Sopwith Camel 1/32 availability

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Hi!

I am interested in building a 1/32 Sopwith Camel this winter. I have been away for a bit (30 years!!) so I am in the process of catching up on kit availability. Seems like the only over the counter 1/32 Sopwith Camel choice is the Academy #2189 kit.

I read a reference that the Academy kit is a repackaged Hobby Craft kit; is that true?

If so, is it the older Hobby Craft 1681 or the Hobby Craft 1694 or 1693?

Thanks!

I just saw this period video of the Sopwith Camel…if you are interested…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDz5Yoh6E9I

2

I don’t know but it is an excellent kit.

You just have to watchfor two things:

  1. The instructions will tell you to put the machine gun barrels on top of the cooling jacket, not the bottom (wrong!).

  2. The propeller-driven fuel pump is incorrectly located, as with the machine gun barrels, an easy fix.

I had no issues with the decals and was very satisfied with the selection of markings as well as the paint call-outs.

Your next-best option is to get ahold of a dealer in old releases and get the old Revell release, which, of course, you would have to worry the older decals, and has the odd detail of the engine’s carburator inside the cockpit behind the engine’s firewall, where no one cansee it once you button the cockpit up.[:S]

Tom T [cwby]

3

Thanks TomT!

I will go ahead with the Academy kit and correct the two issues that you discovered.### rjpawl

4

Just to clarify, all you do is install the Vickers machine guns with the barrels at the bottom of the jackets. For some reason they literally tell you to install the guns upside down!

The fuel pump has to be removed from it’s molded cabane strut, and relocated.

No biggie.

Tom T [cwby]

5

The Academy’s the only one I know of at the moment, but I’d be shocked if Wingnut Wings didn’t take it on sometime in the next year or two. They already make the Pup, and they’re coming out with the Triplane and Snipe. The Camel’s the next logical step.

6

TomT,## Thanks for the extra details. I’ve ordered the Academy and have been studying photos in the mean time.## rjpawl.

7

Doogs,## I wondered that too. If they do a Camel release, it’ll be interesting to compare it to the Academy.## rjpawl

8

If they do a Camel, it’ll bend the Hobbycraft/Academy kit over and kick it in the cabane struts.

I’ve got four bipes in the stash - Academy Ni-17, Hobbycraft SPAD XIII, Roden Ni-28, and a second Wingnut Pup RNAS. Having built one Pup, and inspecting the other kits, yeah, Wingnut blows them away. Detail alone. I can’t speak for the fit, but the Pup I built had some of the best fit of any kit I’ve ever built.

9

For the price difference I wouldn’t.

I don’t doubt Wingnut’s quality, but to put out nearly $100.00 ($65.00+their various aftermarket stuff) vs. under $20.00 with a minor alteration is a no-brainer for those of us that have better things to do with an extra $45.00.

Tom T [cwby]

10

Ever see this one? Actually hearing that mill turning, especially in the air, is awe-inspiring…

I mean, when one can actually hear it’s 160hp Gnohme cacklin’ and roaring over a RR Merlin… Leaving that trail of castor oil behind… Wow… No wonder Camel pilots were deaf… And that a LOT of “emergency landings” weren’t due to “battle-damage”, lol…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6PnKUEFX8g

Gene DeMarco meant it when he said, “They KNEW you were coming when you were flying a Sopwith Camel…” [H] Can you imagine the sound that must have issued forth as an entire squadron of 12-16 Soppys came across the lines at medium altitude?

11

You mean the 1/28th Scale version from? I still have two of those in the stash, lol… It’s abosolutely the BEST Sopwith Camel out there IMNSHO… That’s of course, since it’s the ONLY one in that scale, and that it was forst released in 1957, making it two years older than me, lol…

But, if one DOES aquire it,(hopefully a newer one with decals that’re only 2-30 years old) those decals will be safe as long as one has a can of TESTOR’S DECAL BONDER handy…
I’d never even attempt to use the kit decals without it… Love that stuff…

12

I very resently saw an interwiev with one of the guys from Wingnut and he stated that they are NOT going to make a Camel. Reason: The good availability of what he meant is a very good kit from Academy / Hobbycraft.

So don’t have to high hopes…

By the way; Where should the fuel-pump be?

