*(102) SOPWITH CAMEL, 1956
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AURORA KIT NO.104-SOPWITH CAMEL
Sopwith's classic Camel was an inevitable release by Aurora and they made a decent job of it although it's slightly over-sized at 1:46 scale. 36 parts moulded in the usual glossy olive plastic reserved for their British subjects, there's also the usual black runner of smaller parts, ground panel and mechanic figure that set the kits apart from their contemporaries. Jim Cox did the box art and his yellow-painted Camels strike a jarring note but they certainly stand out and one has to consider the youngsters' market Aurora were aiming at in the 1950s. The plastic content of our kit is in first class condition with all parts accounted for and carefully sealed in polythene bags. Both box and decal sheet are somewhat worn though and the latter may require several clear acrylic spray coats before dousing items in distilled water. Despite non-standard cockpit opening and large centre-section cutouts-both correct by the way-this builds into a very presentable Camel once some effort is expended.
**CONTAINS EXTRA PARTS & DECALS!
HARDLY surprising that the second WWI aeroplane kit produced by Aurora in 1:48 was the classic British Sopwith Camel which, like most of their Allied subjects, was moulded in olive and black. Our example's origins are not entirely clear. French typography on the box lid suggest production by Aurora Plastics of Canada Ltd., Rexdale, Ontario yet this is not confirmed by the instruction sheet which also lacks the copyright/year of manufacture-both uncommon omissions. Additional instruction notes offer multi-linguals: French; Italian; German; Finnish and Dutch-a 'Missing Parts' leaflet carries over 16 international agent contacts including Gran Canaria and Malta. Box art and exploded assembly diagrams were the work of Aurora's first house artist Jim Petitt Cox who joined the company from the start and was responsible for creating the memorable images that graced the box lids of Aurora's first six Series B kits. Fractionally larger than the quoted scale-it's closer to 1:46- Aurora's Camel,whilst a little clunky in places,is by no means a lost cause and with some work a most presentable model can result. Outline accuracy is good overall: wing tips accord well with most recently published drawings as do the fuselage halves despite some wayward surface detail. Tail-plane tips require re-shaping to achieve the correct taper and fin/rudder need corrective measures when removing the embossed markings. This malady extends to wings and fuselage parts and best removed by sanding, although the main-plane upper-surface will be trickier thanks to the roundel positions.
Asymmetric cockpit opening and extensive open centre-section areas of the main-plane have come in for critique over the years. Not that these are inaccurate but were untypical and back-engineering to standard configuration will be necessary for most Camels.Such changes were actually made to later reincarnations of the kit.
Instrument panel;seat and pilot make up the cockpit 'detail' although the aperture is rather small and usually obscured by the wings. On the black runner are a passable airscrew; a Clerget with doubled pushrods; linked Vickers barrels and four 'plug-in' 20 lb Cooper bombs for the lower wing.Struts would benefit from thinning but the wheels are some of Aurora's best with restrained spoke,stitching and valve aperture detail. As a finale,the customary ground panel is home to a kneeling mechanic oiling the undercarriage,can in hand and a rag poking from his back pocket. Transfers inevitably feature (incomplete) markings for Captain Roy Brown's well-trodden B7270 in which the Canadian ace briefly engaged von Richthofen over the Somme Valley on 21 April 1918. The sheet is in surprisingly good condition,slightly offset by some registration issues on fuselage roundels and rudder stripes.
*EXTRAS! Our Camel includes one of Copper State Models' 1:48 white metal Clerget rotary with its fine PE details (#112), together with a decal sheet from the 2004 Monogram/Revell re-issue providing accurate markings for a pair of colourful Camels: B3883 'Maude II' of No. 9 Naval circa September 1917 and D6402 'S' of No.43 Squadron as flown by Captain H S Woollett who scored over 20 victories flying it. Accurate and sharply-printed in Italy by Revell GB,either one will bring this old model to life once its original moulded markings are hewn off...
Camel cuts: WINDSOCK DATAFILE 26 by J M Bruce remains one of the most sought-after in the series-we had to reprint it three times! Nonetheless only a few copies remain of this excellent reference. Scores of photos from WWI; centre-fold cutaway; 1:48 scale drawings: a trio of colour profiles and over 40 close-up details of the RAFM Camel exhibit before it was strung up... See also SOPWITH CAMEL SQUADRONS by Les Rogers recording colours and markings of every squadron that deployed Camels in The Great War! Scores of photos; eight colour pages with over nine accurate profiles and plan views; plus 80 colour Camel fuselage side views displaying unit markings and flight colours. Not forgetting Jack Bruce's 1965 Profile No.31-all three titles are available-please see links below...
