1/72 Airfix Sopwith Camel

Gallery Article by Orlando Sucre Rosales on Feb 12 2010

 

Hello, fellow modelers and readers!

This is the fifth of my series of articles related to old Airfix series 1 kits. The Sopwith Camel needs no introduction, however, the naval 2F.1 version represented in this kit seems to be less known than the F.1 version of the Royal Flying Corps. 

The kit's quality is typical of Airfix series 1 kits, fortunately by the second half of the 90's when I bought this kit Airfix had improved its decals a lot. The main weak points of this kit are:

  • Incorrect dihedral of the lower wing

  • The engine is molded as one piece with its cowling

  • The front end of the cowling is almost square, it should be rounded

  • The under-fuselage slot for the clear stand was already opened, although the stand was no longer included after the introduction of the cardboard boxing

  • The assembly of the upper wing and of the inter-wing struts is difficult and tricky

  • The center of the propeller is too thick

The good points of this kit are that the thickness of the wings, stabilators and the rudder seems to be appropriate, and that the fabric texture seems to be very good, at least in my appreciation. 

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

  

I assembled this kit straight from the box, as almost always. Before starting assembly I drilled holes for the rigging. Assembly was almost straightforward except for the assembly of the upper wing and the undercarriage. Anyway, I didn't assemble these until the model was painted, decaled and recoated. Even though I made a cardboard jig to assemble the upper wing, I couldn't get the leading edges of both wings completely parallel when viewed from above. 

The kit's instructions suggested using HU122 Pale blue for the undersurfaces. From the beginning it seemed strange to me, some time later I bought Roden's Camel and followed its color recommendations (Humbrol 74 Linen for the under surfaces, Hu 108 WWI Green for the upper surfaces and Hu 145 Medium grey for the cowling,) but I used MM Wood instead of Hu 110 for the wooden cockpit area, the tail skid and the wing and fuselage struts, and a mixture of browns to represent a mahogany propeller, similar to that I've seen in photographs of full-size Camel replicas. The engine was painted Humbrol Metal cote Polished Steel, while the fuselage plate behind the cowling was painted Hu 56 Aluminum.

After the model was painted, I airbrushed two coats of gloss acrylic clear and later the decals were applied, it was the first time that Airfix decals went without any trouble! After decaling I airbrushed a coat of satin acrlylic clear on the airframe and later the upper wing and the undercarriage were glued. When the model was completely assembled I started rigging it with monofilament. Together with the upper wing assembly, it was the most difficult stage of this project, because monofilament is difficult to handle, so I'll try using human hair for rigging the next time. When the rigging was done I painted it with Revell Steel and I finished the model by cementing the upper- wing gun with its support. I didn't weather this model, I'll save the time and the effort for better biplane kits I plan to build later.

Airfix's 1/72 scale Camel isn't a kit for beginners due to the fiddly assembly of the upper wing and the somewhat complex rigging. Although the kit is far in detail and accuracy from the 21st century-tooled Roden's 1/72 scale Camel, it's still a kit that captures the essential shapes of the Camel, so I'm quite glad with my finished model. 

I dedicate my Camel to my daughter Estefanía, who likes tiny biplanes very much.

Thanks for watching and reading. Greetings from Caracas, Venezuela.

Orlando Sucre Rosales

Photos and text © by Orlando Sucre Rosales