Sopwith F.1 Camel, 148th AS

EDUARD EU8057 BOX ART

SOPWITH F.1 CAMEL 3-VIEW

This 3-view drawing is credited to J. D. Carrick or F. Yeoman and appeared in Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War compiled by W. M. Lamberton and published by Harleyford Publications Limited. The British-designed Sopwith F.1 Camel was adopted by the U. S. Air Service as the pursuit aircraft for its 148th Aero Squadron which served under RAF command. The squadron was eventually transferred directly to USAS control and was to re-equip on the Spad 13 but the war ended

THE MODEL TO BE BUILT

The model to be built is Sopwith F.1 Camel serial D.8250 flown by 1/Lt Elliot Springs, 148th Aero Squadron, serving under RAF command. This profile is by Harry Dempsey as it appears in Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No. 42, American Aces of WW1, plate 18, page 58.

148th Aero Squadron Insignia, White Triangle

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 1

The beginning. Fuselage fabric painted in Vallejo 837 Pale Sand. The wood section painted in Vallejo 875 Beige Brown with a little highlighting on the vertical parts. Forward metal paneling painted in Tamiya XF-16 Flat Aluminum. Not shown yet is the rotary engine under construction and painting. Left to right: instrument panel using the kit's decals for gauges; center, forward fire wall; right, rear part of the cockpit with the seat from Eduard's WW1 seat accessory PE sheet, and main fuel tank. This is the first 'Camel' I've built since Aurora's kit back in the late 1950's!

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 2

Fuselage interior completed in four sub-aasemblies: seat/fuel tank, instrument panel, firewall, and engine. The lower wing's ailerons are glued in place. A couple of parts were added to its center section (floorboard, control column) and painted. The fit of the seat/fuel tank sub-assembly was by guesswork. The rear portion did fit into slots but the forward portion did not have an attachment point. Nonetheless, all went well.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTOS Nos. 3a & 3b

Before attaching the lower wing, some cockpit details were added. The carbuerator intake pipes were 'extended' by adding small cut-off bits of brass tubing to project to the outside of the fuselage. Short pieces of .005 MFT were added to the rudder bar suggesting the connection of cables from the rudder bar to the rudder horns. Now the lower wing is attached. The fit was exact without any difficulty.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTOS No. 4

Landing gear is next. I opted to use the kit's parts. I am a little cautious especially since the attachment points to the fuselage are flat on, there being no pins or deep enough recess. After the glue set up, I rigged the landing gear according to color photos of a museum piece.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 5

In order to finish this model as 1/Lt Elliott Springs' Camel, I placed a special order for the decal set for D.8250 from Moorland Scale Model Decals in the UK. It took a while for them to arrive by letter but I was pleased nonetheless. I decided to get as much completed of the fuselage and tail before concentrating on the wings. Sodecals for letter '0', British roundel, white triangle, and black D.8250 were applied over a coat of satin polyurethane. The tail stripes were hand painted. Note also 1) that Eduard Vickers Brassin machine guns were added; 2) tail reinforcing wires are attached; and 3) the tail skid is brass rod and painted.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 6

The underside of the top wing is prepared for attachment to the fuselage. The struts are made from brass rod and tube. All of the rigging is moved aside and taped.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 7

The top wing is attached, first by the fuselage struts and, when dry, by the wing struts. All of the rigging lines were taped down to avoid interferring with the wing attachment. This photo shows some of the rigging being installed, namely, the front fuselage struts. Rigging is .005 charcoal MFT.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.8

This photo shows how the rigging is pulled taut while the super glue hardens. Note the "cone" on the forward fuselage struts separating the rigging so as to avoid touching the Vickers machine guns.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.9

All rigging is done except for the tail's rudder and elevator control lines and the wing aileron horns and control wires. All decals have been added using Peddinghaus 3847 (148th Aero, Elliott Springs). The rudder stripes were hand-painted. Barely visible is a scratch-built wind-driven pump attached to the right rear cabane strut. Much touch-up required.

FINISHED PHOTO No.10

I added a scratch-built Pitot tube to the upper right front wing strut, above the white "kill" stripes. Attached to the right rear cabane strut is the scratch-built wind-driven pump. I found the propeller logos in my stash.

FINISHED PHOTO No.11

Strut logos are from the kit's decal sheet. The gunsight is scratch-built from two sizes of brass tubing and painted metallic black. At this stage in the war, Camels were used extensively in the ground attack role. As such, most if not all of 148th Aero's Camels had PC.10 painted over the wood cockpit panel, metal panels, and metal cowling. Additionally, the serial number was re-painted in black. All of this was done to further camouflage the aircraft from above.

FINISHED PHOTO No.12

White wheel covers denote "B" flight of the 148th Aero of which Lt. Elliott Springs was the flight leader. All rigging is done except for the tail's rudder and elevator control lines and the wing aileron horns and control wires. All decals have been added using Peddinghaus 3847 (148th Aero, Elliott Springs). The rudder stripes were hand-painted. Barely visible is a scratch-built wind-driven pump attached to the right rear cabane strut. Much touch-up required.

FINISHED PHOTO No.13

Camels of "B" flight used mid-range alphabetic letters; Springs' letter was 'O' and appered in black on the underside of the left lower wing.

FINISHED PHOTO No.14

The 148th Aero Squadron flew exclusively with the RAF until late in the war when it reverted back to U. S. Air Service control and was scheduled to re-equip with Spad 13s but the war ended before they could be deployed.

FINISHED PHOTO No.15

This photo points out a problem with Peddinghaus decals. Note the solid color of the white wheel covers and central white stripe of the rudder. Compare them to the letter 'O' and white triangle unit symbol. The decals are less opaque. The problem is more evident on the wing roundels. Also, their decals have to be cut out precisely because the entire sheet is decal paper. This is tedious especially for roundels.

FINISHED PHOTO No.16

My version of PC.10 is a Vallejo mix of 887 Brown Violet and 983 Flat Earth, probably 50-50.

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Bibliography:

Franks, Norman and Frank Bailey. Over the Front. London, UK: Grub Street, 1998.

Maurer, Maurer, editor. The U.S. Air Service in World War I, four volumes. U. S. Government Printing Office, 1979.

Lamberton, W. M., Compiler, and E. F. Cheesman, Editor. Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War. Los Angeles, CA: Aero Publishers, 1962.

U. S. Air Force Unit Histories, 148th Aero Squadron (based on the U.S.Army Order of Battle 1919-1941).

U. S. Air Service 148th Aero Squadron: https://usafunithistory.com/PDF/0100/125-149/148%20AERO%20SQ.pdf

Wingnut Wings Instruction Manual, Sopwith F.1 Camel 'USAS', page 15

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