Attention AvChat! My next plane will be a...

After much research, and as many of you have deduced, I am electing to build a full size replica of one of the iconic dream planes of my early youth, the Sopwith 1.F.1 Camel. I have opted for a more modern engine for safety and to allow radio communication (can't use a radio with a rotary engine), but one that has the same power. So I have just purchased last week a 150 hp Rotec 9 cylinder radial that will swing a 90" propeller. I will be using the original aircrafts's rudder bar flight controls, approximate airfoil, wing areas, incidences and dihedral from the Replicraft plans of Mr. Kiger. I now also have access to Roger Freeman's local extensive references to the Camel, including factory drawings, and am locating original instruments as available. I've started a local lady replicating a wicker seat from photos and blueprints. Being a big giy, I have determined the 27"+ inter longeron width should allow a comfortable cockpit, about like a Champ. We are shooting for E-LSA eleigibility which gives a lot of advantages. There is no kit, but will be working with Robert Baslee who has built similar aircraft before. Other concessions to safety will be a welded steel tube frame to supplant the wooden airframe, and horror of horrors, brakes, so I don't run into anyone on the ramp.
While I am already buying raw materials, this will take a while to do. For me, this has always been a dream aircraft, much the same as a Corsair. And the LSA eligibility and running costs have a lot of advantages for a government pensioner. There is a former F-15 Sqn commander in Houston with a full size Nieuport 28, so we are planning some formation trips (s-l-o-w )
Here we go. All advice welcome.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Thanks all.
The devil is certainly in the details. The WW1 British planes were the first to use streamlined flying wires, and will be having a set of those made. Don't know how much, but am told there is a 10x difference in drag over regular wire. I'll need every knot with 231 sq feet of wing and 150 hp! Only one supplier in the states - Steen Labs - and they get them from the one manufacturer in England. Will be ordering once we verify the measurements.

And true to form, I've already sourced the two Vickers .303 ...

 

It's not how much hp, but how much torque. The Camels had engines from 110 - 170 hp (typically a 130 hp Clerget), but it was achieved at 1300 rpm yielding massive torque and allowing the use of the large wide chord propellors.

Not sure about the skid, yet.

 

I am studying hard, and amazed constantly at the cleverness of the original designers as well as replica builders. The skid thing sounds good - any refrences? Looking fwd to seeing you at OTF; I will also be at Dayton for the September WW1 fly-in if anyone is going.

There are some intresting well documented field mods made to the Camel I've found and going to incorporate, one being the removal of the wooden front section over the guns and enlargement of the cockpit hole to allow easier gun servicing. Well, it also makes ingress/egress easier and more comfortable for this non-WW1 sized pilot. As usual, there were also differing interpretations of the general order. Here is a photo of an original specification cockpit, and two with the field modification taken from wartime photo based builds. The last replica, Peter Jackson's replica in NZ, can be identified in the cockpit shot as having the later Bentley BR-1, by the ignition variator on the right lower panel - it varies the number of cylinders firing as a way to select engine power.
I used to have an Alfa Romeo that did that on its own.

A few cockpit inches does make a huge difference.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Yes - that is what I meant. All cylinders fire but it ends up being every other, every x, keeping even spacing etc, around the firing order till all have fired. That is also what my Alfa did on its own, but in a more random selection...

If you have any photos of Mr Murrin's Camel, would love to see them.

Many thanks.

 

Fuselage tacked up, will start welding tomorrow; WW1 altimeter off ebay arrived (it works), now looking for compass and airspeed indicator. Throttle quadrant in the mail; engine ordered from Australia.

I wish I could get one of the few new production Oberursels or LeRhones, but they are all spoken for, and or years away from completion.

Will be at the National WW 1 fly-in at Dayton at the USAF Museum 26 Sept if anyone going. I'll be the guy with camera, tape measure, notepad and shopping bag.

 

Hey, pilots out there!
WW1 planes used an inverted inclinometer with a bubble in the top of it.

So, stepping 'on the ball' is the same as stepping 'away from the bubble'?
Image Unavailable, Please Login