Building a Full-Size WW1 Sopwith Camel: Wing Struts Complete

[@SteamerEdge]

Those wing struts now look authentic. Your attention to detail, craftsmanship, motivation and persistence is amazing . Good to see your build getting underway again. Thanks for the videos, cheers Paul 👍

[@scottmatthews5280]

Thank you very much!

[@ptonpc]

I think one of the hardest things is keep going.

[@scottmatthews5280]

I’ve got this. Thanks

[@WarblesOnALot]

G'day Scott, My first response is that those Offset Diagonal Cross-Braces are indeed critical, in that the whole weight of the Aeroplane hangs off the Centre-Section Spars via the Centre-Section Wires.... Axles transfer Ground-Loads from Wheels to the U/C Struts - to the Fuselage Vertical Members, to the Centre Section Cabanes, to the Upper C.S. Spar-Ends...- and then the whole Fuselage literally Dangles from those Eight Wires...(!). My second cut Response is thet there should be Adjustable Diagonal Bracing Cables, inside the Uppeer Centre-Section ; To prevent the Cabane's Top Ends from waving around and twitching on every other Wire in the entire Cat's Cradle - whenever you pull on a Lower Offset Diagonal Bracing Cable. Nothing Rectilinear can ever be inherantly rigid..., Without Triangulation having been embodied in the Structure's Design...(!). Congratulations on having made it through that Inspection. Keep on keeping on. Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !

[@scottmatthews5280]

Thanks warbles I’ll get it sorted.

[@vf101jay]

I just stumbled onto your channel, I find it very entertaining and interesting. Though I love early aviation, I’m not very knowledgeable. I assume in choosing to build a kit replica that you likely have done extensive research on the originals. I think it would be very interesting to hear how your build may differ from the 1900’s materials and techniques as sort of trivia conversation as you are describing your build steps. There is something strangely beautiful about a covered aircraft stripped down to the ribs. Thank you for sharing your build with us, as I said I just started watching so I am excited to discover what engine you are planning! Hello from Canada.

[@WarblesOnALot]

