1917 Sopwith Camel by Model Airways

[Twobad]

I hope I'm not too late, but the librarian at the Shuttleworth Trust was kind enough to pop down to the hangar for me and take some pictures of their Camel's fuselage rigging whilst it was undergoing restoration recently.

 

I found them quite useful during the build of my model. The proviso put on their use was that the Trust should be attributed if they are, and they can't be used for commercial purposes.

 

One small point to bear in mind is that the Trust's Camel is itself a replica built from the original drawings in the 1930s if I recall correctly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope they are of some use. They were to me.

 

Edited January 24, 2019 by Twobad

[kensar]

One question - are you going to cover the airframe, and if so, with what kind of covering?

 

Okay, two - two questions.

 

I'll be following this. I have the Model Airways Albatros.

 

[Garage21]

Hi Kensar - 

 

No, the airframe will remain in skeletal form.  I think the "guts" are the coolest part.

 

Andy.

[Garage21]

Twobad - these pictures are priceless!  Thank you very much for sharing them.

[Garage21]

As fabrication of the turnbuckles continues, my production speed is getting better.  The first step is the pre-drill the outer sleeve and then score the brass tube (photo 1).  Next each individual piece is broken off (photo 2).  The the sleeves are sanded down on each end and cleaned up a little bit (photo 3).  The last photo is the first two dozen units from last night.

 

Should have the next batch of 30 units completed by tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE - when fabricating turnbuckles, I was told it was important to make sure that each eye loop "finished" on opposite sides.  Soooooooo...  each turnbuckle in the picture above has one end with the loop ending on the top and the other on the bottom (effectively creating an elongated figure 8 on its side).  Not sure what the engineering principle is behind this, but a guy at the US Airforce Museum told me that's how it's done and he was wearing a Airforce Veteran hat so I didn't argue.

Edited January 24, 2019 by Garage21

[BiggTim]

Those are awesome looking, I wish I had done that for mine!!

 

Maybe I'm goofy, but I've used quite a few full size turnbuckles to tighten cables, and that whole "opposite loop ends" thing seems bogus to me. The ones I've used were two separate eyelets with threaded shanks that screw into opposite ends of a threaded collet with a hole in it for insertion of a handle to tighten them. Where the loop "finished" was irrelevant, as they were often spun around numerous times independent of each other, and stopped where they stopped. I will concede that maybe these were different, as I've never built a real aircraft before, let alone from WWI!!

 

They look incredibly cool, though!! I am really interested to see how you build this thing!

 

Tim

[Garage21]

I was kinda thinking the same thing Tim and, for the life of me, I can't begin to imagine how this would impact strength or usability.  And since the entire design concept of the turnbuckle is that each end is adjusted independently, I'm not sure why this matters.  That being said, the gentleman was older than me and seemed very convinced in the accuracy of his advice so I went with it. He was a kindly veteran who seemed to enjoy sharing tales of aircraft mechanics and such.  Obviously not a WWI vet, but a proud veteran none the less and that, by itself, demands my respect. 

 

And whether it makes a bit of difference or not, it does look kinda cool.

 

Andy

Edited January 24, 2019 by Garage21

[Garage21]

OK Tim - We have clarification.  What the older gentleman didn't mention (or I didn't hear clearly) was that he was talking about storage.  When all the spare turnbuckles were in storage, each end was supposed to be screwed all the way in so the entire unit was as short as it could be and the "tops" were supposed to close on one side while the "bottoms" closed on the other side (when hanging in a row on a wall).  

 

I got this from a friend of mine who is a retired Navy machinist.  Apparently, he was expected to keep all of his tools stored in descending order according to size.  Everything in the shop and in the garage was expected to be perfectly aligned, straightened and facing the same direction as the tools next to it, behind it or in front of it.  When I asked my friend why he replied simply "because someone with more stripes on his sleeve than me said so".

 

Apparently it has absolutely nothing to do with the actual usage of the device itself.  It was just about keeping and orderly supply room.

[BiggTim]

Well that makes a lot more sense. Man, I wish I were that organized.

Edited January 25, 2019 by BiggTim

[Garage21]

Have you ever been sitting around your workshop when suddenly you say to yourself, "Self...  I wonder how long it would take to hand make 110 1:16 scale turnbuckles and what would they look like when I was done?"

 

The answer is "about 10 days" and this.

 

 

There is still much sanding, shaping and polishing to be done, not to mention redialing the center hole and running the safety wire.  But at least they've been fabricated and I can now move on.

 

Stay tuned.

[Garage21]

With the turnbuckles fabricated I decided to work on something a little larger because my hands and eyes were killing me.  Started with the rear stabilizer.  Hopefully can get the rest of the rear end fabricated this weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

Still some sanding and shaping to be done.  And have to drill out the two inner-most spreader bars and solder in some eyelets.  But the shape is definitely there.  I love working in brass.

[Bil]

Love it, a HUGE improvement over the kit part...  learning to solder is on my to-do list. 

 

Bil

[Garage21]

Bill - if you want my advice, skip soldering and get a torch.  So much easier and so much more precise.  My torch allows me to do three times the work, with much better results in half the time than what a soldering iron used to take.

[LSP_Kevin]

10 minutes ago, Garage21 said:

Bill - if you want my advice, skip soldering and get a torch.  So much easier and so much more precise.  My torch allows me to do three times the work, with much better results in half the time than what a soldering iron used to take.

 

You'll have to pardon my ignorance, but what's a torch in this context, and how is it different from soldering?

 

Kev

[Out2gtcha]

42 minutes ago, LSP_Kevin said:

 

You'll have to pardon my ignorance, but what's a torch in this context, and how is it different from soldering?

 

Kev

 

 

A pencil or plumbing torch (butane powered or other) for sweating plumbing pipe VS say a soldering gun/iron with a hot tip using conductive heat.