The Little World

And the next time I do, it will be with an incontinent dog.

The colour scheme chosen for the Academy Sopwith Camel is the closest I could come to the preserved example in the RAF museum at Hendon. Working on the assumption that if any knew what a Camel would look like it would be the RAF, I was able to discard most of the odd box scheme markings and just use the generic ones.

The colours used were the simple khaki and linen of the time with generic brown for the struts and the propeller. The cowling is stainless steel silver, the engine dark iron. No great difficulty there. the trouble started with the decals.

I have been happy with Academy decals in the past – but I may have been applying them to surfaces that were flat enough and glossy enough to let them adhere and not buckle. No such luck with the Camel. The side bits went on fine and the under-wing roundels sucked into the concave areas between ribs – but the upper-wing rondels fought back all the way.

I have covered utes with tarps that lay flatter. I have shovelled dirt on graves that looked better. I have spoken gentler words whilst wrestling bears. The upper roundels finally compelled me to wipe them away and go seek something better in the spares box.

I did find a size and colour match but the decals were suspect eastern European ones so I suspected they would have their own problems. Nevertheless I persisted with a long soaking time and Tamiya decal glue plus Micro Sol and Mr Mark Softer plus cotton buds. Eventually I had to use Tamiya Decal glue to spot the last wrinkles and get it all down.

Next time I have this issue I will spray paint the roundels the same time as I do the rudder colours, I’ve got an Olfa cutter from the same chap who donated this kit and I might as well learn to use it now.