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PCM 1/32 Tempest Build


alaninaustria

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Scale: 1/32

Kit: Pacific Coast Models (PCM) Hawker Tempest Mk V.

Aftermarket accesories:

Barracuda Studios Resin: Radiator intake/Cockpit Seat/Main Tyres.(http://barracudacals.com/index.php)

Airscale Decals/Placards. (http://www.airscale.co.uk/)

Radu's Seatbelts. (http://www.radubstore.com/)

Archers Fine Transfers: http://www.archertransfers.com/

Paints used:

Gunze Aqueous and Tamiya Aqueous colors; thinned with isopropanol alcohol (ISP).

Clear coat: Mr. Color GX100 Super Clear III cut at 50/50 using Mr. Color Leveling Thinner.

Masks for final painting provided by Montex Masks:

http://www.montex-mask.com/en/ofertaShow.php?skala=1/32&maska=MAXI%20MASK&current=maxi_mask_1_32

 

Main references:

http://www.hawkertempest.se/

 

Inspiration:

Paul Budzik's beautiful scratch built Tempest: http://paulbudzik.com/models/tempest-construction/tempest-construction.html

Another link to the LSP thread: http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=13732&page=2&hl=%2Bpaul+%2Bbudzik&do=findComment&comment=104222

 

Well, I have to say that I am guilty as charged for loving the shape, lines and design of the British Hawker Tempest Mk. V... The PCM kit is an absolute beauty to work with, very accurate and easy to build! In fact, I would even go so far as to state that it could be their best kit so far!

Anyhow, I don't have a proper digital camera right now, so I have to make do using my iPhone 4 camera!!

I began the build by adjusting and adapting the kit cockpit, adding detail to the cockpit parts including using Airscale decals for the instrument panel and Radu's marvelous seatbelts!

The kit parts did need a few milimeters trimmed off of each side to allow for a proper fit and I drilled some placement holes on each fuselage side to permanently mark the cockpit tube framing. This area is rather quite small and it is difficult to see all the detail once the fuselage is all glued up... so, at least it looks busy enough for my eye!

For the insrument panel I created rings for the individual instruments using stretched sprue wrapped around the Waldron Punches (which I would later use to stamp out the individual decals) and glued the instrument rings to the instrument panel using Future floor polish. Once painted, the instrument panel is then given a light coating of Mr. Gunze Flat finishing spray. Once the individual decals are placed, a drop of Future floor polish is added to each instrument to help represent the glass covering of the actual instrument display.

 

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Edited by alaninaustria
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After moving on from the fuselage side walls and cockpit area (which received copious amounts of Airscale placards to spruce things up!!) I moved on to the wheel wells,wings, tail wheel gear bay and radiator intake area (I am using Baracuda Resin air intake part).... and generaly checking on allignment and fit with all these areas having the resin and PE(photoetch) parts... I found that much attention is needed and that means to test fit numerous times and to mark areas that need to be sanded or adjusted... two areas in particular need attention: the radiator intake inserts and the resin wheel bays... I found that deepening of the premoulded framing of the inner side of the lower wing area helped to bring the tolerances close enough to have a snug fit of the upper and lower wing halves.... lots of test fitting and adjusting needed in these two areas!!

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Once the main fuselage was together, I moved on to the wing - fuselage fit... this is an area that fits almost perfectly right out of the box... the only thing to watch out for is that the kit supplied resin wheel well inserts are slightly too tall and they don't allow for proper fitting of the upper and lower wing halves. It is important for a good snug fit that the upper wing retains it's original camber to match the camber of the fuselage wing fairing.

Using some spare plastic I also went ahead and added the aileron hinge covers, the aileron trim couplings and a few small other details such as the blade aerial mount and pitot tube mounting... also the pilot relief tubing!!

