1/28 Revell Camel

[ScanmanDan]

Just over four years ago while working on my 1/28 Revell SPAD I bought and started working on the sister Camel kit.  Never got that far.  ( Oh look! Butterfly.)  Like lots of kits I have it sat in it's project box through two house moves.   The other day while cleaning and sorting out my bungalow/workroom I had to find a place to put the project box.  This led to a great deal of poking about and time wasting, looking at old kits and magazines I thought I'd got rid of.  While messing about trying to find a safe place to put it for another four years I though that I'd take a crack at pushing it along.  

 

The engine was in good shape and just got a bit more paint;

 

 

Seat was done but needed some paint fixing, the fuel tanks got scratched and painted and the a bit of paint was splashed about;

 

 

 

Prop got a trip to the paint shop too ( Too lazy to do a laminated prop-- Hey, I don't want this to take another 4 years  )

 

 

Lots more work being done to this bird in the background.  All the struts are getting chopped off and the trenches filled in.  Carbine struts need shortening by 6mm I think.  Heaps of sanding an fettling to get the straight but old kit into shape.  At some stage I thought it would be a good idea to replace all the sticking with fine lead wire...( One likes to know who was messing with ones medication at the time...) 

 

Well there you go.  What with this and the 1/6 scale Pak 36 going I don't know what will happen but I enjoyed getting the Tiger Moth done so much I think I can push through with this now.

 

Thanks for dropping it to view the madness.

 

Dan

[Michaelvk]

I think I've got the Fokker triplane in this scale somewhere.. Can't remember it ever looking as good as this..

[heloman1]

That looks very impressive, I like the wood effect and the treament to the seat and prop. That kit must be older than the hen that had teeth!

 

Colin

[John_W]

That kit must be older than the hen that had teeth!

Colin

My brother built one when I was 8, so it is probably around 40 years old.

[ScanmanDan]

Progress;

 

Played about with some Alclad II paint on the cowl, came out okay.  Primered and polished it out more than I usually do and it worked better.  A gloss primer would have helped the orange peal.

 

 

Most of the day spent working on the fuselage seams and getting the lower wing on.  Both needed seams needed a lot of work to get em looking okay.  Top could use some more work but I'm moving on.

 

 

 

 

Primers on now so I can let it set overnight.

 

Worked a bit on the guns and other subassemblies.  I've misplaced the IP somewhere and now have to work out how I can make another, sigh.

 

I must work out some kind of jig to get the top wing on straight as I'm cutting up all the struts.  I'm a little concerned that the lower wing doesn't have much dihedral.  I know the top wing needs to be straight but the bottom needs some dihedral.  I'll work something out in the end.

 

Trying out some different paints to pick a shade for CDL and PC10.  Not too sure which I'll go for.

 

Michaelvk-- Thanks, you are too kind.  Still a long way to go and many pit fall to cross before she's done.

 

Colin & John-- Thanks guys.   The information I have is that the holds for the Camel date to around 1960.  Which makes this kit just slightly older than me.  I much prefer this scale 1/28 to 1/32 for WWI subjects as they are a nice size to work on without being fiddly.  Then again I tend to like bigger 1/24 scale kits.

 

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Dan

[ScanmanDan]

Progress;

 

New IP, painted and installed,

 

 

Got the rest of the nose panels on and primed, used that white plastic putty from Vallejo to fill the seem between the wing and the fuselage as well as around the oval engine panels.  I'm told it's something like marble dust mixed into a acrylic paste.  Goes on like toothpaste that you can wipe it off with a damp cloth or cotton bud.  Takes a couple of goes but worked pretty well and there was no sanding or loss of detail.