G'day, Matt's a busy busy Get-stuff-done type of bloke..; probably too busy to say a lot in response to your question... However I do weird things, and talk a lot, but I also know obscure stuff and my average Bullshit Content hovers somewhere around 5%...(!). So I'll try to answer your queries. Matt. here has done LOTS of research, including cobbling up Files and folders of Photo's from every surviving actual Camel today displayed static in a Museum, or flying in a state of preservation ; as well as photo's of lots of the "Modern Replicas", such as this one. The changes made from the original Camels are Pretty much EVERYTHING - Except... Most of the LOOK of the thing - particularly when standing behind and at a distance. Camels are built of Rectilinear Wooden-Frame Girders, with Struts in Compression, all precisely trued-up by Wires in Tension, underneath their Fabric...; this Replica has a Welded Steel-Tube "Warren" Box-Girder for a Fuselage, with Wings & Tail Structure pop-riveted up from Aluminium Tubes - and it has a "very forgiving looking" Clark-Y type of Aerofoil, rather than the original Royal Aircraft Factory's thin & Undercambered Aerofoil Section as used by Sopwith in 1916. And, Camels used Rotary Aero Engines, made by Clerget..., Le-Rhone..., or the Bentley BR -1. The Le Rhone was rated at 110 Hp, but delivered closer to 160 Hp - and it's Throttle almost sort of worked effectively..., the Bentley put out 150 Hp and it had the best (most responsive and easy to use) Throttle Control...; while the Clerget delivered 130 Hp, and it featured the worst type of "Block Tube" Throttle..., which could set the Engine to run smoothly at Ground Idle, or smoothly at Full Power, or at a desired Cruise-Setting..., but it took 30 seconds of trial & error manual adjustment to get there - and the Fine Adjustments had to be actively managed according to Altitude, or a Rich /Lean Mixture would cause the Engine to quit...., and to fly any slower than the selected and carefully-set RPM took a lot of fiddling around with the Fuel & Air "Fine Controls"..., so effectively Pilots flew at Full Throttle and slowed down by interrupting the Ignition with a "Blip" Switch" Button, located on the Control Column. "Blipping" the Engine thus, did slow the Camel down, while inexorably flooding the still-spinning Engine with unburned Fuel, and Fouling the Sparkplugs with unburned (Castor) Oil...; so - if the Engine was to be kept running, while gliding down to land...., in case it was later required for a Missed Approach, then every 10 to 15 seconds it had to be "cleared & spun up..." with a 2 or 3 second "Blip" of Full-Power to interrupt the "Winding down" process, and thus clearing off the Plugs while burning the otherwise Unburned Fuel.... 20 to 30 seconds of no Ignition usually resulted in the Engine being too oily and slow to pick up and run again, until being restarted ; by hand-swinging the Propeller on the ground. So, Matt. has a Certified modern commercially manufactured (in Oz !) Rotec Radial Engine ready to bolt onto his Replica. And being a Radial, it's Direct Drive, at 2,600 RPM or so, and it therefore turns at more than twice the Speed of a Rotary ; thus, it cannot possibly swing a "Period Correct" 96-inch diameter Airscrew, at 1,250 RPM... So, looking from across the Airfield, it'll be the little modern Propeller which first gives the Game away, and as one approaches closer, the thick flat-bottomed Wing Sections - and then the Metal Fairings on the round-Tube Aluminium Interplane, Cabane, and Undercarriage Struts will be the next Tell tales.... The Original's Fueltank was behind the Cockpit, too, to make Camels very Tail-Heavy except when the Tank was 3/4 empty - and then it was trimmed to Glide normally ; with a full Tank & at full Throttle, unless it got 8 or 10 Pounds of forward Pressure on the Stick it would Pitch up into a Loop - and if uncorrected, then Gyroscopic precession would skew that into a Looping Cloverleaf- coming out heading 90° to Port of the Azimuth one entered along. And if left hands-off it would continue so to do..., until someone peturbed the process by altering the Power, or played with the Aerodynamic Controls...(!). The Replica has it's Motion Lotion stored on the CG - where the Machinegun-Ammunition and Castor Oil Tank would "normally" go ; so that as Weight is burned, or thrown overboard..., the machine will still handle like a Radial Engined Biplane version of an Open Cockpit Piper Cub....! (Because that Clark-Y Aerofoil always does fly that way ...!) If you really want to dive into Camels...., then in my "Personal Aeroplanology..." Playlist there's an almost-finished Series of Videos stashed away, regarding Sopwith Camels, and Captain D'urban Armstrong..., The most spectacular exponent of Low-Level Aerobatics ever to be killed by his own Camel's fatal flaw... If ever they were bounced on landing, that Bounce stressed, and stretched..., the Centre-Section Diagonal Bracing-Cables, upon which the whole weight of the Machine was suspended- from the Ends of the Upper Centre-Section Spar... Then, next time any significant Positive "G(ravity)"-Force was applied while aloft..., like when recovering from a Steep Dive..., Looping..., or Turning tightly...; then those stressed, stretched, and thereby slackened C.S. Diagonal Cables (all 8 of them, but particularly the front Transverse, "Offset Pair of Pairs"....) will allow the Centre-Section Cabane Struts to Pull..., Straight Out Of their 1-inch deep Sheetmetal Locating Sockets - on the bottom of the Spar, and/or the Fuselage's Upper Longeron. Nothing AT ALL fixed those Struts Insitu...., apart from the Compression-loadings provided by those Cables in Tension. Welcome, unto the 1916 Unknown Unknown Errors of Aeronautical Design....(!). So..., when someone flew Armstrong's Camel, unknown to him while he was away at a Staff Conference - and they bounced it on..., and they failed to report the Heavy Landing to the Machine's Riggers (as per Standing Orders), so that they could check, adjust, and correct the Tension in those Wires...; then, when Armstrong went Stunting..., To celebrate the Armistice on 12 November 1918, When he pulled out of a Loop at about 100 ft..., the Cabanes popped out of their Sockets, The Upper Wing shifted forwards, The Camel's Centre of Lift was thus moved way too far ahead of the Centre of Gravity, for Armstrong to ever be able to recover from the resulting Stall, & Flat Spin In Which it Crashed... Killing him. And, That...; Was why Camels killed more of their own Pilots in Training..., than the Germans ever killed while they were flying in their Camels ; And, meanwhile, the people who figured out how to gently land their Camels shot down more Enemy Aircraft in WW-1 than Any other Allied Fighter type, Or combination Of Allied Types (!). Which is kinda why people like Matt. & myself find Sopwith Camels to be IRRESISTABLY Fascinating Hairygoplanes.... I hope that-all helps...(?). My "Production-Levels" are decidedly Potato-grade ; but in 2013 my Potato was awarded a Gold(coloured) Medal by Falmouth University, in Cornwall (!), for winning the "Low Technology" Division of their "EqualsProject", an (obscure, tiny, little, but nevertheless genuine) International YT Videomaking Competition...(!). So for Potato-Cam-quality...., Edited In-Camera by Shooting-in-sequence ; The Cinematography is Surprisingly good, Kinda thing.... And if you really do crave a Bolus Dose of Camel-ology...(?) ; Then feel free to go looking In my Personal Aeroplanology Playlist. My Channel has never Bin-Monetised. Your Taxes pay my Pension. I ate well, and my bills were all easy to meet while I was making and posting the Camel Videos ; posting on YT and sharing the ponderings of an actual Fool On The Hill, is how I satisfy Johnny Howard's decree that CitiZens living on Social Security Payments have a Mutual Obligation, to contribute to the Society which feeds them. Pharoah enuf, too..., Eh ; what ? So, enjoy the offerings... (?). Your Choice...! Such is life. Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !

