Sopwith Camel and Snipe props

[John S]

Hi,

My name is John and I reside in New Zealand. I'm a plastic kitset modeller and I have a 1/32 scale model of a Sopwith Snipe on the Horizon.

The kit comes with a plastic prop and while I can paint this so it replicates laminated wood. It's possible to purchase a 'real' wood 1/32 scale prop for the kit. The supplier has 2 type one for a Fokker DV and the other for a Sopwith Camel a Lang type.

The Snipe was a later Sopwith Design but I wonder if the camel Lang Prop is suitable for a Snipe?

Any advice gratefully received..

Regards

John

[Bob Gardner]

John,

Thank you for your question, the first from a modeller I think.

The Lang company was in effect the in-house prop shop for Sopwith and a few of their props were used on more than one aircraft, but I can find no commonality with the props for the Camel and Snipe aircraft.

With the BR2 engine most Camel props had a diameter of 2655mm or 2635mm.

With the same BR2 engine, props for the Snipe had a diameter of 2780mm.

Whilst the pitch of Camel props remained mostly common at 2500mm, the pitch of Snipe props varied between 2490mm and 2920mm.

The difference in diameter between the Camel prop at 2655mm and the Snipe at 2780mm is 125mm and at 1/32 scale this amounts to just under 4mm.

I hope this helps somewhat.

With kind regards,

Bob

[John S]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question.

I really appreciate that. The information is perfect thank you for that. Also Interesting to know I'm the first modeller to turn up here.

Looks like I might end up laminating some wood and carving my own. Do you know if there is a drawing of a Snipe Prop anywhere I could use to create a scale replica?

Kind regards

John

[Bob Gardner]

John,

I much regret that I have never seen a drawing for a WW1 British propeller in my twenty five years of research.

And speaking of modellers, I recall that one of my reasons for writing my books was to provide information for museums and modellers. And now that all nine of my prop books have been published, I very seldom hear from a modeller. Perhaps all my sales have gone to modellers!

With kind regards,

Bob