Rick K

More scratch work. Rigging bar on rudder, left. Grab bar on tail, right. Will reduce the rib via sanding prior to paint. Grab handles/rigging retainers .4mm styrene rod, bent via mandrel and hair dryer, top main body near base of rotor mast and bottom of main body installed. Tail pad just below stabilizer. Also added .4mm aluminum tube just forward to tail pad for rigging. Grab handles/rigging retainers on rotor mast. What the heck are these? Formed using a mandrel and hairdryer I glued the straight pieces to curved pieces. After a little trimming. Cleats don't fail me now. The cleats and grab/rigging retainers were offered in PE. I elected to makes these out of stryene so they cen weld to plastic. The PE would eventually get knocked off as there will be much handling during painting and rigging. I feel these will be stronger at PE attached with CA. Almost ready to start painting.

dang! this is a sweet build!

looks great Alan, nice scratch work. the pics do not come through here but i got images from google search. where did you get that Kannon conversions? asking for a friend.

Skids added. This required more .5mm styrene rods. The Fly plastic is soft and works well with welding the styrene to Fly plastic. Cement is Tamiya Thin Cement. MEK is too hot for this. Skids added using only one kit part for braces. All others were measured and replaced with .5mm styrene rod. I drilled a .7mm hole at base of rotor mast. Inserted a trimmed .7mm aluminum tube completely through. This will be used for the rigging.

My plan is to crank this out by November then start something really big. The Fa330 always interested me as a unique aircraft with an equally unique mission. This was towed by a U-Boat so the pilot could see beyond U-Boat horizon view and report any enemy activity. I also walk by an actual Fa330 a few times a week. Finally there is a lot of rigging and I will use either RB or GasPatch turnbuckles. This will get me feeling comfortable for my WNW build, next on the bench. That's right Kiwi Mike...no typo here. 30 minutes into this build I was already regretting this. This aircraft is mostly tubular and the parts are typical short run injection. Loads of flash and seams. Cleaning these tubes are going to drive me batty. So I will cut all remaining tubular parts from .5mm, .4mm and .3mm styrene rod. This will actually be easier than cutting from sprue and cleaning. Building balsa wood and tissue models experience will come in handy. Resin main control pully wheel (feel free to correct me on correct definition) and control stick installed with epoxy. I also wrapped the control stick handle with .2mm lead wire. A brush coat of paint will give the handle a ribbed appearance. Spar and 4 sub control pully wheels are cut from styrene. More fun with .5mm and .4mm styrene rods. The rudder gets a .4mm rod on both sides and will be sanded down and this was fabric. Will also add grab handle I cut out at top of rudder.

good stuff. will be watching.

interesting scheme. i was not sure of the "mottle" finish until I saw pic of actual a/c. great "sponge" work and overall finish.

really nice detail and finish

Superb effort. I enjoyed following this build and watching you conquer those WTF moments. Clearly a unique scheme you don't see too often. Always liked the early BOB Spitfires and Hurricanes camouflage and markings. Earth/Green and those B&W undersides, what's not cool about that? MRP rules indeed!

Thanks Mike! Cheers Kev! Thank you. It's all in the photo angles. Time to take the plunge and brush up on your colorful metaphors. Thanks Chuck Cheers Richard. Thanks Graham. Tamiya XF-86 Flat Clear and Gunze Leveling Thinner about 1:2 ratio. For a dead flat use XF-86 and Gunze Rapid Thinner 1:2. These ratios work for me. You should start at 1:1 and see what best for you. Thank you Pascal. Cheers Lothar. Far from perfect, but I'll take it!

Thanks Kev. I truly feel like I got a 800lb gorilla off my back with this build. I'm sure there will be more challenging builds in my future, that 190C comes to mind. Of course you may publish. I'd be honored.

