'The Duellists' Sopwith F.1 Camel & LVG C.VI - 1:32 Wingnut Wings

[Viking]

'The Duellists' Sopwith F.1 Camel & LVG C.VI

 

1:32 Wingnut Wings

 

[EDIT] Review build of the Camel underway in 'Work in Progress'  [/EDIT]

Released at the same time as the five individual boxings of the Sopwith Camel is this latest addition to the Wingnut Wings ‘Duellists’ series of two kits in a box. These are carefully chosen to depict the actual machines that met in combat on a known date and time.

On the morning of 9th October 1918 two Clerget powered F.! Camels  from B flight of 4 Squadron Australian Flying Corps took off on a ‘special mission’ patrol. 26 year old Harold  Norman Kerr was in Camel E7190, accompanied by Vincent Harry Thornton in Camel E7241, They were to attack targets of opportunity with their bombs and guns, in much the same way that more than 20 years later in the second world war,the RAF crossed the Channel to conduct ‘Rhubarb’ missions.

The combat report states “..we saw a 2 seater machine over Merville which opened fire on us. We both immediately dived on the enemy aircraft from the side. 2/Lt Thornton fired about 200 rounds from a range of 50 feet. 2/Lt Kerr then fired about 100 rounds from 50 feet. E.A. continued diving until practically on the ground being followed by 2/Lts Thornton and Kerr both firing. Landed near Nieppe.”
Lt Thornton attempted to land alongside the 2 seater, but unfortunately hit telegraph lines and was severely injured, not being released from hospital until well after the Great War had ended.

The ‘2 seater’ was LVG C.VI 7243/18 piloted by Sgt. Greyer with Lt. Köhnke as observer. 7243 landed intact and both were taken prisoner. The aircraft was salvaged  4 Sqn AFC and flown to Britain by the CO. Eventually it went to Australia as a war prize,  but some time after 1941 it disappeared and its final fate is unknown.
All this sets the fascinating context in which this kitset is presented. One of the things that really interests me about military aviation is the stories of the crews involved, particularly those from the Great War period. It adds an extra dimension and interest to a model building project.

The kit.
As a double kit this one has been presented in a different way to the previous ‘Duellists’. Instead of a deeper box we have a double width box, rather like 2 standard boxes side by side. Inside the Camel occupies one side, with the LVG in the other. The box is thus quite large, but it does means that Steve Andersons superb artwork is really large,  depicting the incident as it starts.

The standard Wingnut Wings instruction booklet is provided, containing as it does contemporary and modern photographs to help show how everything should look, plus more photos that are just too interesting not to include. The assembly sequences are illustrated with crystal clarity, and paint colours are called out for each item at each stage. I always appreciate the drawings that show completed sub assemblies in colour, they are immensely useful. Confirmation that the Wingnut Wings crew are modellers and builders themselves, as this is a very thoughtful touch.

Sopwith F.1 Camel
The Clerget Camel has already been reviewed with full details here, so I’ll restrict this section to a  brief summary of the main points.
Assembly begins with the cockpit area. A full set of instrument decals are provided for the panel, each of which is readable under a magnifying glass. The cockpit side frames are moulded in one piece with the cabane struts. Care will be needed during construction not to knock them, but they will ensure that the top wing will just click accurately into place during final assembly.

The cockpit is fully fitted out with all the fine detail you could possible want, the only things to add are the bracing wires between the fuselage frames, and the control wires from the stick and rudder pedals. Stretched sprue or rolled fuse wire is ideal for this.

An etched brass fret contains parts for both the Camel and the LVG, these being mainly seat belts and gun sights, with a slotted jacket  for the LVG’s Spandau.

The two Vickers guns are fitted in two stages. The main stocks go in during the cockpit assembly, with the barrels to be fitted later on from the outside. This will make painting both them and the cockpit coaming area a much easier job.

The lower wing is moulded as a single piece including the dihedral, contributing to what should be a fool proof assembly and line up of the biplane wings. The wings themselves feature nicely moulded inspection panels, with the lines and pulleys inside. These have clear panels to attach once the details are painted.  The upper wing is a three piece assembly, as per the real aircraft, with beautiful rib and stitching detail, and fine trailing edges. The completed wing should lock into position on those pre set cabane struts, and line up easily with the interplane struts.

Final items are the Cooper bombs on their beautifully moulded rack, and the Clerget engine. Different crankcase/pushrod mouldings are supplied to enable either the 9B or 9Bf version to be modelled, option A Lt Kerr’s E7190 uses the 9B, while Lt Thornton’s E7241 could have used either the 9B or 9Bf. Parts are provided for both so you have the choice.
A detailed rigging diagram shows where everything goes. There are a couple of double wires, but on the whole this is a fairly straight forward rig. Not the simplest, but certainly not very complicated either. Interestingly the instructions point out that the Camel was not rigged with turnbuckles, so that is one less thing to have to do.

Marking Options.
There is the choice of Either Kerr or Thorntons machines.
A = Sopwith F.1 Camel E7190, HN Kerr (1 shared victory), B Flight 4 Sqn AFC, 9 October 1918.  
B = Sopwith F.1 Camel E7241, VH Thornton (2 victories, 1 shared), B Flight 4 Sqn AFC, 9 October 1918.

 

 

The LVG C.VI.

