Wingnut Wings Sopwith F.1 Camel BR.1

Wingnut Wings is a company producing a line of scale model kits founded by Peter Jackson (so this is what he did with his Lord of The Rings Money...) and people from WETA Workshops. These kits came onto my radar after finishing the Pocher model.

A Google image search for Wingnut Wings will give you a good idea of what's going on here. These kits are extraordinarily detailed renderings of specific WWI aircraft. Each kit is limited in production to keep the mold quality high (and it is, very high). The quality level allows for some spectacular museum quality models.

They aircraft represented are specific. If two versions of the plane had a bolt in a different place, the kit will come with two versions of the part. The instructions with the kit include many period photos noting details, a detailed history of the specific aircraft and a biography of the pilot. The instruction book is a nice read all on its own. It's hard to get your head around the amount of research that has gone into these.

This particular kit is Wingnut Wings Sopwith F.1 Camel BR.1, chosen for no particular reason.

After a lot of reading, including a couple of stand alone books published by Wingnuts, I tried a wood simulation technique that was new to me. It involves several steps; layers of different types of watercolor and acrylic, or oil, paint and multiple clear seals. The effect however is quite good, although I improved a lot as it went so the first panels are not as good as the later ones.

On the control panel, the dials are covered with a special white glue that sets up completely clear. It's looks like glass.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but you can actually read the text on the instruments. When assembled, you can barely see this panel at all.

The bar across the front is actually the air intake for the engine. The pilots sat right in the middle of everything.

The fit of Wingnuts parts is insanely perfect. The accuracy of the molding is not like anything I have ever seen.

One problem I had is that the slightest layer of paint can be thick enough to throw off the way things go together. You have to careful about this.

This view gives some idea of how little of the interior detail is visible from the outside. Man I spent hours on that stuff... But it has to be there, because it is.

The parts have so much detail that you just have to keep working down; smaller and smaller bits.

The usual way the rigging is done as far as I can tell is to add the cables to the lower wing, add the upper wing, then attach the upper end of the cables. I decided to basically do most of the rigging while I could reach everything easily. The rigging product is extreme stretchy, so I was able to make sure the upper wing would simply pull it a little more when in place.

RAF planes used a cable with a flat profile, not round. The rigging here is an elastic use in knitting that comes very close to the right scale and shape. It was hard making sure it did not go on with a twist.

The round product I used for control lines was easier.

Speaking of control lines, the detail on this model is so great that you can see how it all worked on the real plane. I did add the control lines across the floor of the cockpit to the parts the pilot moves. One could actually run these lines realistic through the fuselage and to the control surface of the tail. I didn't. In fact I took a couple of minor shortcuts on the rigging. It was just too much.

This is the completed plane, without the engine.

The motor is a model all on it's own.

I did not add the ignition wire. So sue me...

Several pretty bad problems I had show up in these photos. Best not to look too close. It was a learning experience.

Done.

This is a particularly harsh photo.

I found these kits take a much more serious approach than one might expect, and I did expect it to be tricky. They are not difficult in the way the Pochers are, things here actually fit together, but the sheer level of detail available creates a remarkable challenge. I look forward to doing a better one next time.

My album for this project is here.