-Look, an old airplane! A lot of old airplanes on the box!
-Yes, it´s mine.
-Can I take a look at your old airplane?
-Only the parts are in the box, I need to assembly it.
-Still, I want to see it! Oh wow, that´s cool! So many tiny things!
I had this discussion with my 4 years old earlier today. They have never seen me building models, I do it when they are not around, otherwise my one hour "me time" would quickly turn into a disaster. The only thing they see with his sister are the finished models in the cabinet, and those are "Dad´s toys and we can´t play with them".
I let them play Lego for now, models can wait. 🙂
Anyway, about the Camel... I looked through my notes and now I remember why I decided to go with version D, from the Australian Flying Corps. It is a simple, clean scheme, but at the same time, there are very different surfaces and colors on that tiny plane. There is clear doped linen on the lower surfaces, natural metal at the engine, wood and colored dope on the fuselage and upper surfaces.
The PC10 dope story is a rabbit hole - I spent a few hours reading about the early technology, and it is indeed a very interesting topic. The color is a khaki/olive green color, but the actual hue varied a lot because of a wide variation of varnish, pigments, suppliers and application methods. These early dopes were sensitive to sunlight, and weathered quickly. The pigment was heavy, and clear dope was applied to the lower surfaces to reduce weight.
So, I have a chance to try a lot of different techniques on a small plane. Maybe I even try to paint the roundels instead of the decals - the only challenge is the narrow, outer white band, the others should be problem free. Most probably I will make a few test shots (masking is fun, see my last project here).
