1/48 Mistercraft Sopwith F1 Camel

[Epeeman]

Dear all,

 

I wondered whether to bother posting up pictures of this one, but here goes anyway.  I bought this particular kit from a local model shop as it seemed a reasonable price for the kit (£8) at the time.   On getting home and opening the box I instantly realised why this was  not greatly expensive.   I was so disappointed when I discovered is some ancient moulding (appears to be a re-box of the Smer kit which in itself is something from the early days of plastic modelling) of a pretty horrid kit covered in flash and totally lacking in detail and basic in the extreme.   I almost threw it away in disgust but just put in my cupboard and left it for a couple of months before deciding what to do with it.  In the end, I relented and decided just to whack it together as a quick easy build project.

Well, five weeks later here is the result.  As it happened, I felt I could not live with (to me) so many obvious features that needed some attention.  This is not a total rebuild but have made a great many changes that would be too big to list out in full so I just list the main items/issues as follows:

 

Sanded off the moulded markings;

Sanded down the overly prominent rib effect on wings, tailplane and fuselage;

Knocked up rudimentary cockpit (not using the pilot figure supplied) including the missing breeches to the twin Vickers MGs;

Sanded (thinned) down the overly wide cabane struts and replacing the one I lost by carving a replacement from a section of sprue;

Made up fairing for the undercarriage as the kit only includes an anxle;

Kit propeller far to big (out of scale) with kit so filed it down and removed the nose cone spinner;

Added gunsight, windscreen, control horns, wind driven fuel pump (starboard cabane strut) and pitot tubes

 

The does include quite a number of different (and unusual) marking schemes so settled on the scheme for Red Army Air Force from 1922.  Unfortunately, the kit decals are dire - they start to break up the moment you put in water and this made this stage a real challenge.  Pretty much all decals had to be assembled like jigsaw puzzle and then touched up with paint.  One of the bat motive decals broke up completely so I was forced to cut out the one from the instruction sheet and stick this on with white glue.

 

My best advice (sadly) is to avoid this kit altogether as it is not worth it in my opinion.

 

I'm sure others more skilled could do wonders, but this is the best I could do with it.  Anyway, here it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regards

 

Dave

 

 

 

 

[mackem01]

Fine work. A veritable conversion from a sow's ear! Nicetight rigging too. I have asked this question elsewhere this week but I'll ask again.

What is your technique for the wood effect painting? I've tried different things but fail miserably.

[FatFlyHalf]

The hard work paid off.

Nice garden too.

[John Masters]

Well built, well rigged and a nice change from the WW1 livery.  I have a TOKO Snipe planned for the Russian Revolution too...

 

Well worth the 8 pounds.

[Epeeman]

3 hours ago, mackem01 said:

Fine work. A veritable conversion from a sow's ear! Nicetight rigging too. I have asked this question elsewhere this week but I'll ask again.

What is your technique for the wood effect painting? I've tried different things but fail miserably.

Thank you.  The wood effect painting is achieved using artist oils over a base of acrylic paint.  In this case ochre acrylic then burnt umber for the prop. You then use a coarse brush drawing out the oils until happy with the result.  The hairs from the coarse brush will leave small brush strokes that sort of resembles wood grain.   I was lazy on this occasion for the struts - I simply used acrylic wood brown then streaked with red brown and then further dry brushing (down the strut) with wood brown.  Feel free to drop me a PM if you need more info.

Dave

 

 

[mackem01]

Cheers EM.

[Colin1967]

Hi Dave,

Just wanted to show my appreciation of your wonderful model the 1/48 Mistercraft Sopwith F1 Camel, I think it looks lovely and quite understand your comment about Mistercraft kits, I made their 1/72 Curtiss Hawk 75, the kits plastic was terrible, but, the decals I had worked well.  However, I think the hard work is for all to see in above.

[Epeeman]

Thank you, Colin -

 

Really kind of you to say.  I see you are a Kentish man too

 

Dave

[invidia]

thats a looking result considering the base kit. well done, i might have binned it!!!

[WildeSau75]

Looks great - and your garden too!

