This past Christmas my wife gave me Model Airways Sopwith Camel F.1 kit. After 50 years of building plastic models this is my first attempt into the wood aircraft venue. I’ve been working on it for around 3-4 months now and feel that for the first time I am actually assemblying a “real” airplane. I have had to build up wooden ribs for the wings (upper wing is about 75% complete) and have seriously considered taking an aeronautical engineering course at the local University in order to gain some expertise. The Clerget 9 cylinder engine (white metal, brass, and steel rod) is a model unto itself. I swear that if you got 90 octane gas within close proximity, it would kick over! The kit is designed not to be covered and all the rigging, spars, ribs, etc., etc. will be exposed. At 1/16th scale it will work up with about a 21" wingspan and I’m having difficulty on deciding just where/how to display it when completed. I figure I’ve got another 6-9 months to do on it, so I’ve got plenty of time to come up with a solution to that problem. While first opening the box and viewing all the bits and pieces was a bit overwhelming, actually the construction has gone pretty smoothly for my first plunge into wood. Oh, yeah I have screwed up. After gluing the three piece bass wood propeller I carved it with the pitch going to the right instead of the left. (I normally build up jets and those funny looking “fans” on the nose of aircraft is a bit of a mystery to me). Fortunately, when I notified Model Airways of my error via e-mail, they dispatched a replacement in five days without any cost. While I would not recommend getting into this medium to everyone, a certain amount of wood working skill is required (I build up all my own display bases), to anyone who definitely wants a challenge this is the way to go. Plus, if done correctly and the urge to rush through construction is overcome, the end result will be museum quality.
Now where did I put those CAW-07 ribs for the alerons? If these 60 year old eyes were just a bit younger!
Dick McC