I did go back and repaint that metal that would be on the inside in the end, just in case a tiny amount of it would be visible inside those humps, that being said I don't think it'll be seen once the guns are completed.

One Hump Or Two?

Since the last post the focus has been on putting the other Camel together. I didn't take any photos, but the interiors are the exact same (oh nuts, in writing this out I remember that I forgot to add the stick into the second camel).

Aside from that, the only noticeable difference is in the humps. One has a more open area above the guns, the other doesn't. The open one at the back is the one that'll be painted blue.

The Le Rhone Engine

Speaking of that one, I worked on the Le Rhone engine. Camels were built with a variety of engines, and the kit has parts for all of the Bentley, Clerget, Le Rhone and Gnome engines. Here, in this mighty 110HP engine, is the first problem area of the kit.

Now the Le Rhone has the most induction pipes/push rods out of the other engines, and they're really pushing the limit of what can be moulded here. I had great trouble removing it from the sprue without breaking anything, my first attempt caused a few to be lost.

And the second fared no better. Luckily I could glue them back on, but certainly a bit of an annoying thing to look out for especially if any bits end up on the floor and get lost forever. I sacrificed both of the induction tubes from both kits, but I'm not planning on doing 2 Le Rhone engined Camels.

Painting up was easy enough, a bit of MRP Dark Aluminium, a brown wash (I think the brown represents the castor oil spray better than a black wash would), and then some quick brass paint was used on the induction tubes.

Regardless, we now have 2 Camels actually ready for painting already. That was quick wasn't it? The engines and cowl won't be added until the fuselage is painted, so we're done in that sector for now (and since I don't know what the second Camel will be, I don't know what engine to paint up). The wings and tail will all be painted seperately to aid with masking.

Finally, I'll also show of the wings. I wasn't too sure how I was going to build this originally, and with Eduard's shiny new A6M2 on my desk it was a coin toss between which got started first. I was thinking I'd just paint the wings up and do the rest later, but this means I do have one pair of wings for test fitting.

And, the lower pair fits quite nicely. Sweet.

Amazing progress, my friend @scalerambush!
Great result with the Le Rhone, despite the challenging pipe/pushrod part.

Thank you all.

Had a bit of change of plans last night regarding the builds, I've decided I'll go for B3889 'B1' for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I've got the decals of it, naturally.

Secondly, whilst Arthur Roy Brown's later Camel is interesting, it lacked the fuselage roundels and if I'm being picky, I quite like the massive markings on these old kites.
Thirdly, looking around at reference photographs I think it'll look quite good even if it's not the green I was intending.

Furthermore, as you'll see in the update work is now seemingly focused on this Camel rather than the blue one.

Painting the Undersides

First up is the time and tape consuming process of painting the wings. I've gone with XF-55 deck tan as my canvas paint of choice and sprayed everything with this colour, I then went over the wing ribs with a brown, MRP Dark Earth from that P-47 build.

I then masked it all off with 1mm Tamiya tape. The wing got another coat of the XF-55 and then pure white starting at the leading edge and fading towards the trailing edge. At the leading edge of the ailerons I did the same, and finally added a small amount on the trailing edge of the wing. The idea is that this will hopefully create some contrast.

The tape was then removed, and XF-55 was used to blend it together. This is quite a time consuming process and having not done it before I'm concerned that getting the balance between being reasonably toned and invisible won't be struck, making it hard to see any work done.

I started work on the blue Camel, and decided to mix up a paint mix for the blue. WNW recommends XF-2:2 + XF-8:1.

This creates a baby-blue color almost, not the bright blue the instructions indicate. I've decided a possible option is Tamiya's X-14 Gloss Sky Blue, this could be toned down slightly with white to reign it back in if needed, but is more closer to how I imagined.

Looking at the photograph of the plane shows it certainly looking quite bright, but the nice thing with WWI aircraft is you can't say I'm right or wrong as the cameras were poor, the photographs are rare, and who knows what paint they used exactly.

Moving To The Fuselage

With the wings for the Blue Camel painted up, I decided to get the undersides done on both fuselages. This was the same process as previously shown.

This is when I realised I was unsure of the blue, so I left the future blue fuselage to the side and got to work with the other one. WNW claims that XF-10 is a close enough mix to the PC.12 paint, listed as Mahogany in the Eduard instructions. I quite like the colour so I rolled with it.

I then did the same thing with the framework, masking it off and spraying lighter before toning it back. I added the faintest touch of XF-62 Olive Drab to the final mix, which may or (quite likely) may not have made any difference. Ultimately with these paints would be various shades due to a whole number of reasons.

Eduard shows the wooden and metal parts of the fuselage being painted in a grey, but WNW points out that other Camels from No.70 squadron wore a dark green cowl, likely PC.10. I like this more than the grey option (though I prefer the bare Aluminium nose the flying B3889 in NZ has), so I went with it. I also painted the cowl.

Finally, I put together the Clerget engine. In an absolute brain-fart moment I forgot to actually look at the rotaries and think 'how is this actually going to fit', as it turns out that the engine will be need to be glued. I'll try to find a work around, but seriously Eduard. What is Eduard's issue with a propeller that moves? I've had this issue with their Tempest. I don't care if I'm 5, 15, or 55 years old I'll still want to move the propeller every so often especially on a rotary, regardless of that it sure helps prevent damage when the prop can move when bonked against a desk. /sigh.

Regardless, no issues with the Clerget engine's simple build. No push rods or induction tubes MIA.

Anyways, here's we are we are so far. I'll need to finish off the undersides of the other pair of wings, and work on the uppersides of the B1Camel until the blue paint arrives and I can happily get back to the Le Rhone. For all intents and purposes I can give the B1 fuselage a gloss and get decals on it if I'd like, which is tempting.

3 additional images. Click to enlarge.

Nice work, and the results look good for a WW1 model - sez I from building a lot of them.

Thank you. I'm a bit worried that the effect is too subtle, but on that final picture you can see that the main wing which has it done is much more noticeable that the tails which don't yet have it. Finding that balance is a bit of a pain.

You are making quick and solid progress with great results, Harvey @scalerambush
Those wings do look very nice.
I agree that WWI aircraft look great, it is the extra wing and small dimensions which still hold me back to make a move to that era.

Great progress indeed, my friend @scalerambush!
Really interested to see the new Eduard decals performance.

Coming along great, my friend @scalerambush!