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Hi all, The engine cowl and after market ‘CMK Master Models’ Le Rhöne 9J (110 hp) has been fitted, which is the correct engine for the 'Swallow'. The next step is to create cowl plates that were fitted to replace the 'Camel' strap type fasteners at the top of the cowl. The bottom strap fasteners were retained. Then final fit the two 'Vickers' guns and feed chutes. Mike

Hi all, I've used 'Milliput' two part putty to fill the gap between the resin front and rear cockpit decking panels. Painted with 'Humbrol' leather (62) and highlighted using 'Tamiya' hull red (XF9). Mike

Hi all, The decal pre-shading has now been applied - 'Tamiya' Smoke X19. Before the decals are applied I need to finish a few bits around the cockpit - padding, missing front to rear decking panel sections, machine guns and ammunition feeds and windshield. Mike

Hi all, I painted wood effect on the fuselage rear panels and rear decking, but that was not correct as they should be grey. Luckily the oil paint used is water based so I've removed the wood effect and airbrushed with 'Tamiya' ocean grey (XF82). Mike

Hi all, I've started the painting in preparation for the application of the 'Aviattic' linen effect decals (CDL and PC12). The external fuselage, wing, tail plane, elevator, rudder and fin were primed using 'AK Interactive' white (AK-759). The fuselage forward side panels and front decking panel were airbrushed with 'Tamiya' ocean grey (XF82). The rear decking panel and fuselage side panels were airbrushed with 'Tamiya' deck tan (XF55) the brushed with 'DecoArt' Burnt Umber acrylic oil paint, to create a wood effect. The undercarriage struts, fuselage cabane struts and over wing cable support pylon were treated the same. I still have to create the 'in-fill' between the rear and front decking panels and paint the cockpit surround padding. Then it's onto fitting the two weapons and ammunition feed and ejector detail, Mike

Hubert: Thanks - got that covered already though, Mike

Hi all, I've re-profiled the forward fuselage area from what was the Sopwith 'Camel' to that of the Sopwith 'Swallow' It required the removal of panel 'nail' lines, spent ammunition chutes, re-positioning of panel joins, extending the lower 'cut-out' and filling/blending in the 'Camel' lower wing area. Mike Sopwith 'Camel' Sopwith 'Swallow'

Hi all, Thanks for the encouraging comments - things should move a little faster now. The cockpit area always take the most time on models I modify. Mike

Hi all, The 'Lang' propeller is wood laminated from 'ProperPlane' and was airbrushed with a 'Tamiya' clear orange and Hull Red mix, to create a darker and varnished appearance. The machine guns are from 'Gaspatch' and were modified to add a 'ring' gun sight and alter the angle of the cocking handles, , Mike

Hi all, The fuselage is closed up now. I've added twin trigger cables and the 'blip' switch cable to the control column. Also the seat belts, cockpit cross beam and the fuel pressure pipe from the pilot's hand pump to the fuel tank.. As usual not much can be seen, although the cockpit on the 'Swallow' is more open than most, but the low wing cover a lot. Now it's onto filling and profiling the external fuselage. Mike

Hi all, I've been working away at the cockpit area, which is just about ready for closing up the fuselage. All of the flight controls, except ailerons, have been added along with the visible cross bracing on the cockpit side frames. I still have to seal the area and gloss the instruments. Also fit the pilot's seat straps, gun trigger cables and fuel tank pressurisation pipe, but they will be done after the fuselage has been closed up, Mike

Hi all, I'm currently working on the internal rigging. Here's the flight controls consisting 'Gaspatch' 1:48th scale turnbuckles (Type A and C), 0.4 mm diameter Nickel-Silver tube and 'Stroft' 0.08 mm diameter mono-filament. The rudder bar was drill with 0.2 mm diameter holes to secure the four rudder lines using 0.125 mm diameter copper wire. The elevator pulleys were also drilled through to accept the elevator line. A short piece of tube was secured to the control column to act as the attachment for the elevator forward cables. The floor under the pilots foot boards has cross-bracing added. Only the ailerons control run is still to fit, but can't be until the fuselage is closed up, due to the way the cable is routed. Next up is the cross-bracing to the cockpit side frames. Mike

