue kits were in green coloured cartons. The only reason S.E.5a kits are more expensive is that they where not re-issued.

If you decide to stain the wooden frame will you have to disassemble some of the model? When I get around to building the Camel I plan to use Danish oil followed by bees wax polish on the timber frames. This is the same process recommended for wooden model ship hulls. I have started to build a Pocher Fiat and plan use real timber floor boards, which will be finished with Danish oil. I am stuck remaking engine parts for it though, as Pocher missed a lot of the engine detail. As soon as I have made some descent progress I will post photos.

I am very interested in the wooden propeller tutorial and would appreciate if you can post a link to it. The plastic Fokker propeller is a bit of a disappointment to an otherwise excellent kit. The Camel kits wooden propeller is a work of art in itself. The Camels only disappointment is the plastic ‘cane seat’. I have seen this painted to look like cane with a very good result, but I don’t know how this was done.

Displaying the model will be a problem as it is too big to fit in any standard size display case. The model needs an area of at least 1200mm x 900mm to sit, about 4ft x 3ft for you old timers. I can see no way around other than building a made to size glass display if you want to protect it from dust.

If Pocher car dies are in Hornby hands then they may never again see light of day. Hornby only seems to be interested in producing model trains and associated HO scale diorama. I hope they sell off the dies to some-one who will do something with them.

[mouppe]

Daniel,

Here is a link to Ken Foran's Camel build. It is outstanding. Fine Scale models sell his camels for $12,500. He scratchbuilt a wicker chair from brass- he shows you how half way through the photos.

http://www.wwi-models.org/Images/Foran/Camel/

Here is a link to a wooden propeller tutorial, also by Ken Foran.

http://www.wwi-models.org/Images/For...ops/index.html

If I can give you some advice on Tung oil or Danish oil, here it is. I have built wooden ships and finish the hulls with tung oil. It looks great and protects the wood very well. But it would not really work for the Camel because you apply it with a cloth and essentially "stroke" it repeatedly into the wood. So it is fine for a big area like a hull, but not for a 5mm thick single plank. You would not be able to apply it evenly and it would gather in a soggy oily mass in the corners of the frame. Also, you have to reapply the oil every now and then which would be a real hassle for the Camel. If you do use an oil, don't add a wax on top. It will suffocate the wood and is unnecessary, as well as being a dust magnet. It would be great for the Fiat however.

With an acrylic matte varnish or a stain, you can use a paintbrush to apply the protection. Much easier given all the tight corners you have to get into. I do not foresee having to undo the model at all, although I will stain the wing sections prior to final assembly.

As regards displaying the model, obviously hanging it from the ceiling is one option. I also thought about leaving the wings unattached, and displaying the model with the fuselage and wings lying parallel, but then you will lose the ability to see the ailerons function. I am also toying with the idea of making a large square coffee table with a glass top, and the Camel would sit inside- a kind of display case cum coffee table.

I seem to make this enormous models without really considering where to put them when finished!

By the way, try to get a copy of Winged Victory, a semi-autobiographical novel written by a WW1 Camel pilot. It really gives meaning to the build and places the model in a real context.

P.S. Couldnt resist posting a picture of my tung oil-finished hull!

[Don Garrett]

Please don't get me started on tall ships....they are a passion of mine. By the way....I use Tung oil for the hulls also, and my hand carved rifle stocks and the furniture I build and.....wouldn't use anything else. I usually spray framework stain through an old airbrush on a home built (slow rotating) rotiseree....lazy I guess, but it works for me and allows me to control the coverage by moving around and spraying as it turns.