Sopwith F1 Camel

[Kittyhawk]

These are models 57 and 58 respectively and the first ones built for pleasure. This is not to say that the preceeding 56 weren't fun but the two Camels were built unordered and because I wanted to have a shot at a WW1 aeroplane because of a couple of construction issues. The first was the use of annealed beer can aluminium to replicate the alloy parts of the plane and the second issue was how to make the wing struts and undercarriage strong enough - accomplished by drilling the bits lengthwise and inserting a 1mm diameter stainless rod which also goes into the wings and fuselage.
This may not be necessary if the model is to sit on a shelf someplace but the intention with all my models is that they should be able to withstand a bit of robust handling and be played with if the recipient so desires. I do. Sometimes I like to hold a model in each hand and run through the house making engine and machine gun noises, especially on a Friday when it's my wife's turn to host the weekly get together of the local ladies contract bridge club. This is helpful in enhancing my whispered reputation as a loony eccentric and it gives the affronted bridge club ladies something to gossip about on the way home. You have to find a bit of fun where you can.
One of the Camels has been sold but I don't mind if the other one hangs around at home for a while. I like the look of these early aeroplanes, they have something of steampunk look to them and I like to try a couple more.

 

[bobblezard]

Those are beautiful,
I've liked your other models very much, and appreciate them for the skill and finesse involved. But I'm not massively into planes.
These however, have always fascinated me, they have a charm in being from a time when technology was just starting to rapidly change the world alongside ways of life unchanged for centuries. A wood and fabric aircraft!
I've always liked the Steampunk imagery, though never dabbled in the many festivals and events that seem to be springing up nowadays.
Enjoy your sorties through the bridge club

 

[Richard_C]

Excellent as ever. I have used aluminium can metal for some things but never thought to anneal it, will give it a go.

Have you thought of going up in scale? I was in the garden a few weeks ago and looked up to see a Fokker Triplane rumble overhead. Not something you see everyday I thought. That weekend I went to a flying day at IWM Duxford, much less intense than a full on airshow, and saw the Fokker and a Bristol Fighter side by side, with the pilot enjoying time in the sun on a deckchair. We had a chat and he had built them both himself. The Brisfit was a 7/8 "scale model", but it doesn't sit on a shelf or stand, he gets in and flies it.

The Triplane had cylinders in the right places but they were dummies, there was a real modern smaller engine hidden within.

Might need a bigger workshop though.....

 

[Kittyhawk]

These however, have always fascinated me, they have a charm in being from a time when technology was just starting to rapidly change the world alongside ways of life unchanged for centuries. A wood and fabric aircraft!

I know what you mean. On the one hand the airframe looks to employ the same 1000 year old skills used in building a skin on frame kayak but the engine was definitely state of the art for its time. There is a fellow here in NZ who has a company called Classic Aero Machining Services (if interested in old aeroplanes, worth a visit, www.cams.net.nz) Amongst all the other stuff they do, they build exact replicas of the Gnome Monosoupape 100hp rotary engine and export them to WW1 enthusiasts worldwide. Just yesterday I was talking to him about the small propellor that some Camels had on the starboard inner rear wing strut. Turns out this little prop was spun by the slipstream from the main propellor and powered a device called a Rotheringham pump, the purpose of which was to pressurise the fuel tank thereby preventing fuel starvation in negative G manoeuvres. This sounds pretty much ahead of its time to me, especially when you consider that 22 years later the early Spitfires suffered from exactly that fuel problems until Miss Schilling the engineer devised her little carburettor washer with a hole in it.

I have used aluminium can metal for some things but never thought to anneal it, will give it a go.
Have you thought of going up in scale?

I had never though of annealing beer cans either. That suggestion came courtesy of other members in a separate post on using beercan aluminium. It works and I am grateful for their advice.
And yes, I did entertain the idea of building a full size Camel airframe. With a wingspan of 8 point something metres I have the space. As a static model one could cut a few corners in the build, use 2"" X 1" dressed pine for the frame, cover with calico.. and what fun to have a full size Sopwith Camel parked up beside the house...
When I tentatively mentioned this plan to the child bride I got 'the look' which pretty well convinced me the idea was a non-starter.

 

[Fitzroy]

Wonderful model, wonderful story telling. I have a huge grin on my face imagining the scene!

 

[Inspector]

Fabulous models! Well done. I really think you should make a little Snoopy to drop in the cockpit when you fly through the house while this song plays on the stereo. Snoopy flew a Camel.

