I work for a Newspaper that has an online store that sells memorabilia stuff. I was working on the ad they are running for it and came across a Sopwith Camel model (display, not flyable). It looks to be very detailed, says it’s made of wood and fabric (handmade), 15"or 23" ver wingspan. They want $125 and my employee discount only gives me 10% off which sucks considering all I do for them, it should be free(but that’s another story). I think it might be a little more than Id like to spend, but it put the thought in my head of getting a nicely detailed model to display next to my computer. Since I fly ROF most of the time, Id love an SE5 or Camel. Does anyone know of a good place to by such things? I don’t have time to build one myself, Id like to buy one already made.

Rob

Scoobe, screw them, make it yourself

http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/

I am seriously thinking about getting a resin kit from Wingnutz. They look really nice. Im just worried I wont have the time to build it and it will sit in a drawer for years.
I fount th emanufacture of the one I might get, This is it: http://www.modelplanes.com/military-airplanes/assembled-airplanes/sopwithcamelmodelairplane.cfm I can get it for $100 brand new. Im still thinking about it.
P.S. I love the feature list: "The plane flown by Snoopy" lol

Rob

Ah the curse of the modeller.

Yes we all get that, but they bug you and you get them done and look far better.

"see that, I did that, whaddya think?"

Life is short, and you're dead for a long time. One of Peter Jackson's Wingnut kits would be great...or you could get up your ambition and build a wood flying model, like Aerodrome RC produces!

Thir smallest SE-5 is only 26 5/8" span and would look great displayed when you're not flying it



=MFC=Gunloon

Do you have the opportunity to actually see the item in person?

The model displayed on the website looks fairly good to me, though it'd be nice to see what the cockpit detail is like. A shame, imho, that they chose to paint it in that crazy YELLOW!!

If it truly is handmade (as opposed to *ahem* hand-assembled) which it seems to be, then at 100$ it can be considered good value considering how much time it takes to create a truly handmade item.

While I'd be tempted to make a model kit of it as I enjoy the process of building, I can appreciate your concern about buying a kit and looking wistfully at the box art for years before you can get to building it.

One way of looking at it is to estimate how long it might take you to create a similar model. Would it take you more than 10 hours to build a similar model and are you paid $10/hour or more?
If the answer to either of those questions is yes, and you don't have the time or inclination to build a kit then it seems to me it makes more sense to buy it UNLESS you can make a better model yourself (mind you, nothing stops you from buying it and making the improvements you might feel are necessary- repainting, adding cockpit details, etc)...

Just my $0.02...

Yea, the yellow color is weird looking on a Camel. It does look nice, but I think Id rather have an Se5 model. The wing nuts kit (Se5) looks really nice. I think, as others have said, the sense of accomplishment in building a kit would be nice. I can work on it at my own pace and it is somewhat therapeutic. As for cost, once I buy everything I need to paint and assemble it, it will cost about the same, so that’s not a factor.

OK, I bought the Wingnuts SE5. I think it will be fun to build and the kit quality looks very nice.

Rob

If you don't want to spend too much time, or not worried about less detail, then the "Snap Tite" kits are easy to make (I let my 6 year old son make the ones in my man-cave...) and look pretty good.

Here is a link with over a 100 kits of that type, several WWI HERE The Dr1 for $3.79, I think in 1:72 scale. If you have any talent at all, several of them would make a nice furball mobile (hanging artwork) from your ceiling. I just might do that!

From the same type as the Camel, they also do "transparent" AC.
http://maennerladen-hh.de/shop/product_info.php?cPath=280_22&products_id=381

But the transparent Camel is 680EUR!!! on Amazon.de

http://www.amazon.de/Geschenke-Modelle-F...5950&sr=8-9

Would look great next to the computer, but damn, way too expensive.

Way to go Scoobe! I'm sure you'll enjoy your new S.E.5.

If you end up getting a RC model and plan on flying it, make sure you find someone who is willing to give you training. If you try to fly one without help, even if you are a real or sim pilot, you are guaranteed to crash it.

I met a guy yesterday who has a 1/4 scale D7 and a 1/4 scale Spad. Flying models of course.

The Wingnuts Peter Jackson is that the Lord of the Rings/King Kong Peter Jackson?

yea, thats the same guy.

Here is a link to more info about his connection to this company
http://hyperscale.com/2010/features/wwinterviewdw_1.htm

Rob

Thanks!

He's also the boss of the Vintage Aviator company in New Zealand. Notice the similarity in looks to the Wingnuts site.

Someone needs to get him ROFing, he'd be the ultimate fanboi, and I bet you'd finally see ROF in Australian and NZ stores if it had his endorsement

=MFC=Gunloon

I was in a The bargain shop the other day, cutting through the isles and what did I see but vintage airplane models.
So I picked up the fokker, the spad, camel and DR1 that's all the wwI planes they had. Not too bad looking for $6 each!
What a tease though, they have a picture of the SE5 dogfighting the DR1 on the box, but not available.

BTW this is the anniversary of the wright Bros flight today

Cool article on the Peter Jackson connection to Wingnuts, cheers for that