[@scottmatthews5280]

Thanks for joining the journey. It’s a classic looking aircraft and I have a lot to learn. Enjoy the build.

[@Kimdino1]

Biggles' Camel didn't have all these fancy access hatches. His fitters would just cut the covering open, fix the problem, then patch it over again. But then they were used to applying patches due to all the bullet holes anyway. But Biggles only had the Hun to worry about, not the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. ;-)

[@barrywinslow9798]

Hope you had a super holiday. Yep, the tough part is doing struts and flying wires. You'll get 'er all right

[@scottmatthews5280]

Thanks I’ll stick at it.

[@jeremysteiner838]

Does it have more webbing in the wing ribs or are they finished with only top and bottom tubes?

[@scottmatthews5280]

Finished, I will add some rib lacing.

[@guff3163]

Maybe I missed something with the vertical fairings on the wing struts... Why did you decide to add them? The original Camel didn't have them. I assume they are designed to reduce turbulence from the round/tubular shape but doesn't this change the dynamic in a cross wind/side wind situation at low speed eg landing? I'm no expert so asking for a friend... 😃😂 But keep up the good work, as they say 👍🏻

[@scottmatthews5280]

Just a fairing to widen them up to replica the real spruce or maple wood ones that are 4” wide. Then tend to look like toothpicks other wise.

[@philipbrailey]

Do you have to cool it down to make it even harder or is just heating the way to go.

[@scottmatthews5280]

Sorry not sure what you mean?

[@Mad-Duk_Machine_Werkes]

Speaking as a professional KZbin watcher: my only crit about your channel is theres too much "I'm gunna" and not enough "Heres what I DID" - But I like your project, I like your voice, youre a pleasant-looking bloke, but your content needs to be slightly adjusted if you wanna break thru and get the channel huge

[@scottmatthews5280]

Okay thank you.