 

 

While I has putting in the rigging anchors I realised that the twin wires go through the wing in a hole/slot, also had them too far back.  Tried something differ on the anchors I used the cut off ends of fine gauge fishing hooks for the loops.  I hand looped the ones I used on my Tiger Moth and that was a pain.  This was much easier.  I used the smallest size that was available in my local Kmart ( which turned out a touch finer than the ones I did by hand.)  I think you could get finer ones at a proper tackle store.  ( Yeah! Roadtrip!)  Worked on this most the afternoon.  Bit over scale but I didn't go crazy-mad and it was faster than the last time I did the same operation on the Tiger Moth. 

 

 

I would like to get this finished primed tonight so I can paint the ply fuselage panels in oil tomorrow.( Back to work on Monday, boo--hiss.)

 

Bouncing back and forth between this and my Pak 36 and it seems to be working out okay.

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping in.

 

Dan

[bentwaters81tfw]

I'll follow this, I have the double DR-1 and Camel boxing. Waiting for some wood grain decal at the moment.

[HOUSTON]

Dan,,

AWESOME work so far.

The engine looks fantastic.

Love the propellor..

Waiting for the build for 4 years ... OMG,! I want to see the end Now....

I would never survive four years .. Lolololol..

Good luck and just upkeep us posted.

Keep up the good work

[Murdo]

Mmmm... Nice!

 

The seat and IP are impressive but I really love that Prop!

 

Excellent work.

[ScanmanDan]

Thanks gentlemen.  

 

On advise I have taken to sandpapering off most of the hills and valleys on the upper and lower surfaces of the wings.  The wings look much better now.  Shot some primer & tan paint and had a go at blocking in the wood grain around the cockpit.  Mucked about filling in all the trenches in the underside of the top wing.  Spent a bit of time this morning thinking and mocking up some kind of jig to set the top wing on.  The jig will be required because 6mm need hacking out of the carbine shuts and as I have cut all the struts lose there is no structure to set the top wing.  Kind of scary stuff as if I get this wrong the whole kit goes in the bin.

 

Any good feed back on jigs that work?  After messing about this morning I convinced that I have to be millimetre perfect in my jig or it will end up looking Kack.

 

Dan

[John_W]

Seen Lego used quite a lot on BM for jigs.

[ScanmanDan]

Progress;

 

 

 

I might have made a mistake in doing the woodgrain first but I was worried that the Alclad silver would lift under masking tape.  I have two coats of Future over the oils and I'll leave it now for a week or so to dry off well.  Plenty to do while I wait.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Dan

[maltadefender]

Lovely, lovely job so far. Mine is also languishing somewhere with bits started and never done. Keep the inspiration coming!

[Nobby]

This is going to look something else when it's finished! The wood grain effect is superb! 

[Bertie McBoatface]

I like this one. The woodgrain's excellent to my eye, and I really like your healthy attitude too. "It could do with more work but I'm moving on..."

[cmatthewbacon]

That's a beautiful job. The panel and the wood grain are just outstanding. The woodgrain even looks good in extreme close up, which is especially impressive!

 

If I'm reading your posts correctly it's a bit late for this now, but just in case... a jig may not be required...

 

The first thing you need is an accurate 1/28 plan (which you'll certainly need if you want to make a jig. If you do, foamcore board is a good material. A kind of "H"-shape with slots top and bottom positioned off the plan can be glued to the wing with Copydex and then pulled off cleanly later). I scaled the plan in my Windsock Datafile to be 1/28 on the work photocopier that does A3. You can measure off this. IIRC, the lower wing dihedral needs something like a 10mm square bit of balsa under the wing about half way along the elevator, but you can find the exact position off the plan. I just cut most of the way through the wing wit a razor saw, taped the centre section to a bit of glass and inserted the balsa to lift the wingtips, and then hit it with some microballoons and CA to set it.

