Eduard Sopwith Camel Comic ProfiPACK (82175) 1:48

[Mike]

Sopwith Camel Comic ProfiPACK (82175)

1:48 Eduard

 

 

The Camel was a development of the earlier Sopwith Pup that entered service late in WWI and was an excellent fighter, although in typical form during warfare, it soon became outclassed and was relegated to ground attack duties where possible.  It first flew at the very end of 1916, and was introduced into service in the summer of 1917 where it quickly became the Allies’ premiere fighter of the time, and was responsible for the most kills of any type during the conflict.  It gained its unofficial name thanks to the cowlings around the twin Vickers machine guns that were intended to prevent them from freezing up at altitude.

 

In flight it could be a tricky ride for the novice, thanks to the close proximity of the weighty elements of the airframe toward the very front of the fuselage, which was one of the aspects that made it a nimble aircraft in a turn, which is crucial in a dogfight.  Its reputation became quite a problem, so a two-seat trainer was created to help overcome the problem, and went on to see wide service both with the RFC, RAF, nascent USAS and with the RNAS.  Its climb-rate and top speed led to its withdrawal as a fighter, to be replaced by the Snipe, which was capable of coping with the new German fighters that were coming on-stream, such as the Fokker D.VII.  Its ground attack role involved strafing enemy trenches and dropping 25lb Cooper bombs, but attrition levels were high due to their proximity to their targets and a total lack of protection for the pilot and engine.  The last Camels were withdrawn in 1920, long after the end of WWI, having seen a good deal of foreign service in the meantime.

 

The Comic variant was a night fighter that had the weapons moved from the cowling over the engine to the top of the wing, in order to reduce the flash from the gun’s effect on the pilot’s night vision.  A pilot with temporary blindness caused by firing his guns would be both vulnerable to attack and likely to blunder into other aircraft or even the ground if his luck expired.

 

 

The Kit

This is a minor re-tool of Eduard’s recent new tooling of this famous WWI fighter, depicting the nightfighter with twin Lewis guns on the upper wing.  Inside the top-opening box there are three sprues in blue/grey styrene, one in clear, a nickel-plated Photo-Etch (PE) fret with colour printing on much of it, and a set of kabuki tape masking (not pictured), pre-cut for your convenience.  There is also a long narrow decal sheet, plus the instruction booklet with spot colour throughout and colour profiles in the rear:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the pilot’s seat, which was wholly inappropriately made from wicker for minimum bullet resistance, mostly thanks to the weight constraints of the way.  The back is either made from PE curved around the base, which has a perforated PE insert and has a horseshoe shaped styrene lip to the rear.  There’s also a simpler alternative made from two styrene parts if you don’t feel up to wrangling PE.  The aft section of the cockpit floor is a very sparse set of slats across a pair of stringers, which the seat is glued along with some pre-painted PE lap belts.  The instrument panel is made, with two options made from a lamination of pre-painted PE parts with wood-grain printed on the front layer and the instruments on the rear.  They are glued to a styrene back-plate, or you can choose the more simplistic styrene alternative that has decals for the instrument dials.  The forward floor is made up and fitted to the fuselage lower insert as are the rudder pedals, then the cockpit side frames are inserted in the fuselage and painted before the aft floor is glued perpendicular sides with the panel also trapped in position, along with the rear tail-skid, with instructions in red letters telling you NOT to glue the two cockpit sub-assemblies in place.  The front floor is inserted from below once closed up, then the front bulkhead with tank is inserted into the front of the fuselage.

 

There is a choice of Clerget or Le Rhône engine for your Comic, the former made from three layers, the latter from just two, but both are full of detail and have detailed painting guides and a scrap diagram to the side to assist you with completion of your motor.  With the engine in place, the cowling and cockpit surround assemblies are installed next, with optional ring-and-bead sights from PE added after drilling minute 0.3mm holes in the deck.  More 0.5mm holes are drilled into the side for one markings option to add a pair of small parts, and further back down the fuselage the raised details are removed by sanding for one of the options.  A windscreen with a circular PE sight set on an angled frame is added for some decal options, with the tapering upstand behind the pilot’s head also fitted.

 

The tail is first of the flying surfaces to be made up, starting with the horizontal fin and the elevators, which have their styrene guide-horns removed and replaced by PE parts that are mounted in 0.3mm holes you’ll need to drill out.  The rudder and its fin are inserted vertically, and the horns are removed and replaced in a similar manner too.  The lower wings are single-thickness parts with superb detail of the ribs and tape, and have their ailerons separate with the PE horns replacing the styrene lumps, plus a small clear window over the pulley within the leading edge of the wing.  Both lower wings slot into twin holes in the fuselage on long rectangular pins, and the upper wing in a single span is fitted with ailerons and their PE horns, plus more of the clear inspection windows for the control wires.  There’s bound to be some rigging going on before you finally join the wings together, but the interplane struts and the cabane struts are inserted into the lower wing and lined up with the top wing, with either a pair of Lewis guns on a curved mount, or just one with an empty mount beside it, again depending on which decal option you will use.  The empty mount is filled with another Lewis gun at an angle, possibly in a pre-cursor to the WWII German Schrage muzik that was used to fire at targets from below and behind.  Eduard have sensibly created an aftermarket set of 3D printed resin Lewis guns and their mounts, which are worth a look if you're detail-hungry.

 

 

The bicycle-wheel landing gear has a choice of two types of wheel and supports, with a common aerodynamic axle fairing.  A scrap diagram shows the correct angle of the parts from the front, as well as an optional mount for a fuel pressurisation prop on the vertical strut.  The two-bladed prop has moulded-in front detail and glues onto the axle protruding from the front of the engine.

 

 

Rigging

This might put some modellers off, but there’s not a huge amount of it, so gird up your loins and crack on.  There are two pages of drawings, with the lines marked in blue on greyscale drawings, and there is a central aerodynamic bullet suspended by four wires over the engine cowling.  Good luck to you, and remember to keep it scale, and don’t use cotton as it’ll go fuzzy.

 

 

Markings

The kabuki tape masking will allow you to cut the demarcation between the tyres and their hubs neatly, mask off the windscreen, and also those inspection windows on the wings.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• B9287 No.78(HD) Sqn., Sutton’s Farm, UK, Spring 1918
• B2402, B Flight, No.44(HD) Sqn., Hainault Farm, UK, Jan 1918
• C Flight, No.44(HD) Sqn., Hainault Farm, UK, Oct 1918
• E5165, No.8 (Training) Sqn. AFC, Leighterton, UK, Sep 1918
• E5165, Lt. L C Sheffield, No.151 Sqn., Vignacourt, France, Sep 1918
• B4614, B Flight, No.44(HD) Sqn., Hainault Farm, UK, Feb 1918

 

 

 

The decals are printed by Eduard and are in good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. 

 

Don’t forget that as of 2021, the carrier film from Eduard decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier-free, making the decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the film.  It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view.

 

 

 

Conclusion

The kit as it stands is excellent, but some of you want to add more to any kit you buy, so keep your eye out for the resin set with super-detailed Lewis guns.  Lots of detail, lots of choices, and lots of colourful schemes to choose from.

 

Very highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of