Erm... SIX big Revell ones

[Paul RH]

From the photos the red looks spot on, looking good

[maltadefender]

Many thanks, Paul. Hope to have her in RFI in the next day or two. Meanwhile I've done a bit more work designing decals for the last two. Here are the upper wings of Guynemer's Spad:

The fuselage numerals:

Not 100% sure about the fuselage numerals yet. The 'X' will probably end up being painted.

I think I'm going to have to do the stork of N.3 as two parts - a white one for the white bits overlaid by the black bits and orange of the beak and legs. I'm printing on a bog ordinary home printer so can't print white. The tricolore will be painted on first, just leaving the serial number.

And here's the correct phrase from the railway sign on the port side of the Aussie Camel:

[maltadefender]

Two Fokkers done, thanks for all thoughts on 'Richthofen Red'. Proper pics are in RFI but here are the two dreidekkers ready to head out into the snow...

I'm umm-ing and ahh-ing a bit about whether to rackle the Camel or the Spad next. Probably the Spad but we'll see...

[maltadefender]

I've found some pictures of Cobby's Chaplin figures and... they don't look much like Chaplin!

If I were to use proper Chaplin pictures it wouldn't be right for the aircraft depicted, but to copy the originals isn't something I'm too keen on.

As a result of all this I had a look for alternative Camels to turn my 1/28 into, in case I can't get past my Chaplin impasse. First off I wondered if anyone had the name 'Mary' on their kite... apparently not. Maude, Doris, Dot, Evelyn, Laura, (Black) Maria... but no Mary. If anyone knows better please do let me know!

Then I considered the colourful Camels... always liked the Cleopatra-decorated trainer from Gosport, but in colour she's a bit of a hotch-potch.

But then there's always the outrageous Ruston & Proctor promotional Camel, purportedly the 1000th one built at the Lincoln factory, decorated in keeping with the fascination for all things ancient and Egyptian with the 'wings of Horus'. Quite how this was done is a bit of a mystery, however. Contemporary photos appear different from each other, with a hand-tinted embellishment on some and not on others:

This one's definitely been hand tinted - there's a neat black line around the edge of the wing and a roundel on the wheel.

This one looks like the real McCoy - but if blue shows up pale what's the dark colour? Red?

The colours used were 'shades of' red, white, blue, apple green, blue-grey and yellow-orange, but given the wildly different appearance of the photos it's hard to work out which is which. Unsurprisingly this has proved a popular subject for modellists over the years, who have also come up with very different results.

Looking at the source idea - the winged sun Behudet which Horus could turn into in battle, gived a few ideas:

The sun is yellow-orange and round, and makes sense for the cowling... and for the marketing exercise this aircraft performed. Her first job was selling war bonds across Lincolnshire before going to the Western Front and being returned as unfit for duty with the gaudy heiroglyphics. However her main job was as a flying billboard - after all, Ruston Proctor made more engines than airframes and was a steam engine builder in peacetime, so the engine would naturally be the focus. So far so good.

The 'feathers' on the wings of Horus in ancient Egypt go from dark blue to jade, symbolising the sky, although many 'colourisations' and models include a ring of yellow-orange 'feathers'. I think that the cowling was the only part of the aircraft to be yellow-orange, the vast majority of the airframe clear-doped linen - which leaves the wing design and fuselage pattern.

Here are my interpretations of the photos... all thoughts welcome!

Edited December 3, 2010 by maltadefender

[Paul RH]

Two Fokkers done, thanks for all thoughts on 'Richthofen Red'. Proper pics are in RFI but here are the two dreidekkers ready to head out into the snow...

I'm umm-ing and ahh-ing a bit about whether to rackle the Camel or the Spad next. Probably the Spad but we'll see...

Excellent!!! That "red" looks absolutely spot on

More photos please

[maltadefender]

Hi Paul,

There are more pics on the Ready for Inspection here: 425/17

Glad you like her!

I'm boning up on my Egyptology at the moment, trying to make sense of the colourful Camel!

[cmatthewbacon]

I think if you do it like this:

You won't go far wrong - and no one is going to argue! (Though I think that image is obviously a colorised at the same time version of two of the pix you already have...)

The main thing is to get the softer, "antique" colours, though who am I to talk...

http://wwi-cookup.com/sopwith/camel/ruston1.html

bestest,

M.

Edited December 5, 2010 by cmatthewbacon

[blimp]

Hello Paul ,i believe the Rushton Camel colours were documented when it was made , i've read an article somewhere , it might be in one of my 'files' ahem . * another place to check - http://www.theaerodrome.com/isearch/index....%3A11&hl=en

[blimp]

-Ooops , double posr .

Edited December 5, 2010 by blimp

[maltadefender]

Thanks for all the thoughts and links, chaps. It seems like this one was well-documented at the time, which is a blessing.

I found the Ruston aviation logo to shrink down for strut decals:

I think the only anomalous picture is this one, which as far as I can tell isn't touched-up in any way. Clearly taken at the factory, I don't think that the artwork was complete when the photo was taken:

1 - That's a very dark colour around the roundel instead of yellow. Given that roundel blue shows up quite pale, perhaps it's red?

