Sopwith Camel Construction General

There is a lot of metal and metal fittings to be manufactured for the wings, fuselage and the empennage. Many are very complex requiring laser cutting, forming, folding, welding and protecting. Cad drawings have been necessary and jigs and special tooling devised. It is difficult to find individuals and enterprises able, willing and passionate enough to complete the work to the level of accuracy required

For the woodwork – literally, start with planks! Finding ones with the right grain and no knots are easier said than done and there is a lot of waste as, inevitably, the ‘shake’ appears at the last cut! Fortunately John has worked in wood all his life.

Bringing it all together requires an aweful lot of turnbuckles and wires to make up and get exactly the right tension – a 3 dimensional jigsaw puzzle!

For more detail on progress to date, follow the menu.  For a snapshot, watch the slideshow.