One area that needed a little attention was the horizontal tail... I used a metal square covered in wet/dry sanding paper (1000 grit) to true out the mating surfaces on the fuselage and horizontal stabs... as well, the rear part of the elevator needed to have some spacing created so using Radu's razor saw I 'sawed' out another milimeter or so and increased the gap between the elevator and the rear empenage fairing (while dry fitting the two surfaces together)... One area that I feel is chronically neglected by the majority of scale modellers is the fairing area between the horizontal stabs and the empenage... In the below pictures you can see that I built this fairing up by using Mr. Surfacer 500 after masking the 'new' fairing edge up on the horizontal stab... to create a smooth and correct transition between the two parts (empenage and horizontal stab). Once the Mr. Surfacer 500 dries a light sanding down to the height of the masking tape creates a very scale like 'step' - just like on the real aircraft!

 

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Edited by alaninaustria
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Now that I had the wings mated to the fuselage and the gear bays detailed up with solder wiring and painted... I could concentrate on the addition of more detail in the main areas I like to address, namely: the cockpit windshield area, the wing to fuselage fairing, the radiator exit ramp area, and the rear canopy area... I find that these are areas that the eye tends to focus on when observing the model. The other areas that I like to detail up are the main lading gear and gear doors... more on these areas later!

I decided to cut out the main radiator exit ramp door... most period photos show this ramp door in a slightly open position, and by positioning the ramp door in the open position I believe it adds that small, but important amount of realism! As well, the provided 20mm canon openings needed to be opened up to a larger diameter.

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Lots of sanding and filling using Mr. Surfacer 500 in that huge radiator area!!

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Here is a better shot showing the above mentioned fairing work using Mr. Surfacer 500...

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Edited by alaninaustria
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I moved on to the windshield fairing and employed the same method of using Mr. Surfacer to build up a realistic and scale edge. It's interesting to note that the original aircraft had a nice round metal fairing that overlaped nicely on to the windshield... the kit, provides this feature as an engraved line - however, I wanted to simulate the actual fairing... as discussed earlier... the filler (Mr. Surfacer) is sanded gently back once dry to the height of the masking tape - then the tape is removed...

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I used the same method to build up and create the all-important wing to fuselage faring...

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One tiny, yet important detail that the kit does not include is the recessed under belly step mount for the pilot's boarding step... I have scratch built the step - just in case you are wondering!! ;)

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I also decided to expand my detailing skills and use the Archer Transfers resin-decals to simulate some 'rivet activity' that is evident on the real aircraft behind the pilot's head armour..... Note: I will be using these modern detailing decals again in the future! They are perfect for adding raised details on models!!!

The sharp eyed members here will also notice that I added a resin-decal (also from Archer) to the upper port side wing to simulate the hatch that is on the real aircraft!

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Edited by alaninaustria
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Finally, I have managed to rescribe a few panel lines, clean up a few joints and to get the base coating of primer on to the bird... I like to use Mr. Surfacer 1200..... a great product that leaves a beautiful finish!

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After letting the base primer dry for 24 hours, I used Gunze acrylics flat black to preshade the panel lines and to begin the scale appearance - this is my favorite part of the build next to scratch building parts and details... I like to breathe life into the build by adding color...

My appologies for the contrasting colors... it is caused by the ceiling lighting and my poor camera!!!! :(

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More to follow later.... hope you all are enjoying my build...

After seeing how large this aircraft was in real life and appreciating the form of construction and engineering that was employed I must say that the Tempest is one of my all time favorite British aircraft of WWII... She's a sexy ***** - hands down!! I take back my comment of previous that the Brits build ugly kites... The Tempest captures the heart and the imagination!

Edited by alaninaustria
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Amazingly clean, well-executed build, and one of the best I've seen for this kit! What are your thoughts about riveting the airframe? Just curious, and thanks for sharing your progress!

 

Cheers, Tom

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Thanks for the encouragement gentlemen... much appreciated! I decided not to fully rivet the airframe as I noticed that the original bird appears to have both flush and proud riveting throughout... I did cheat though and rivet the main landing gear doors! More to follow....

I highly recommend this kit, in fact I might even build a few more of these!

Cheers

Alan

Edited by alaninaustria
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Great scratch work Alan.  Love the Surfacer 500 application for the fairings.

 

What is the tubing size (Plastruct?  Evergreen?) you used for the relief tube?  Looks like wire insulation.

 

You must be getting some envious looks from your "Big Jug".  What a great looking pair they would be sitting on the shelf...ready for a bar fight.  :)

Edited by Rick K
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