The LVG C.VI was a 2 seat observation aircraft first flown in early 1918, and entering front line service by the middle of the year. It had a fixed forward firing LMG 08/15 Spandau, and a LMG 14/17 Parabellum on a flexible ring for the observer. It was popular with crews, having a good rate of climb, speed, and maneuverability.
Many of us in the UK will remember the Shuttleworth Collections C.IV 7198/18 , that was restored and flown for many years from the early 1970’s. It has now ceased flying and been returned to the RAF museum, its official owners. I saw it flying many times, it is a bit of a shame that it won’t be seen in the air again, but it is a very precious survivor and needs to be carefully looked after.

The kit.
As one of Wingnut Wings first four releases, it sold out rapidly and has not been available for many years now, so it is great to be able to get hold of it again.
The quality of moldings and ease of assembly are up to the high standard that Wingnut Wings set from the very beginning. We have the same wonderfully illustrated instruction manual shared with the Camel, the LVG simply occupying the second half of the booklet.

Assembly begins with the cockpit, most of which depicts the abundant woodwork in this area. The pilots seat is mounted directly on top of the large petrol tank, a prospect which must have been terrifying if you thought about it too much! Decals are provided the small instrument panel, and seatbelts for both pilot and observer come from the etched brass fret. The observers cockpit is fitted with a bench seat and wireless set, with a couple of spare Parabellum ammo drums.

 

The fuselage halves are just the side and rear top panels, with the underside being supplied as complete part. I rather like this method of assembly as it does away with the join line that normally runs down the centre of the underside and can take a fair bit of effort to eliminate on a flat panel like this.

 

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I really like building the engines for WnW models as they are real little gems. The Benz Bz IVa provided here is a real beauty, with sharp moulding and detail. The only addition I usually make is to use fine copper wire to ‘wire up’ the magnetos to the spark plugs. If doing so here, you will need to scratch up a couple of flat channels that run along both sides of the cylinders, from which a wire to each spark plug appears as it runs past each cylinder.

 

With the engine completed, the forward cockpit coamings and cabane struts are fitted. On the original release of the LVG no etched jacket was provided for the Spandau, just a ‘solid’ version. Happily this release does provide one, along with a ‘roller’ to form it around.

The fuselage is painted in a bare plywood finish. Wingnut Wings website provides a useful little tutorial on creating a wood grain finish. Look under ‘Hints & Tips’  on the original LVG kit release number 32002. The fuselage corners were reinforced with orange/brown linen tapes, a full set of which are supplied on the main decal sheet.

The lower wings are single pieces per side, while the upper wings are made from 2 pieces per side. This is due to the uppers having a deeper airfoil section, and consequently are  much ‘thicker’. Moulding them as single part like the lowers would have been impractical and made them extremely heavy.

 

The wings and tail are covered with 4 colour lozenge, plenty of which is provided on the decal sheets, with the upper lozenge being the darker of the two sets. It is essential to pre paint the wings and tail, and not to assume that you can apply the lozenge decal to bare plastic. I usually paint the uppers in olive drab, and the lowers in pale blue. After a coat of Johnsons kleer (or gloss varnish) the lozenge decals can be applied. The paint gives them something to ‘bite’ onto and weld themselves to the surface.
A rigging diagram shows clearly where all the wires go, using whatever method you prefer.

Marking Options.
Only one choice here, as befits the nature of the incident being depicted by this Duellists kitset. It is a fairly plain LVG, devoid of any unit markings. This suggests that the aircraft may have been fairly new and pressed into service right away.

C = LVG C.VI 7243/18, Sgt. Greyer & Lt. Köhnke, Flieger Abteilung 13, 9 October 1918.  

 

Decals.
The main A4/Letter sized sheet covers the Camels and LVG. There is very little difference between Kerr and Thorntons Camels, only their ‘B’ flight numbers. It is not certain which numbers they wore, so you are provided with numbers 1 -8, and I assume that the ‘6’ would make a ‘9’ if rotated 180.

The LVG is provided with all its national markings and stencils, but as mentioned before 7243/18 was not wearing any unit markings when it was shot down.

 

3 more A4/Letter sheets cover the upper surface 4 colour lozenge,

the lower surface 4 colour lozenge,

and a set of pink, blue, and plain linen rib tapes, of which only the plain linen ones are applicable to this aircraft.

Printing is by Cartograf, so is sharp, clear, and to industry leading standard. Enough said.

 

Accessories.

Includeed is Wingnut Wings standard set of German Accessories, covering a wide range of diorama friendly items from ladders to cameras, oxygen tanks, photo plate boxes, pigeon boxes etc, even a teddy bear!

 

Here's some I prepared earlier;

 

 

Conclusion.
This is a fabulous and unexpected release of the new Wingnut Wings Camel by pairing with the LVG. Both kits are superb, and represent the best of modern standards being achieved. Although the LVG is one of the older WnW releases, don’t think that it is an any way a lesser model. It has the same high standard of moulding and fit as the latest releases, and having built the original kit I can vouch for the fact that it is a joy to build, and trouble free (See Below).  And it looks absolutely gorgeous when finished. Get one while you can!

I really like these Duellist sets that tell a story of real incidents that took place. Knowing the dates, times, units, and names of those involved makes them seem more real. I am just as interested in reading about great war aviation as I am on modeling it, so this range neatly bridges the two. When completed these two are going to make a great pairing alongside each other in anyone's cabinet.

 

Very highly reccomended.

Review sample courtesy of

 

Kit 32002 LVG C.VI, the second Wingnut Wings kit I built, back in 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Antoine]

The duellists.

A very good résumé of WnW understanding of WW1 in the air.

[Duncan B]

Beautiful work on the LVG and the Review.

 

Duncan B