Loic Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Hello to all fellow modelers, I you may noticed I do not write much (about 10 post in the last 12 month or so...) but I follow every of your built with most interest. This group built gives me a great opportunity to finally share with you one of my build. The tittle says it all indeed, I decided to build a 32nd scale Hawker Tempest from the old Revell Typhoon kit. This idea built up when I found an old Typhoon I assembled some 15 years ago as a "belly landed plane". One wing was almost completly crashed but the fuselage was almost undamaged appart from the radiator area (but not too much hopefully) and some bits and pieces. The main challenges will then be: - rework the fuselage (bigger tail surface + extended overall lenght due to extra tank) - rework the elevators (larger cord + wider) - scratch built full wing (this will be a hard bit) - scratch built the landing gear and wheels (an other hard bit!) - scratch built specific extra fuel tanks (for the wings) - scratch built canopy, prop and spinner (unless I can purchase those from MDC somehow - thanks for the tip by the way) I also intend to propose: - complete scratch built cockpit - reworked and detailled engine + mount + compartment - detailled wheel well - detailled gun bay - flaps in downed position - openned radio compartment This should be about it but I will certainly meet some new needs along the built. The point of this is not much "what is the best way to build a Tempest in 32nd scale" but more "do I have what it takes (I mean skills, patience, etc..) to build a Tempest this way"! I actually already slightly started the work (come on guys, only 3 month would be far too short... mainly cause I am a slow builder) and I hope to complete it by the dead line. I also intend to make a diorama for it as diorama is what I am after indeed as I think this is an attractive way of exposing your model: just my thought. Well, time to go back to work! I will send a few pic later to show where I stand so far... I hope this proposes enought sex appeal to create some interest to some of you and I will try hard not to disappoint the eventual audiance! Cheers, Loic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted April 2, 2008 Author Share Posted April 2, 2008 As proposed, here are a couple of pictures of what I have completed so far (not quite all of it in fact...). The plane was dismentled and the fuselage has been completly sanded to get the former paint off. It was then cut where appropriate (rudder, front end, karman, etc...) Here is a pic of the 2 fuselage halves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted April 2, 2008 Author Share Posted April 2, 2008 The fin was built from several successive pieces of evergreen card that match the actual profil. This is shown in the next pic that also show some of the tail wheel well rework. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted April 2, 2008 Author Share Posted April 2, 2008 Here is a little bit of internal arrangement, detail and structure made from card again. Sorry for the poor pic... but the fuselage is now assembled so I can not retake those. port side first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted April 2, 2008 Author Share Posted April 2, 2008 starbord side now Every single thing is actually made from scratch (card, coke can, brass wire, etc...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted April 2, 2008 Author Share Posted April 2, 2008 Last pic for today: assembled fuselage with the extra bit in between the cockpit and the engine (an extra fuel tank in the real beast) made from card again. It does have "quickly applied" masking tape on as I took this pic just before spraying primer in order to check the surface finnish: guess what was the outcome... a couple of hours of filling and sanding! And I do not have started rebuilding the hard bits like the karman here... this was just the regular structure! Well, that's it for today, I should come back soon to show more progress. Cheers to all and hope you like the built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Wow, talk about doing it he hard way Loic! You've done some fantastic work so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing how you progress with the rest of the build. I'm sure Derek will chime in here at some point, as he's currently mastering the MDC Tempest. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 You're not wrong Kevin... Loic, Very nice conversion work so far - stretching the fuselage is the fairly straight forward bit, and you are quite right, the wing really is the difficult part on this build. LSP Hacker is also carrying out a similar conversion task to yourself, but I believe that his Tempest shall be a different variant, and modified Sea Fury wings may be involved. I am not sure how you plan to tackle your wings, but I know how I would do it for a 'one off' model (my Tempest master pattern wings are to have flaps and detailed cannon bays in addition to the wheel well bays, so dictate a completely different way of building them). Brilliant start to your Tempest scratch build project - I wish you continued good luck with the rest of it. Regards Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perry Posted April 3, 2008 Share Posted April 3, 2008 Crikey Loic, rather you than me, you're a brave man!! Watching this one closely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 Hello all, Yes Kev, I guess we can say this is "the hard way" but one should notice that so far, this is also "the only way"! Derek, our little modeller world needs an alternative option but to go through all this pain and I guess we rely on you now... please do not be too long in your work on this master. Perry, I am not quite sure what I am doing is braver than your work on the swordfish! I would at least say you are not a chiken either! Anyway, I m glad this is of interest and thank you guys for your comments. Here is some more WIP: engine area! This job was also done a couple of weeks ago so sorry for the "medium" quality of the pics but I can not retake those, the engine is in the beast by now. First, the engine itself, the cylinder heads were rebuilt, the ignition loom was added as well as somme plumbing and a few accessories. The bottom and top will barrely be visible as opposite as the sides so those areas were given the most attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 Radiator now... (this is the pic which is quite ugly) It is 100% rebuilt so I could give him the appropriate depth as opposite to the original kit piece which is a flat unit. I have also added a few accessories like the engine mount items, a few "deflexion" plates, ribs, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 oops, wrong pic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 and now here is (hopefully!) the engine into the fuselage so we can see different items like: - engine mount (made from evergreen bits and pieces) - some wirring and ducting on the bottom part of the area - little bits of the carb - engine cover panels structure - WIP on the radiator housing (rescribing, extention of the "chin sides" due to the fact that the wings have moved backward, etc...) Once again, the photo really emphasys the contrasts and it seams the dry brush was reaaalllllyyyy too heavy but this is mainly cause I do not master my camera very well in fact (well, one should also notice it was not design for macrophotography). I hope you like it! Loic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 Last for today: a few words about the wings. I will go into more construction details + pics sometime later when I made progress as we are talking about the parts I have not quite started by now but here is the basic idea. Wing is made from 3 main parts, 1 "central" and 2 "outer". The central part I have to built almost every thing from zero exept from little bits of heavily modified Typhoon leading edge as the Typhoon and Tempest wings (including profil) are like apples and oranges. I will use some basic card glued on some sort of internal frame to takle this. The outer part are the funny ones. I will use the wing of a 32nd scale Revell spitfire (the 1960 one that I actually built around 1985... I was about 10 then and it is very UGLY) as a base plus very heavy rework. After big time cutting, reshaping, filling, sanding, etc... belive it or not but according to my plan views, this should give us a very convincing Tempest wing (I hope)! That's it for tonight and you will now understand why i called myself a slow builder! Cheers, Loic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted April 3, 2008 Share Posted April 3, 2008 Gorgeous work Loic! This is one demanding project, and I agree with Perry - you're a brave man! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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