Hi all, The engine supplied with the ‘Wingnut Wings’ kit is for the ‘Clerget’ 9B or 9Bf engines. However the last engine type to be fitted to the Sopwith ’Swallow’ was the ‘Le Rhöne’ 9J (110 hp), which is of a different design and copied by Germany as the ‘Oberursel’ Ur.II. Therefore I chose to use as a replacement engine the ‘CMK Master Models’ Le Rhöne 9J (110 hp) - (kit No.129-5105). The most obvious difference in external appearance between the ‘Le Rhöne’ and ‘Clerget’ rotary engines is that the valve push rods were fitted to the rear of the ‘Le Rhöne’ engine cylinders, whereas the ‘Clerget’ engine had these fitted at the front of the cylinders. Also the fuel/air induction pipes on both engine types were located at the rear of the cylinders, but whereas the ‘Clerget’ engine had these pipes connected to the rear of each cylinder head, those on the ‘Le Rhöne’ engine were connected at the side of each cylinder head. The push rods were replaced by 0.4 mm diameter Nickel-Silver tube and the ignition leads were twisted 0.125 mm diameter copper wire. The spark plugs were replaced using 0.5 mm and 0.3 mm diameter brass tube. The propeller boss and back plate were discarded as the I'll be using a wood 'Lang' propeller from 'Proper Plane'. Mike

Hi all, A few more changes required in the cockpit area. 1. Photographs show that the front decking panel had a cut-out on each side alongside the breech blocks of the Vicker's guns. These were filed out. Also the decking panel was filed for clearance around the base of the four cabane struts. 2. The 'Camel' had the main fuel tank behind the pilot's seat and an auxiliary fuel tank above it, which also acted as a wind break, preventing too much airflow entering the rear fuselage as causing pressurisation damage. The 'Swallow' has only one fuel filler cap access aperture in the rear decking panel, indicating there was no auxiliary fuel tank fitted there. As such there would have been a large opening for airflow to enter. As with Fokker aircraft, I assume there may have been a linen wind break fitted above and behind the pilot's head, so that's been added to the inside of the rear decking panel. 3. The pilot's foot boards in the 'Swallow' extended farther forward than those fitted in the 'Camels' and ended just to the rear and below the rudder bar. These were added using 0.5 mm thick plastic card. 4. The 'Camel' aileron control cables were attached to a control lever on the forward end of the control column torque tube. These cables were routed outboard into the lower wing. However the 'Swallow' control cables appear to have been attached to the control column then routed outboard and into box section covers on the pilot's foot boards. From there the cables were routed around pulleys then vertically up and out of the cockpit into the underside of the wing centre section. These box sections were made from scrape photo-etch sheet. Hopefully I be able to actually start painting soon, Mike

Hi all, The four stubby cabane struts are done. I first drilled into the fuselage and cockpit side frames, at the appropriate angles, and fitted 0.8 mm diameter brass rod. Then I created the outer coverings from 1.6 mm diameter brass tube (formed into aerofoil profile) and secured them onto the support rods using CA adhesive. Much stronger than the conversion set resin struts. Both the cabane struts and over wing pylon assembly are located in the four holes drilled through the wing. Mike

Forgot to add the cable retainer to the top of the pylon assembly, Mike

Hi all, The cockpit is more or less ready for painting. I've also made a brass tube/rod over wing cable support pylon, as the resin conversion struts are way too weak, especially as they don't have internal wire support, Mike

