Windsock
WWI Modelling Special No. 5
Building the Wingnut Wings Sopwith Camels

Albatros Productions

Reviewed by Graham Carter

Ray Rimell needs no introduction to modellers of ‘a certain age’, having been a prolific modeller, historian and writer on the topic of early aeroplanes since the 1970s. In his preface he says he intends to ‘outline the improvements made to the kits, suggest extra details that can be incorporated, as well as covering numerous finishing and rigging techniques’, and that is exactly what you get. Other  publications in this series have covered the Albatros D.V/D.Va, the Fokker DVII, AEG G.IV and the Felixstowe flying boats. Such quality does come at a price, and this one has  a RRP of £26, but I think that is quite acceptable given the material presented.

Prolifically illustrated with images of models under construction, restored originals and archive photos all to a useful size and nicely reproduced on glossy quality paper, the booklet shows how Ray produced a trio of superb models.

The nine sections are:

• Inside the Boxes  - 2 pages

• Building the Sopwith F.1 Camel ‘Clerget’  - 33 pages

• The Rotary Club (details of other engines used) - 2 pages

• Tweaking the Duellists’ LVG C.VI - 7 pages

• What’s in a Name? - 1 page

• Building the Sopwith 2F.1 ‘Ship’s Camel’ - 12 pages

• Tondern Raiders - 2 pages

• After Market Accessories

• Appendices and Dedication -1 page

There are several excellent, non WNW, schemes drawn by Ronny Bar, the Tondern Raider scheme being particularly interesting. Modellers of all abilities will gain much from these builds and can add details to a model in any scale, whether it be the ancient Airfix 1/72, or more recent Roden ones in the same scale, the Revell 1/28 rendition , the Edward 1/48, the Italeri and WNW 1/32 ones or even Hasegawa’s monster 1/16 Museum Series kit. I suspect that flying scale builders would also find the book useful in adding that special something to their models.

I found out quite a lot about the Camel, and was interested to note that,  due to the anticlockwise rotation of the engine the castor oil stains appeared under the port lower wing and not the starboard one! There you go - something new every day!

Email Albatros Productions at mail@windsockdatafilespecials.co.uk

Text and Images Copyright © 2018 by Graham Carter
This Page Created on 12 March, 2018
Last updated 14 March, 2018

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