WW1 era wicker seats, short vs tall

[TheKinksFan]

I've got two sets of 3D printed 1/72 wicker seats from Gaspatch Models, they look really nice, and the cushion is a separate piece. They come as two-pack, one with short backrest and the other with tall. So my question is, was there different purpose for the short seat, for instance for the gunner? Or was it just pilot's preference, or perhaps just what was available. I saw a photo of a Sopwith Camel cockpi - it probably was a replica- but it had a short version. 

[Black Knight]

afair, initially the wicker seats were the pilots' choice. The aircraft came with aluminium seats but the pilots had them replaced with the wicker seats, supposedly for more comfort and to save weight. The wicker seats came off their wicker summer chairs at the officers' mess

[malpaso]

Wicker seats were used as they were light yet strong; hence they had been used from early days of aviation.  I think the use of mess chairs would just be a period way of shorthand to describe them, i seriously doubt any reuse of mess furniture, even if they could even actually fit.  See here for a replica manufacturer, including original period ads and a specification drawing from Sopwith.

[Dogtail2]

2 hours ago, malpaso said:

Wicker seats were used as they were light yet strong; hence they had been used from early days of aviation.  I think the use of mess chairs would just be a period way of shorthand to describe them, i seriously doubt any reuse of mess furniture, even if they could even actually fit.  See here for a replica manufacturer, including original period ads and a specification drawing from Sopwith.

 

I have one of these seats made by Wicker Works for my Camel project. They are deceptively strong, at least when new, but may well degrade over extended time periods, especially if exposed to moisture.

Not really a problem for short duration war use.

[TheKinksFan]

31 minutes ago, Dogtail2 said:

I have one of these seats made by Wicker Works for my Camel project.

Could you please measure the width of that seat? The Gaspatch 1/72 seats are 6 mm in width, that corresponds to 43 cm in real life. You probable don't have the seat seat in your home, so from memory, if you take a measuring tape and measure 43 cm, doesn't it look very narrow. Your wicker seat can't be that narrow. I know men used to be smaller and lighter, but that would be a child's seat. 1/72 3D seat belts from KitsWorld and Eduard's 1/48 PE seat belts are 2 mm and 3 mm in width, respectively. They would both be 14,4 cm in real life.

 

[Dogtail2]

24 minutes ago, TheKinksFan said:

Could you please measure the width of that seat? The Gaspatch 1/72 seats are 6 mm in width, that corresponds to 43 cm in real life. You probable don't have the seat seat in your home, so from memory, if you take a measuring tape and measure 43 cm, doesn't it look very narrow. Your wicker seat can't be that narrow. I know men used to be smaller and lighter, but that would be a child's seat. 1/72 3D seat belts from KitsWorld and Eduard's 1/48 PE seat belts are 2 mm and 3 mm in width, respectively. They would both be 14,4 cm in real life.

 

 

No problem. Hopefully you can see the measurement. 

[TheKinksFan]

8 hours ago, Dogtail2 said:

No problem. Hopefully you can see the measurement

Thanks a lot for the photograph, yes can I can see clearly. It is surprisingly narrow, but considering the body type of the pilots not too small. The Gaspatch seat is a bit undersized, I wonder if the ones from Barracuda are bigger. A 1/72 seat should be almost 7 mm. 

[Orso]

Not to surprising that the model seat are to narrow.  The fuselage on a model is often very thick making the cockpit to narrow. Probably why I find modern kits that has detailed cockpits in 1/72 scale planes have pilots in 1/100 scale.

[Brandy]

Barracuda are the same size, for the reason given above. The plastic on the fuselage sides is not scale thickness so the seats need to be a little narrower to fit.

 

Ian

[Brandy]

Further to my previous reply, I've now received my Gaspatch seats and measured them against the Barracuda ones. The Gaspatch are slightly bigger at around 6.5 mm but it's barely noticeable.

The Barracuda

 

 

and against the Gaspatch

 

Hope that helps!

 

Ian

 

 

 

[TheKinksFan]

2 hours ago, Brandy said:

Hope that helps

Thanks Ian, it helps a lot! I used the taller seat for my Roden 1/72 Sopwith Camel. It's true that if it was wider it wouldn't fit anymore. I used 3D seat belts from Kits-World, I was a bit worried that they would cover the whole seat as they are wide, but I think it doesn't look too bad. On Barracuda's website they write that the shorter seats were typically used for the pilot and the taller for the gunner. But I haven't found any photos of restored cockpits or replicas that have a short seat. That Gaspatch version  is so short that it would look somewhat comical if you put wide seat belts on it. I wish the aftermarket manufacturers would provide more specific information. 

[Brandy]

Gunners in British aircraft generally had a stool or fold-up seat, not a wicker one. The exceptions being very early aircraft which were originally unarmed. The wide belts would also be used in the shorter seats, coming up over the top across the lap.

 

Ian