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Kofoed · 12 May 2008, 04:06 AM

Greetings,

Here is my just finished 1/32 Le Rhone powered Camel from Hobbycraft with PE from Part.

Actually I was looking for some PE for my Roden SE5a, and I found it at Part of Poland. I saw that they had also some nice PE for the Hobbycraft Camel. They were designed for the Clerget version, but I thought they would go along for the Le Rhone just as well. And they did. Apart from some major surgery in the bottom front, they fit like a dream. I didn’t use the parts for the Clerget engine, of course, but then I have them for a future use.

I thought I should have some practice with this before I go along with the SE5a.

The inside went smoothly, though quite time-consuming. There’s a very neat dashboard and the instruments are a treat. So is the seat. Sadly, not much of it is visible, but that’s the way it is. Also the control column and the rudder bar are fine pieces of work, with wires running to the back and to the front. The latter are threaded around pullies and then also lead to the back. The air intake tube had to be scratched, and so had the tanks behind the seat.

I’ve had tremendous help fro Datafile 26 “Sopwith Camel” by J. M. Bruce.

The machine is depicted as D9443, a Boulton & Paul built Le Rhone Camel for no. 3 Squadron in May, 1918. Later that summer it flew in “A” flight by Lt. A. T. Partridge, who was forced to land behind enemy lines on August 16, 1918. There’s even a faily good photograph of this machine in the Datafile. Speaking of “A” flight, which had red colours on wheels and spinners, it may be that they also had red engine cowlings, but I can’t find any clear references about that. And since I don’t like too many colours on British planes, I chose to paint the nose grey. Hobbycraft suggest, that this plane was all PC10, including cowling, front panels and wooden panels, but I also wanted to have the wooden panels visible, and as I have seen in Osprey’s “Sopwith Camel Aces of WW1”, that other No. 3 Sq. Camels had the wooden panels, I opted for this.

The wood panels are home made decals. My son and I went to the local timber store with my camera. I asked a young man there, if I was allowed to take some pictures of a plywood plate. He said “sure”, shook his head and disappeared. Well, I guess we were quick enough to do the shooting and get away before the “Blue Wagon” emerged.

... to be continued.

12 May 2008, 04:06 AM	#1 (permalink)
Kofoed Two-seater Pilot Join Date: May 2007 Location: Denmark Posts: 178	Hobbycraft 1/32 Sopwith Camel + Part PE Greetings, Here is my just finished 1/32 Le Rhone powered Camel from Hobbycraft with PE from Part. Actually I was looking for some PE for my Roden SE5a, and I found it at Part of Poland. I saw that they had also some nice PE for the Hobbycraft Camel. They were designed for the Clerget version, but I thought they would go along for the Le Rhone just as well. And they did. Apart from some major surgery in the bottom front, they fit like a dream. I didn’t use the parts for the Clerget engine, of course, but then I have them for a future use. I thought I should have some practice with this before I go along with the SE5a. The inside went smoothly, though quite time-consuming. There’s a very neat dashboard and the instruments are a treat. So is the seat. Sadly, not much of it is visible, but that’s the way it is. Also the control column and the rudder bar are fine pieces of work, with wires running to the back and to the front. The latter are threaded around pullies and then also lead to the back. The air intake tube had to be scratched, and so had the tanks behind the seat. I’ve had tremendous help fro Datafile 26 “Sopwith Camel” by J. M. Bruce. The machine is depicted as D9443, a Boulton & Paul built Le Rhone Camel for no. 3 Squadron in May, 1918. Later that summer it flew in “A” flight by Lt. A. T. Partridge, who was forced to land behind enemy lines on August 16, 1918. There’s even a faily good photograph of this machine in the Datafile. Speaking of “A” flight, which had red colours on wheels and spinners, it may be that they also had red engine cowlings, but I can’t find any clear references about that. And since I don’t like too many colours on British planes, I chose to paint the nose grey. Hobbycraft suggest, that this plane was all PC10, including cowling, front panels and wooden panels, but I also wanted to have the wooden panels visible, and as I have seen in Osprey’s “Sopwith Camel Aces of WW1”, that other No. 3 Sq. Camels had the wooden panels, I opted for this. The wood panels are home made decals. My son and I went to the local timber store with my camera. I asked a young man there, if I was allowed to take some pictures of a plywood plate. He said “sure”, shook his head and disappeared. Well, I guess we were quick enough to do the shooting and get away before the “Blue Wagon” emerged. ... to be continued.