13

Aft cabane strut, starboard side, about 1/2-way up, prop to the rear,

with auxiliary hand-pressure-pump in the cockpit, right sidewall…

14

Thanks for all the additional info guys!! You guys are great [:D] !

The Academy Sopwith Camel arrived today and it appears to be a hi-quality kit ($12.89).

A big part of the project for me is learning as much as I can about the Camel so the pics and info are really appreciated. A ride is planned to the before the bad weather hits so I can study a “reproduced” Sopwith (amongst other things).

Hans…

I saw that video and watched it many times. The thing I find incredible is the short time span between the planes. The Sopwith is approx 20 years from the Wright Bros first flight…the Spitfire is approx 20 years from the Sopwith…incredible.

Rjpawl

15

Thanks for all the additional info guys!! You guys are great [:D] !

The Academy Sopwith Camel arrived today and it appears to be a hi-quality kit ($12.89).

A big part of the project for me is learning as much as I can about the Camel so the pics and info are really appreciated. A ride is planned to the before the bad weather hits so I can study a “reproduced” Sopwith (amongst other things).

Hans…

I saw that video and watched it many times. The thing I find incredible is the short time span between the planes. The Sopwith is approx 20 years from the Wright Bros first flight…the Spitfire is approx 20 years from the Sopwith…incredible.

Rjpawl

16

Yeah, I got one as well.

I seriously doubt Wingnut’s release can top it. I mean when they went so far as to include the engine’s carburetor which mounts inside the cockpit against the firewall, as well as no-brainer riging points, I seriously doubt it.[^o)]

I also have Vos’s Dr.1 Triplane by Revell.

I started to build a recent re-release of the Fokker, but frankly I don’t know if they are trying to punch the kits out of the mold too fast, or id the mold is showing wear, or what, but in any case the older Vos triplane fits perfect without the need for putty, whereas the recent release does not. In fact I had to restoer the ribbing on the fuselage botom of the newer one after puttying up a difference in the bottom seam.

Thanks for the tip for the decal bonder, I gotta get me some!

Meanwhile, the Academy Camel is an easy build, no fitting issues, no putty, whatsoever.

Tom T [cwby]

17

I’ve got five biplanes total.

1 WnW Sopwith Pup RNAS (BUILT)

1 WnW Sopwith Pup RFC (stash)

1 Academy Nieuport 17 (stash)

1 Hobbycraft SPAD XIII (stash)

1 Roden Nieuport 28 (stash)

They’re all actually pretty decent kits. The SPAD is easily the least so. The plastic feels weird, lots of things other kits have picked up on (rigging holes or at least small indents to mark them for example) are completely absent.

The Roden is awesome in places, less awesome in others. I hear that’s the way they tend to go. Overall I was expecting more for the prices they ask.

The Academy Ni-17 is an awesome little kit. Very simple, but very smart design. If the Camel’s anything like that, I imagine it’s solid.

But…the Wingnut Wings kits are something else. I know they said they weren’t going to leap at the Camel because of the Academy kit, but I still think building the “bracket” models of the Tripe and Snipe make it an obvious next move. That, and it’s kind of the one allied biplane that everyone knows. Heck - my wife knows what a Sopwith Camel is, and she can’t tell a Spitfire from a 109.

Honestly, though, I’d love to see them do a SPAD XIII over the Camel. That Hobbycraft/Minicraft SPAD isn’t terrible, but it could be improved upon in a pretty big way.

18

I think you might have been a lucky one. My decals were just awful and I have heard the same from others who did this kit though I do agree with you that the kit itself is a nice one.

I liked it so much I bought another one, along with an Aber photo-etch set and a SuperScale decal set.

I hear there is a guy (Radu Brazan I think, but don’t hold me to it) that makes a good 1/32 photo-etch rigging set.

19

Yes, the Academy Nieuport 17 is as nice as the Camel.

I agree with you about the HC SPAD XIII.

I’ve got one and compared to the old Revell 1/28th scale, it stinks. The rigging diagram leaves a lot to be desired, and they do not include the star insignia for the wheels of Rickenbacker’s plane.

But there again I had to work on some severe wing warpage in their recent re-release as appearantly they punched it out of the mold before letting it cool sufficiently.

Tom T

20

Dean’s Hobby Stop has the 1/28th scale Camel in stock. Don’t know what he wants for it. I have the Academy Camel in the stash (and the N17), so thanks for all the info. Keep it comin’!!