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Dazey]

7 hours ago, Epeeman said:

Dear all,

 

I wondered whether to bother posting up pictures of this one, but here goes anyway.

 

Definitely worthwhile. The rigging and finish look great. A not-so-common scheme for the Camel?

 

Regards,

David

[TheLurker]

15 hours ago, Epeeman said:

... I was lazy on this occasion for the struts - I simply used acrylic wood brown then streaked with red brown and then further dry brushing (down the strut) with wood brown. 

Looks lovely. At eight quid I'd say you got an absolute bargain.

 

Which company's wood brown?  I'm just finishing off a stick and tissue version of the F1 and had decided to go with IKEA (unstained balsa - AKA pine) struts because I haven't got a light wood paint in the bits box.  The only wood colour I have to hand is Humbrol 186 and that's far too dark.

Edited August 12, 2017 by TheLurker

[Colin1967]

17 hours ago, Epeeman said:

Thank you, Colin -

 

Really kind of you to say.  I see you are a Kentish man too

 

Dave

Yes indeed from Maidstone.  Was interested to know where your local model shop is ? mine is mainly Hannant's online and the web for others.

[stevej60]

Well you certainly knocked it into shape Dave,I think it's a little cracker!

[Alex_110]

I've got a Mistercraft Hunter on the bench at the moment, so I know the struggle.

I can only hope I can get the quality up to half of yours, fantastic job!

[Reini78]

seen worse

turned out nice

[Epeeman]

10 hours ago, TheLurker said:

Looks lovely. At eight quid I'd say you got an absolute bargain.

 

Which company's wood brown?  I'm just finishing off a stick and tissue version of the F1 and had decided to go with IKEA (unstained balsa - AKA pine) struts because I haven't got a light wood paint in the bits box.  The only wood colour I have to hand is Humbrol 186 and that's far too dark.

Thanks, Lurker - I use Revell Aqua colour range of acrylic paint - can't remember the colour code but it is Revell wood brown silk matt.

 

7 hours ago, Colin1967 said:

Yes indeed from Maidstone.  Was interested to know where your local model shop is ? mine is mainly Hannant's online and the web for others.

Either the shop in Rochester, TJD models near Dartford or Regal models in Chatham dockyard.  Do you belong to any local model club?  If not, why not give my local club (Gravesham Military Modelling Society) a go where we meet once a month in Chalk.  Drop me a PM if interested, mate.

[UKguyInUSA]

Lovely job and a well manicured garden!

[Head in the clouds.]

They say you cannot make silk out of a sows ear but I think you may have done just that. Very nice.

[TheLurker]

13 hours ago, Epeeman said:

....can't remember the colour code but it is Revell wood brown silk matt.

That's very helpful.  It'll be easy enough for me to locate from the name.  Thank you.

 

[Colin1967]

On 8/12/2017 at 10:34 PM, Epeeman said:

Thanks, Lurker - I use Revell Aqua colour range of acrylic paint - can't remember the colour code but it is Revell wood brown silk matt.

 

Either the shop in Rochester, TJD models near Dartford or Regal models in Chatham dockyard.  Do you belong to any local model club?  If not, why not give my local club (Gravesham Military Modelling Society) a go where we meet once a month in Chalk.  Drop me a PM if interested, mate.

Thank you Dave, I will.

Yes, I know the one in Rochester and I think I know the one in Dartford, think it's on the High Road, near the Indian Restaurant, I never find the Dartford model shop open.

I'll definitely check out the one the Dockyard at Chatham.  Thank you for the info.

 

Happy modelling.

Colin.

[ytareh]

Awesome wood paint job!

[Viking]

Now that's a superb example of the application of proper modelling skills! You've turned that into a respectable replica of a Camel Dave.

All the corrections & mods were well worth it, for sure.

 

Cheers

 

John

[Buzby061]

I think you need to add  polisher to your skill set.

 

Pete

[pheonix]

Another of your gems Dave. As usual you do yourself down when in reality your models are very good indeed, especially when you start with such poor material as this. Who knows, before long we may be able to persuade you to attempt a full scale conversion - you have the necessary skills to do so.

 

P