The Sopwith Camel was one of the iconic fighter aircraft of WWI, and probably its most famous. Even the casual observer of WWI aircraft is familiar with the name, it being used in various media to represent the classic WWI fighter. From books to movies to cartoons, the Sopwith Camel seems to be the aircraft of choice for Allied protagonists.

Development of the Camel, so named for the “hump” over its guns, commenced in 1916 as Sopwith was seeking to replace its highly successful but single gun Pup with a more powerful, heavier armed aircraft. The initial Camel prototype featured a single piece top wing with no dihedral, two Vickers machine guns, and a 110hp Clerget engine. Combined with 5” dihedral bottom wings and a high center of gravity, the Camel proved to be highly maneuverable but tricky and somewhat dangerous to fly. The aircraft was further refined during development with a variety of improvements including a 3-piece top wing with a center cut out for better visibility and a more powerful 130hp Clerget engine. Production began in earnest in January 1917 and the aircraft began appearing in service around May of that year. The Camel was used by both the RFC and the RNAS, and each branch of service adopted their preferred variants. The RNAS preferred the 150hp Bentley Rotary (BR 1) engine, while the RFC preferred either the LeRhone or improved versions of the Clerget. However, both the Bentley and Clerget powered aircraft developed problems with the interrupter gear while the LeRhone powered aircraft, featuring the Constantinesco synchronizer, were much more dependable.

By war’s end around 5500 Camels were built by Sopwith and several licensees. Camels also saw service as a shipboard version with shorter wings, and as a night-fighter. In addition to Great Britain, Camels were used by Belgium, the United States, Canada, Estonia and Latvia. Interestingly, a number of the most successful aces were from Canada including William Barker, Raymond Collishaw, Donald McLaren and A. Roy Brown. With the appearance of the Snipe in 1918 the diminutive Camel’s days were numbered although the aircraft was not officially declared obsolete until 1919.

The starboard fuselage frame is then added to the assembly. The cabane struts are molded onto both frames, presumably to make their installation easier and more accurate. However, care should be taken in handling the assembled unit as I inadvertently broke off both of the rear cabane struts. After reattaching them and breaking them again I left them off until after the top wing was installed. Not the ideal way to handle this but I made it work. Finally, the Vickers machine gun subassembly was installed into the cockpit which consisted of the rear half of the guns, an oil tank, empty shell chutes and gun mounts. The gun barrels are installed later.

Attention is next turned to the fuselage halves. There are various rigging lines to install in the tail skid area, and holes to drill in the fuselage depending on the aircraft you are building. The cockpit assembly is then installed in the starboard fuselage half along with the tailskid, then the port fuselage half is joined to the assembly. Finally the front engine plate is attached and the fuselage assembly is ready to be puttied and sanded. Fit was good and I only had to putty it twice to fill the minor gaps.

Next up the bottom wing and tailplane are added to the fuselage. You can choose to add the tailplane control horns now or wait until you are closer to rigging before adding them. I added mine now but I knocked them off several times during construction so next time I’ll wait. You could choose to separate the tailplane from its flaps and reposition them, although I chose not to this go around. The cockpit decking is next and depending on which aircraft you are building parts of the decking are removed prior to attaching it to the fuselage. The top cowling, or “hump,” is then added last.

Details are added to the fuselage/bottom wing assembly. The Camel, as did several British aircraft, has small windows in the wings to allow observation and adjustment of the aileron control lines. These windows are added from the clear parts sprue using clear parts cement. Depending on the version you are building the windows are outlined in either aluminum or dope color (PC 10 or 12). Be sure to cover the windows with tape once added to keep them from getting scratched or painted over. The fin and rudder assembly is then added to the rear of the fuselage. Don’t forget to add the control horn prior to attaching it. The instructions call for you to add the gun barrels and windscreen but I chose not to until after some painting was done. (I ultimately forgot the windscreen and was unable to install it with the top wing in place). There are various windscreen options depending on the particular aircraft. Versions B and E add the Rotherham petrol pump to the starboard front cabane strut, but it was not used on the version I built. Finally, before adding the top wing be sure to install the Aldis gun sight as it is very difficult to do once the wing is on.

