JohnReid Posted 29 November , 2007 Author Share Posted 29 November , 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susanhemmings Posted 29 November , 2007 Share Posted 29 November , 2007 Still following John, wonderful work and so complicated.... very very pleasant on the eye. Thanks for sharing. Susan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 3 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 3 December , 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 3 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 3 December , 2007 Except for the plumbing most of the engine area is finished.A few paint touch ups and a little weathering later should do it. I temporarily installed the engine up against the firewall to see how it looks and now will remove it again to put the fuselage assembly in the kit supplied jig and complete the cockpit area. I must confess about how easy it is to screw up even when you think that you are being careful.It always usually happens when I set my mind to finishing something at the end of a building session.I just wanted to see the engine mount permanently glued to the fuselage. I super glued it and then much to my horror discovered it was upside down.Luckily I caught it before it had time to really cure.Luckily I had some un-cure handy and it worked out well with no damage to the structure.Darn,you can't let your guard down for a minute! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 5 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 5 December , 2007 Opinions please! I am at a stage now with the Camel build where I have to finally decide whether to add the guns or not to the model.Up until now I was of the opinion that they would have been long removed from the aircraft but now I am having second thoughts. The story is that it is being transported by road to a university in southern Ontario where it will be used for study and research purposes.(this actually happened after the war). A asked a young friend of mine(13)what he thought and he said that it would be more attractive to the kids if I left them on. The Camel aircraft after all got its name from the hump created by the machine guns and they are a big part of its overall design. Something tells me that in all likelihood the guns would have been removed ,but then again I am doing this diorama for the kids and I want to please them first and foremost.What do you guys think on or off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 6 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 6 December , 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susanhemmings Posted 6 December , 2007 Share Posted 6 December , 2007 John - the detail on this is phenomenal. For what its worth I think if the original had the guns on then this should also have them attached. Thank you for sharing this amazing piece of work. Susan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 7 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 7 December , 2007 Wow! at this level of magnification every flaw sure shows.The things you never see at 1/16th. The copper fittings were heated red hot with a butane lighter and then dunked in cold water to get the aged patina.Where the nails or screws go I just colored the holes black.With successive coats it will look better. The lower wing root area is another figment of the kit designers imagination,so I attempted to make it look a little better using some extra fittings I had left over from Jenny(in the end however I will somehow cover this area)I added some extra brace wire fittings for the internal wires. Some areas were weathered now while they are easily accessible . Next will be the rudder bar and the installation of the main fuel tank. Thanks to everyone who responded to my guns off or on question.Looks like 90% want them left on.My modeling bud,Stephen Lawson ,had a great idea.They could be fakes that were used in the air shows and movies of the era.I will have to research this angle and see if any Camels were used in this way in Canada .This would fit perfectly into my story line as a former movie prop airplane being donated to a university or museum.Movies were very important to this era as a means of promoting aviation to the general public. If anyone has any info on this please let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 8 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 8 December , 2007 Still following John, wonderful work and so complicated.... very very pleasant on the eye. Thanks for sharing. Susan. Thanks Susan! Glad you like it.Cheers! John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 11 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 11 December , 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landsturm Posted 11 December , 2007 Share Posted 11 December , 2007 I keep amazing the huge effort you make in these... hopefully soon there will be a MGWAT-title that suits your current work what ever it will be at the time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 11 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 11 December , 2007 Thanks Landstrum! Cheers.John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 14 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 14 December , 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 16 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 16 December , 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 17 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 17 December , 2007 In building the Camel I get a real sense of a fighter pilot's aircraft .It has the same mystic that the Spitfire had in WW2.Everything about this airplane says "top of the food chain", the Peregrine Falcon of the fighter aircraft world of its day.I can only imagine the feeling that a pilot would get sitting in this cockpit.Joy,fear,excitement,a feeling of pilot and machine as one.It must have been a wonderful feeling to master an aircraft such as this.A very real challenge just to fly let alone fight in.Once you were in you were in till the end whatever the outcome.No escape from this cockpit.You either walk away or you buy the farm,period.Modern day gladiators for sure! It must have seemed very strange to return from battle every night ,sitting in the officers mess sipping your brandy and wondering if tomorrow would be your turn to die! Unlike the foot soldier who lived in constant fear of sudden death in the trenches, the fighter pilot was in a kind of strange world of destruction by day and mock joy of survival at night.Still knowing that tomorrow the cycle would begin all over again.It must have taken nerves of steel to climb into that cockpit every day,day after day and try to be brave until the very end. __________________ It has been said that the difference between a "pilot" and an "aviator" is that a pilot is a technician,and an aviator is an artist in love with flight. JohnReid (Aviator) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 17 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 17 December , 2007 Duplicate post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 19 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 19 December , 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 20 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 20 December , 2007 The machine guns! the machine guns are an excellent example of fake guns and are a great depiction of how a carpenter might build a fake gun and then paint it gunmetal! The fact that they are fakes and look it doesn't bother me at all ,in fact guns are not one of my favorite things anyway and not really something that I would want to promote to kids.Maybe I should paint them red! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 21 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 21 December , 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 21 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 21 December , 2007 Air show guns! Now there is no question that these are fake guns made from tin.The storyline is of an ex airshow Camel being shipped off for use as a movie prop or for movie advertising purposes.For airshows showmanship would allow for painted guns ,where in movies they would have to be more realistic looking. I would rather that these be obviously looking fakes than a bad attempt at trying to make them looking real. I know that this is not everyone's cup of tea(apology to my military friends) but it does fit in with the storyline of this diorama.It also allows me to use these obviously fake guns without having to scratchbuild new ones and still inject the movie aspect into the diorama. I think now that I have captured just about every aspect of aviation in the 20's.Military re-union,airshow,racing,movies etc... I plan to suggest to the museum people that they make the display interactive for the kids ,such as finding the air race posters or the Wright Flyer or the 4 animals that will be in the diorama.Some will be easy and others very hard to spot and it sure would be a great way to have them explore the whole diorama. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susanhemmings Posted 21 December , 2007 Share Posted 21 December , 2007 That's a great idea John. And thank you for sharing, as always. It's coming along famously. Susan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 21 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 21 December , 2007 Glad you like it Susan! Happy Holidays,Cheers! John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 24 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 24 December , 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnReid Posted 24 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 24 December , 2007 Peace and Love everyone! Back in the 60's this was my dad's first attempt at skywriting.He was flying our recently restored '29 Beech Travelair biplane.You can just see the airplane on the right hand middle of the pic.If you follow the smoke trail back you can just make out the" l "and "o "of the word love.These were the 60's of course and he was attempting to write "Peace and Love" in the skies over the city of Montreal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Gilinsky Posted 26 December , 2007 Share Posted 26 December , 2007 As a fellow Canadian John you do us all proud with your persistence and dedication to historical detail. Glad to see such high standards from a fellow Canadian as well. Thanks for thinking of the GWF and others interested in early aviation. Where do you plan to put your DH4 diorama? Do you think that the CWM or the Canadian Aviation Museum in Rockcliffe or elsewhere in Canada would be interested? Silly question of course they would! Best wishes, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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