Hi all, Working now on modifying the forward fuselage details, which again are different to the 'Camel'. The changes involve: Removing the ammunition ejector ports on the fuselage forward panel. Removing and filling the carburettor intake aperture on the fuselage forward panel. Removing the fuselage panel detail - oval access panel, forward to rear panel joint, rear panel vertical ‘nail’ rows. Removing existing elevator control line access points at the rear of the fuselage. Removing the angled area at the bottom of the forward panel. Re-scribe the angled panel line at the lower front of the forward panel. Re-scribe the vertical joint between the rear and forward panels (further rearwards). Drilling out the new elevator control line access points at the correct positions. Creating new carburretor intakes at the correct position. The lower wing centre section can't be filled and profiled until the fuselage is closed up. Mike

Thanks Harv - getting there slowly, Mike

Hi all, Well things are getting a bit cramped inside the cockpit now. After a fair bit of cutting, sanding and modifying, all of the cockpit main assemblies are done. The shot below shows it all loosely in place, including the two 'Gaspatch' machine guns (the decking still needs modifying to allow the guns to sit vertically). I still have minor detail to add then obviously paint it all etc, as well as modify the outsides of the fuselage, which again are different from the 'Camel', Mike

Hi all, Well I've been working away on modifying the various cockpit parts from the Wingnut 'Camel' kit to that of the 'Swallow' aircraft. The whole cockpit was effectively moved rearwards to improve over wing visibility for the pilot. For the better forward visibility the two machine guns were fitted farther apart than normal. This basically entailed modifying the fuel tank filler cap to the left side, modifying the seat support frame and moving the throttle quadrant assembly rearwards. The control column floor was slightly modified and an extra under shield (from the spares box) was added to bring the rudder bar rearwards. The external fuselage sides are different on the 'Swallow' with the carburretor intakes located in a different position, no ammunition chutes (cut outs in the decking panel instead) and smooth side panels with no 'nail' lines. The centre section of the kit lower wing was cut away to be used as infill under the fuselage (will need re-profiling after fuselage closure). The next step is to modify the instrument panel and ammunition containers assembly so it's located farther back and to allow the two machine guns to locate correctly into it as well as the forward decking panel. Mike

Hi all, I looked further at the decking panels. Missing is the rear of the front decking panel, which should join the rear decking panel. However, this area is where the wing rear support strut should be located, which would account for half of that area. I think this missing area can be filled with modelling putty, once the wing struts and decking panels are finally fitted, later in this build. Mike

Hi all, The resin set is intended for the Hobby Craft/Academy Camel kit, a'though I'm using a Wingnuts kit. The sheets in the resin set state that due to differences in reference drawings, the front decking is too short (for the intended donor kit). Now you can see just how short the length of the resin forward decking panel is, even on the Wingnut fuselage. It's supposed to butt up against the rear decking panel. Onward, upward, Mike

Hi all, Whilst 'working' on the resin front decking panel I spotted an error on both decking panels. The rear decking panel has a pre-moulded fuel tank filler cap, which although in the correct position, is proud of the decking surface. The actual aircraft had, like the Camel', an opening to gain access to the filler cap lower down inside the fuselage. The front decking panel had a filler cap forward and between the gun troughs. However on the resin panel this was just a stump of resin - not sure if it was a mis-mould? Anyway I cut the filler cap from the rear decking panel and drilled out the location (the filler cap on the 'Wingnut Wings' tank will need to be moved to the other side to match). I then drilled out the front decking panel location, filled the hole with modelling putty (from underneath) then inserted the filler cap from the rear panel. So two faults corrected with one filler cap!! Mike

Hi all, It seems the wing had an inspection window for the aileron control cable and pulley, similar to other Sopwith types, such as the Pup, Camel and Snipe. I've cut out the recess at two levels - one for the window and a lower level for the aileron pulley. The aileron pulley was made from the 'HGW Models' photo-etch set for the Sopwith Triplane. The inspection window is a spare from a previous 'Wingnut Wings' Sopwith Pup build. Mike