Building the Model Airways 1/16th Scale Sopwith Camel

Partial Kit 4 of 8

The Bottom Wing

If I was ever going to be tempted to dump this whole project it would have been here.

Building the top wing was fun because it was a new experience. Building the bottom wing however is just repetitive as it is essentially a clone of the top wing. I'm afraid I found the thought of capping another 30 ribs to be borderline depressing.

I survived the process with lots of beer and thoughts of more interesting bits to come.

The only difference between the two wings is that the bottom wing is built in two halves then the spars are joined using white metal frames. A jig is used to set the correct dihedral.

The jig is simply a couple of wood blocks that hold the wing tips at the right height while the spars are attached to the frames.

With the bottom wing done, most of the woodworking is complete. There is a little in the stabilizer and the dreaded propeller is still to come, but the major components are completed. The tail section is next.

STEP 5 - The empennage