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Rob Pollock
195 articles

1:16 Model Airways Sopwith Camel F.1: Top Wing

July 21, 2017 · in Aviation · · 7 · 2.9K

The individual sections of this build are complex and, as with the all-metal engine (with air-screw) recently, I'm only posting completed sections, to avoid it spooling into a never-ending WiP.

This is the top wing completed, with the exception of rigging the control horns, which occurs at a later stage. For both top and lower wing areas there are eight different types of wing ribs, totally 60+ in number.

The kit rigging is simply a dual-core silver-grey thread, clumsy looking in comparison to the 0.060 stainless steel surgical wire that I used instead. Unfortunately, what is achieved in improvements in scale is countered by the difficulty in using the wire itself in this context.

The copper tape on the trailing edges is very bright as supplied. I used AK Interactive Extreme Metal (Bronze) - just a touch with a brush tip - to "oxidise" the copper.

I won't post the lower wing when complete as the process is the same as for the upper wing, with the exception of the centre section cut-out and the dihedral.

Reader reactions:
7  Awesome

10 additional images. Click to enlarge.


7 responses

  1. My goodness, Rob...don't you ever undertake SIMPLE builds? I couldn't imagine which would be more tedious...this or rigging a giant sailing ship.

  2. Love this kind of stuff.
    Keep it up!

  3. Spectacular, Rob. I wish I had a fraction of your skills! It looks as if you build it in the same manner as a real one. Quite complicated & difficult. And beautiful.

  4. Authentic to say the least! Nice !

  5. Beautiful as usual Rob. You're making some great progress. I really like this one ! Thanks for the update.

  6. Another great build Rob, following with interest!

  7. Looking great, Rob. Those skeleton structures always look great and I'm sure yours will be no different. I hope all those pre-formed metal bits aren't made of that allow (Zamaq?) that Hachette used in my Triplane build. Any small bits made of that were horribly brittle, causing no end of heartache. Look forward to seeing more. Paul

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