1/8 Sopwith Camel

[Carl Seager]

Hi,

  I'm new to the site so if I'm posting in the wrong spot please feel free to shift/delete post.

 

I have been a professional pattern/model maker for a few decades now and have worked with the likes of Brooklin Models, Corgi, Imprint Models etc. but this is a personal project and I hope it may be of interest to some. During the summer I will be building a full size Sopwith Camel replica fuselage/cockpit for use at showgrounds etc. and meantime I am working out the build system by making an eighth scale model based on original drawings. All built from scratch but for the (rather wonderful) Hasegawa Clerget engine kit.

 

The following pics show progress so far (I'm currently working on the pair of Vickers guns in brass and alluminium) and if there is any response I'll continue to post progress pics as and when they happen.

 

[Carl Seager]

The above pic shows the roughly beaten aluminium cowl and the chemiwood former. The cowl is mounted on a brass tube ring which is attached to a steel engine mount. The Vickers gun barrel casings have been formed from sheet around the mould seen in the foreground...a brass bar surrounded by pieces of welding rod.

 

Below is the cowl after final beating, filing and ploishing and a closer shot of the gun sleeve mounted on the brass barrel and casing turnings.

 

[Carl Seager]

Next up is the frame. I'm using boxwood here as I love the stuff and just happen to have a lump of it lying around the workshop. I was amazed by how complicated the frame components actually turned out to be. Having only been able to find pretty poor references on the net I bit the bullit and bought the Replicraft plans from America. I can't reccommend them highly enough as they seem to be the only available source of 'true to the original' drawings available. Having scanned all six 74"x30" sheets I reduced the scale from 5th (all show full scale measurements) to eighth and printed out dozens of sheets of details.

 

[PAnderson]

Let me be the first to welcome you to the forum Carl. This looks to me to be an awesome project. Fully suited to LSM in my opinion. Beautiful work so far. I have the 1/8 Hasegawa Clerget also. Beautiful kit.

 

Paul

[Ssasho0]

Hi Carl,

 

welcome to the forum This is one big project of yours and please, continue to post updates regularly!

 

Best regards,

Sasho

[Wingco57]

Hi Carl,

You are exactly in the right spot. What a great work. Always wanted to know how a patternmaker

Does his work. Question, what is more important, drawings or photographs?

Welcome to LSM.

Cees

[Carl Seager]

Thanks for the welcome and kind words folks. I've just spent the last hour browsing around the forum and there's so much to see! Great stuff.

 

Cees, in answer to your question I'd say both. There just can't be too much reference.  Prepare yourself for a shock. The pic is my workshop at the mo and, despite the fact that I'm not proud of being probably the messiest modeller on the planet, you'll see that I surround myself with drawings and photos. Most of my time is spent thinking (and smoking and drinking coffee) but I'm a great believer in having things clear in your head before getting stuck in.

 

[Carl Seager]

Martin, I just checked out your facebook link and that's a great page! Something else to distract my attention :_)

 

By way of an update, this pic shows the method I chose for positioning the longerons, fuselage spars, bearers etc. without using glue. The whole frame will be held together with various steel plates, starting with the engine mount at the front, and bracing wires. Made up a jig by printing off stations 1 to 5 from the plans, having marked them up and positioned them in Photoshop. Printed onto A4 label sheet (I use a lot of that) and stuck to sturdy card before cutting out the openings. These were positioned just forward of their true spots on the jig to allow for extended parts such as the fuselage spars.The steel motor mount and brass tube cowl ring just slipped in place at this point to make it look like something's actually happening.

 

[Carl Seager]

Most of the frame components have lightening slots cut into opposite surfaces. Some are fairly ellaborate shapes so require a little patience with a ball end cutter on the lathe...

 

[Carl Seager]

All coming together. Just as an aside, in the background of this pic you can see a Labattes Beer Thanker which I mastered for DMP Studios of Canada and which was produced here in England by Brooklin Models. Also a T80 tank master and first cast sections made for Imprint Models. I noticed the other day on Brooklin Models facebook page that the Labattes tanker is being produced again. As the first edition was 4000 models I'm guessing they all sold...which is pretty satisfying. I visited Nigel at Brooklin in Bath during the summer, now THAT place is a proper Aladin's Cave :_)

 

[Carl Seager]

Frame members bound with thread and rear steel engine mount (made around a wooden former from old biscuit tin, same as the front mount) added to allow that gorgeous Hasegawa Clerget to be slipped in place for the first time. Everything is pressure fitted or pinned using stubs of welding rod at this point, although the engine's timimg case is now bolted to the engine mount with 16ba nuts and bolts.

 

[Carl Seager]

Alluminium barrel casings formed around a brass bar surrounded with lengths of welding rod. The flutes are formed by running a dental tool along the furrows left by the rods. The brass barrel and turned fittings are coming together and the main sections of the gun mounts are nearly ready for soldering. The mount tubes are brass and the mounting lugs are copper. I used copper for the lugs as it is easily folded into a four-ply which allows cutting out all four similar parts at once with the jeweller's saw. The slots in the brass tube were cut with the milling head on the lathe (heart-stopping moment as one shot across the workshop but all worked out okay)

 

[Carl Seager]

And here's where I am at the moment...so the posts will slow down somewhat now, lol.

 

[lawman56]

Welcome to the forums Carl! And what a great way to say hello! Your work is not only fantastic, but fascinating as well. It's always interesting to see how others work in various mediums. I especially like the creativity used in creating the Vickers cooling jackets!

 

I'm also a firm believer in clearing the mind before working. It helps me to stay focused once I start. I'm looking forward to see how this progresses.

[Carl Seager]

Thanks Lawman...and Martin, I'm using a plank of barked boxwood that I was given by a luthier friend. I reckon the encredibly fine grain is just about right for this scale and it's so easy to machine without splitting. I generally use old piano keys for such stuff as they too are some of the best seasoned and truest wood available (plus the ebony and ivory come in handy too) but I'd been looking for an excuse to use the boxwood. The prop is actually from a bought free flight SE5a I have hanging on the bedroom wall. I'll be making one to replace this though as it's somewhat undersized for the Camel (I was surprised to discover just how huge those props actually were!))

[StevSmar]

Lovely, fantastic to see your progress! I've thought of ordering the replicraft Se5a drawings, maybe one christmas....

[remcohe]

What a great project, love the way you are even doing the internals of the Vickers gun.

I will follow your build with intrest as I'm building a 1:16 Sopwith Camel from scratch. 

 

Remco

[Carl Seager]

Thanks fellas. I haven't been on in a while as we'll recently relocated to France and we've had much to do getting the new workshop/studio up and running. Nearly there now though so I should be able to make progress on the Camel soon.