The next step was to assemble the top wing. Like the original, the wing is composed of three pieces, a center section and left and right sections. I glued the three pieces together, let them dry flat on the work table, then lightly puttied the sections to eliminate any major gaps. I left off the ailerons and control horns until I was ready for rigging. Following this I was ready to add the struts and attach the top wing. I normally add the wing to the cabane struts and, once dry, then add the interplane struts separately. However, since I had broken the two rear cabane struts I decided to install all the wing struts, then install the wing, and finally reinstall the broken cabane struts. Conceptually this worked except the bottom dihedral meant that I needed to glue the top wing to the struts on one side then hold the wing and struts on that side in place until set before moving on to the other side. After holding the wing and struts in place for about 5 minutes I was able to use some tape to continue holding that side while I went to work on the other side. I glued the wing and struts on the other side, held it in place for about 5 minutes, then used some more tape to hold the wing and struts in place until it had set overnight. The next day I added the rear cabane struts to the assembly, using a little super glue to fill the gaps. I did a little touch up painting and the struts were almost like they’d never broken. But next time I’ll try to be more careful.

I decided to do most of the rigging now so I began by concentrating on the wings, installing the flying wires (the double wires leading from the top wing interplane struts to the lower wing next to the fuselage) first . WNW recommends the use of EZLine without turnbuckles since Camels didn’t have them anyway. EZ Line is easy to use, although a little “wiggly.” I used the fine size, 0.15mm, although I think the heavy grade 0.30 would have been better. Photos of Camels show the wing wires as quite thick. Regardless, I proceeded with the rigging by first drilling out dual location holes under the upper wing next to the interplane struts with an 80 bit in a pin vise. WNW recommends drilling the holes to a depth of 1mm. My reaction to this bit of advice was “uh, sure, let me get my metric ruler.” Seriously, just drill the holes to a comfortable depth making sure you don’t go all the way through the wing. You’ll probably be close to 1mm anyway. Once the location holes are drilled simply put a very small drop of super glue in one hole and place the end of the line in the hole, holding it with some tweezers until set (about 15-30 seconds). I typically work from inside out. Once the line is set then lightly stretch it to the location hole on the bottom wing and cut off enough EZ Line so that it doesn’t quite reach the intended location. Put a tiny drop of super glue in the hole and hold it in place with tweezers until set up. Make sure not to cut the line too short so that it has to stretch too much to reach the location because this puts too much tension on the line and makes it difficult for the super glue to set and hold the line. Trial and error will give you the experience to determine the right length to make the line. EZ Line will not sag with only a little bit of tension in the line so no need to make it too tight.

Once the flying wires were installed I then turned my attention to the landing wires, these being the single wires that run from the upper wing next to the cabane struts to the lower wing next to the interplane struts. I used the same technique for attaching these lines, then proceeded to install the X wires between the interplane struts and the cabane struts. In both cases the struts come with small location holes, or eyelets, on the struts through which to attach the X rigging wires. Before installing the struts, I made sure to drill out the holes with an 80 bit, very carefully, because the eyelets get filled with Future or paint. I would then thread the line through the top location eyelet and secure it with a drop of super glue. Once dry I would thread the other end through the lower eyelet on the other strut and secure it with super glue. Once dry I would trim off any excess line. Normally I would install all the lines in the top holes before moving on to the lower hole, but there’s no magic to it.

Rigging the teardrop shaped tensioner between the front cabane struts is slightly tricky but don’t overthink it. Simply add the rigging to the tensioner at the location points using EZ Line. Then cut the top EZ Lines to equal lengths and secure the top two lines to the underside of the upper wing right next to the cabane struts. There is a small indentation in the wing marking the location. Once this is secure then thread the lower lines through the small eyelets on the outer edge of the cabane struts, stretch them a bit to get the tensioner in place, and secure them with super glue. I only had to redo my tensioner rigging once. You may want to install the tensioner rigging prior to installing the hump above the cowling because it makes it easier to reach the eyelets on the cabane struts.

Once I was finished with all the internal wing rigging I moved on to attaching and rigging the ailerons. Rigging proceeded from the top wing to the control horn through the ailerons to the bottom control horn. From there I attached a separate line from the lower wing location back to the lower aileron control horn. All the locations are clearly marked beforehand so it just requires drilling out the location holes prior to rigging. After finishing both sides, I then moved on to rigging the tail section. The Camel has one of the most elaborately rigged tail sections I have ever seen. There are twenty-two separate lines required to rig the tail section, plus two more to rig the tail skid. It’s not difficult, but it does require some planning and patient execution. WNW gives good rigging diagrams although I recommend reading it several times before installing the lines.

Sopwith Camel Squadrons, Les Rogers, Albatros Publications.

Wingnut Wings kit instructions.

Sopwith Camel, Wikipedia.

Otis Goodin