A Thing Divine For Nothing Natural I Ever Saw So Nobel Special Hobby Tempest Mk.V #32052 was used for Evan Mackies mount. Mackie, RNZAF, was the highest scoring Tempest ace with 20+ kills. Albeit, most of Mackies kills were in Spitfires. This kit is a most difficult build. I started this almost 2 years ago and binned it several times as my MoJo was clearly flattened with this. From the cockpit, wing root and landing gear construction offered me plenty of WTFFF! and Are You Kidding Me! moments. There was a good chance you may have heard my screams. This kit is clearly recommended for experienced modellers only. I chose Mackies build as I have several Kiwi friends and the lack of ordinance and invasion stripes show the beautiful lines of the Tempest. Weathering kept to a minimum as this aircraft was delivered to Mackie May 1945. See my build log. Build Details Yahu 3214 IP, center panel only as side panels do not fit Barracuda 32334 Nose Correction Set, 32140 Tempest Wheels, 32011 Spitfire Cockpit Upgrade Part II (Acemaker II gunsight only) Master Model 32096 Tempest Mk.V "short" Cannon Tips Maketar Masks 32122 Tempest Mk.V REXX 32043 exhausts ANYZ AN011 .5mm Braided Thread, AN016 Line Connectors MV Lenses 197 Amber, LS800 Red & Green, PN21 Clear Albion Aluminum Slide Fit Tubes .3mm, .5mm, .7mm and .9mm MR Paint 77 Nato Black 110 RAF Green 111 RAF Interior Grey Green 112 RAF Medium Sea Grey 115 RAF Ocean Grey 118 RAF Sky 122 RAF Marking Yellow 123 RAF Marking Red 135 Insignia White 183 Oxford Blue Vallejo 306 Dark Rubber Various Alclad Colors Tamiya X22 Clear, XF86 Flat Clear MiG Washes Dark Wash Streaking Grime 1203 Engine Oil 1408 PLW Deep Grey 1602 PLW Green Brown 1612 MiG Pigments Light Dust 3002 Black Smoke P023 Rust P025 Russian Earth P034 These publications, highly recommended, were critical helping me on this build. Especially the landing gear rake. Airframe Minature No.4 Hawker Tempest Osprey 27 Typhoon and Tempest Aces of WWII Warts and all this build yielded some great lessons. Thank you all for your encouragement and support during this build.

Its a wrap...finally. A few teaser pics and will post in RFI. Follow this link.

The photo shoot is under way.

I sure hope so as the nose and prop are just a bad off as the Mk.V.

This comparison the Tempest wins the beauty contest. Albeit, I'd take the Jug to a bar fight and leave the Tempest home.

Cheers Iain! Thanks. This was a very difficult build. I have the Mk.II and I am hope to see a Prop correction offering soon.

Cheers Nick. Thanks Richard Thanks Rocat Brian! Thanks. Cheers Kev Stay tuned. I've been slammed with family duties (all good) and prepping for my youth Ice Hockey Coaching certification exam. Background check next week! Thanks John.

Finished Bench shot and test shot on photo table with iPhone. Full SLR photo shoot in a few days. Stay tuned. These 2 side by side clearly show just how big the Tempest is.

Some streaking underneath the radiator. Some streaking applied. The landing gear was nothing short of a nightmare. Every piece did not fit and required a slight trim to fit. Install parts H22 and H23 after full glue cure add parts I51. You'll need to trim H22 and H23 to fit on the main gear H11 and H12. A word of caution. Be sure to test fit landing gear leg H11 and H12 to determine if cut was necessary, it was for me. For me in order to get an accurate landing gear rake I glued parts H11 to D4 and H12 to D3. Once glue cure i will use 15 minute epoxy to glue landing gear to wheel well. As the epoxy cures I am constantly adjusting the landing gear rake using the profile drawing from the Valiant Wings Tempest publication. Tail gear installed as well. After epoxy cure of 48 hours I'm comfortable enough to get the big Tempest on her legs. Roy's wheels added with epoxy and given a long cure time. Color me satisfied with the landing gear rake.

Panel Line Wash applied. Weathering will be kept to a minimum for the following reasons...pick one: a) Mackies Tempest was delivered May 1945 so it's in pretty clean shape. b) My weathering skill-sets are not advanced The cockpit. Roy's Acemaker II gunsight looks really nice all jammed into the dashboard comb. Pardon the dust

Amazon - Molotow Liquid Chrome I also have the 1mm marker. When brush I keep to single brushstroke. It covers really well. Airbrush is low PSI for me its about 15psi, no more than 1/2 inch from surface and apply wet. It levels nicely. Let cure for at least 24 hours. I play it safe and let it cure for a few days. Practice on paint mule.

If I get to my ZM He219 before the apocalypse my finish will be an overall black RLM22 as on He219 V1 W.Nr 219001.