 

I cut the bottom "plank" off the interplane struts. I then cut the ends off the plank where the struts fitted, and glued it into position in the centre of the slot, leaving sockets at each end. Then I shortened the struts to the length measured off the plan, and glued the top "plank" and struts into its slot, filled around the planks in top and bottom wings (leaving the sockets in the lower wing empty), smoothed the filler with a cotton bud dipped in nail varnish remover and touched up the paint. Fortunately the interplane struts are vertical, so you can set them in the right position relatively easily. Then I trimmed the cabane struts to the right length, measured from the plan. 

 

Finally, once the interplane struts were solidly set I dropped the top wing in place, socketing the interplane struts into the lower wing and swinging the cabane struts op from loose mounting on the fuselage to hit the locations on the upper wing. I used plastic cement on the interplane struts, to give me a bit of time, rubber bands gently stretched around the two wings to hold them together, and CA applied as each cabane strut hit the right location to fix them. The plastic cement gives you a bit of "wiggle room" but sets pretty solidly once everything is finally in position.

 

Apologies for going on at length if this is too late to help, but you might be able to use some of it, as can anyone following in our footsteps!

 

bestest,

M.

Edited January 21, 2013 by cmatthewbacon

[ScanmanDan]

Progress on a surprisingly wet Melbourne summer night;

Been a'paintin'

Didn't rush this time and got reasonable results. No runs,lifts and only tiny little touch ups to do. Alclad went on well but need to do better prep to get a good shiny finish, okay for a hard working frontline aircraft.

Tried out some rib shading but it's too stark but okay for a first go, moving along. ( Note to self- thiner tape stupid and could you get the bits straight and even. Sheesh, tough to get good help these days ) Used a heavily thinned (lacquer thinners) mix of 50-50 flat and gloss Tamiya clear mixed with some Vallejo sepia wash and black wash with a touch of Tamiya clear orange for the underside shading. Need to work out the bugs but it came out much better than I had any hope to achieve. I usually stuff that kind of ultra thin post shading but had pretty good control with the above mix.

I'll let this lot setup for a couple days and then spray the roundels and markings. All those struts need painting as does the tail and top wing. I've a biplane jig on order so I should be able to get the top wing on now.

Maltadefender& Nobby--Thanks!

Don-- As my wife always reminds me when I'm turning the air blue in the bungalow after one of my many stuff ups. "Remember, you do that for FUN."

Matthew-- Thanks so much for the details of how to get the top wing on. After mucking about quite a bit I have opted to buy a proper Biplane jig and set it up much as you have so carefully described. I do feel much more positive that I can get the top wing on pretty straight now and that is a super comfort. Many, many thanks.

Thanks for lookin'

Dan

[ScanmanDan]

Progress?;

I was pretty sure early in the build that if I didn't get some kind of jig going then I'd never get the top wing on straight. After looking about on the net I plunked some cash down for the JH Models jig no 4803 from UMM USA. I have spent the last week of nights after work putting it together and adding a bit of paint/lacquer. ( Note: I don't advise assembling touch dry parts ( Clear lacquer from a spray can) or you might just find you've glued the whole blinking lot together ) Fun project that now has to earn it's keep. So far so good! All is straight and square and I'm really happy but there is just one teachy problem. I can't get enough forward stagger on the top wing. I've pushed the jig to it's maximum and the leading edge of the top wing is still about 5mm behind the firewall. That front centre strut needs to be straight up and down and a present it leans backwards.

Has anyone out there modified one of these jigs to give more stagger? Failing that, does anyone have any ideas as to how I can modify the jig? It's a pity to have to bash the jig as it's so nicely pre cut and has a neat set of reference marks to make setting it up evenly a breeze. I've a couple of crazy things going through my brain but I'd hate to hack this tool to bits in a bone headed plan to 'improve' it. Thanks for any assistance you can offer.

Dan

[Bari]

Hi, very interesting build and I like the jig, can you not just put a 5mm block at the front of the lower wing just to move the whole airframe back a touch to give you room at the top position? Or, is there enough room to drill a small hole in the lower wing support and pop a pin in to edge the whole assembly back. Hope this helps.