Though by now more than thirty years old Revells 1/28 scale Sopwith Camel is still a firm favourite. For some time I have been exchanging e-mail and ICQ with Italian modeller Daniele Silvestri, whose long term project based on this venerable kit is nearing completion. Not content with merely upgrading and detailing the kit Daniele elected to model the 2f1 Ships Camel. I hope to be able to publish the results here before too long, but for now here is a very small sample of the skills of Daniele Silvestri.

Modelling the 2f1 verion of the Sopwith Camel involves, amongs other things, replacing the kits Clerget engine with a British Bentley BR1. Bentleys series of rotaries began with a need to improve on the Clerget, the British built versions of which were less reliable than the French. Daniele also took the Clerget as his start point. As can be seen, considering the limitations in mold technology at the time, Revell did an outstanding job of representing the Clerget. Replacing the heavily molded push rods with steel pins or fine wire is not difficult and well worth the effort. However, Daniele needed to do a lot more than that.

Common household copper wire is the main material, stripped of insulation and painstakingly wound around each of the nine cylinders. The cylinders were first removed from the crank case which was itself increased in diametre with a ring of thick plastic card. The various flats and bevels are then filed and sanded into the plastic. Thicker wire serves as the induction manifold, whilst the steel pins used for the push rods are a clear improvement on the kit parts. The four long tubes running down the sides of each block are head retaining bolts, and again steel wire is used. Aluminium paint and a dirty wash complete the job.

This is just a very small part of the enormous ammount of work Daniele has put into his project. The fruits of his labours can be enjoyed on the Culley's Camel page on this site.