2 - The cowling is darker than the fuselage, most likely red-orange as the sun - so was it repainted yellow for some reason before the lettering was applied?

3 - The strange stripes on the rear look like they were trying to put the eye of Horus on there, maybe using the roundel (see below Egyptian image)

4 - They haven't finished painting the feathers on the port upper wing!

5 - The wheel covers are unpainted.

Perhaps the finished product was changed after this picture was taken to become the definitive scheme with lettering applied. If I do go for this one it looks like I'll have to ignore this picture - shame, I fancied an orange cowling!

[Paul RH]

WOW!!! You are going to paint the wings of Horus Pattern....

[blimp]

* It's quite common in B/W films for yellow to appear dark , almost black , whilst blues can be very pale - and that cowling does look an odd shade best of luck on this one P !

[maltadefender]

It was back to the drawing board with the Camel after a few setbacks.

Geometry was never my thing and I'm afraid that I made an absolute hash out of the Wings of Horus pattern. I failed to get it right on paper and so decided that I couldn't make a bigger mess of it if I had a go on the plastic. Poor decision on my part... it was rubbish.

My wife found me looking somewhat disconsolate and said 'well if you ask me it looks a bit silly like that anyway'. Seeing as the model cabinet currently lives where she entertains people for dinner I asked her how she wanted the Camel to look, and so she went through the book and went: 'that one'.

To be honest it's still a heck of a job, but hopefully if it comes together it will look quite smart. Spent a lot of today masking and painting individual checks as a result:

While the disastrously-decorated wings await some stripping, the fuselage gets attention.

As Rolf Harris would say, 'can you tell what it is yet?'

Something tells me after the Wings of Horus went wrong I should have learnt my lesson!

Aaaah!! My eyes!! I can't take anymore!!

So there we are. All being well the Camel will roll out as D8239, the personalised Camel of 'Black Mike' McEwan, as seen in Italy just after the Armistice. Although there are still a lot of squares to paint and touching-up to do before we get on to the serious bits! Here's the real thing:

Note to all - if you want an easy build, don't ask the wife!

Edited December 9, 2010 by maltadefender

[maltadefender]

Just totted up... by the time I've finished there will be 308 checks masked, painted and tidied up.

Then there's the lettering to do, which will be brush-painted.

Either my masking skills had better improve of I'll check in to the home for the terminally bewildered.

[Paul RH]

I pity your eyes...looks good though. I can´t imagine trying to do this in 1/72nd scale

[maltadefender]

In a spirit of unbounded optimism I think I might just be able to put away the red and white paint tonight.

I dread to think how many layers of paint there are in some places, but unlike using decals, hand-painting things means that a section can look right when you put it down and then need to change it when you look again next morning. Or if you correct one smudged or less-defined bit then you have to repaint another 2-3 bits to keep it all in register.

I measured and drew the 'R' identification letter on paper, traced it and put it on both fuselage halves. I'm not sure that they will ever look completely the same but hopefully finishing them and doing a few tweaks tonight should help.

It's a long way from perfect but I'm happy that it should be good enough to represent the real thing when it's all together.

[Paul RH]

(long drawn out whistle of amazment!) That looks great !!

[Ray S]

I agree! You don't half have some patience there. Good job with the Checks. It was a shame about Horus, it could have been.... interesting! Your Dr1's were excellent too by they way.

Regards, Ray

[maltadefender]

Thanks for the comments Ray and Paul... it's been fun so far!

I was going to make decals for the serial numbers, but on closer inspection these were firstly a bit raggedy and secondly featured the same red shading as the 'R' identification letter. Looks like I'd better brush up on my signwriting and hope that I can pull it off with letters/numbers that are just 6mm tall!

As you'll see I have now changed the title of the thread... thanks to a bit of stash trading on the Forum two more Camels are coming, so the Ruston 'Horus' is now back on the agenda and I can use my lovely 'Lincoln Imp' decals.

For the second - sorry, third! - Camel I'm still keen to do a Cobby model. I've found some 1/28 decals for the 4 Sqn AFC which will do exactly what I was wanting to do only more accurately - although the prospect of another colourful Camel is tempting. Cobby flew an all-white Camel with black checks on it when back in the UK on instructor duties, but although I can see the railway signs in place on the coaming on the pic in 'King of Air Combat' there are no Chaplins visible on any shots of it...

I thought a black and white aircraft with Charlie Chaplin would be rather special, but will concetrate on getting the others done in the meantime!

Happy New Year!

[Paul RH]

Do as many as you like...I will keep watching and learning

Happy new year.

[maltadefender]

Five-and-a-bit years later...

I know it's a long way from perfect but I'm learning and the end is in sight!

[maltadefender]

Edging closer...

I've still got the starboard wing to rig and I've got to repaint the struts as I did them the wrong way round on the sprue. Not looking forward to that, if I'm honest!