Pete

 

[Kittyhawk]

Fabulous models! Well done. I really think you should make a little Snoopy to drop in the cockpit when you fly through the house while this song plays on the stereo. Snoopy flew a Camel.

Pete

You know, I'm going to have a go at carving a little Snoopy. An open cockpit model looks a bit dopey on a stand supposedly replicating flight with nobody in it.
Just talked to the child bride again about a replica Camel. This time I got a sigh instead of 'the look' so perhaps.. maybe..

 

[Inspector]

If you are going to go to all the work of making a replica display model you might as well go the whole hog and make an airworthy one. Then at least SWMBO can see some cash out of it someday and would be more likely get behind it.

Pete

 

[Kittyhawk]

If you are going to go to all the work of making a replica display model you might as well go the whole hog and make an airworthy one. Then at least SWMBO can see some cash out of it someday and would be more likely get behind it.

Pete

I can't even begin to imagine the regulatory bodies that would become involved in an airworthy replica, or the expense. And then I'd want to fly it and undoubtedly kill myself. I can still sit in a static one and pretend.

 

[Inspector]

I used to belong to the Experimental Aircraft Association in the US and the local chapter when I lived near Vancouver BC. There were a couple guys that built a 5/8 SE5 and marketed plans. I did a quick search of NZ regulations (different countries, different rules) and as long as you make 51% of the aircraft you can licence and fly it. When you complete the aircraft it gets inspected, the amount depending on your records, pictures and quality of what they see when they start. Once licensed it has to fly a number of hours, about 25, near the home airport before being released to fly anywhere and carry passengers if a two seat. There are also kits for making them that have the materials and critical parts machined or welded etc. They may not be authentic under the fabric but outwardly look like originals. You can also get plans for them to make like the originals, perhaps with a modern radial rather than rotary. Now unless you had your heart set on a Camel you could make a 2 seater of another type and have a qualified pilot fly you around. They will be lining up to fly it. If you get a pilots licence and put in the hours in tail draggers you could get the pilot to instruct you in the 2 seater until ready to fly it on your own, there by reducing the "undoubtably" killing yourself part. The biggest hurdle is the cost, I'm not up on that anymore but some research could answer that. Or you could just dream.

https://www.airdromeaeroplanes.com
http://www.replicraft.us.fm
Pete

 

[Sandyn]

These models are just beautiful. The combination of wood and metal, the attention to detail, the lines of the aircraft and the quality of the finish is just spectacular!!!

 

[Yojevol]

Miss Schilling the engineer devised her little carburettor washer with a hole in it.

Yes, it was known amongst the ground crews as "Miss Schillings Orifice"

 

[Farm Labourer]

Kittyhawk, I've built a couple of flying machines from drawings. I could not have done it without the help I had from members of the UK version of Inspector's EAA. I even won a podium place at an international aerobatic competition in one. Go on - you could easily do it (and I do know how old you are, a syou mentioned it somewhere else!) I'll ask Gene de Marco (Wanaka guru) to help you!

 

[TRITON]

Lovely models, very professionally executed

 

[Kittyhawk]

Fabulous models! Well done. I really think you should make a little Snoopy to drop in the cockpit when you fly through the house while this song plays on the stereo. Snoopy flew a Camel.

Pete

Not my fault.
I blame Inspector Pete entirely.

 

[Richard_C]

Excellent again.

Taking a diversion, mainly because of an interesting NZ registered aircraft. Its a DH83 Fox Moth, carefully crashed (twice) in NZ and now glued back together.

The aircraft was on static display at the Duxford Flying day this weekend. I had seen before and wondered about it but this is the first time it's had an explanatory sign. Sign says it all really and its on its way back home sometime soon. Not sure I would enjoy being a passenger, for landing you are in a plywood box a lot closer to the accident than the pilot is.

So if Kittyhawk runs out of ideas, maybe the Wanaka Toy and Transport museum would commisison one.

 

[Kittyhawk]

So we managed to crash the Fox Moth twice!
I don't think NZ has a very good flight safety record. We have a lot of helicopters now - all the usual stuff, police, air ambulance, search and rescue etc, but also high country farmers, deer hunters, pest control... the latter group appear to be a bit rip dung and bust. Every few weeks there's another down, ofter in pretty inaccessible country.

 

[Jameshow]

Save me having to search all evening could you tell me what pen did you used under varnish on your planes recently.....

I'm building a model yacht and want to do deck planking.

Cheers James