Thunnus Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 (edited) Okay, I'm gonna spin up another build. I purchased this one quite a while ago but after admiring the contents of the box after receipt, it went up on my shelf and has stayed there ever since. It is not a subject that I am very familiar with but I started to think that, as a counterpart and worthy adversary to the Dora, it would be good for me to stick my toe on the other side of the fence. It will be tough following the bar set by Chuck540z3 so please notch down your expectations accordingly. I will be referring to Chuck's build along with others that have come before and hopefully add my own things here and there. The Hawker Tempest, like the Typhoon before it, was a brute of an aircraft, which is befitting of its immensely powerful 24-cylinder liquid cooled Napier Sabre powerplant. It is this powerplant that sets the Hi Tech version apart from the standard release. Although I took the photos for it, I don't think I'll do a full sprue tour of this kit. There are plenty of online reviews that highlight the kit contents better than I so I'll simply you to Iain's wonderful review posted here at LSP if you are interested in a walk through. https://www.largescaleplanes.com/reviews/review.php?rid=1928 A few notes about the kit plastic... the exterior of the Tempest is fully riveted. I don't know if I'm happy about that or not. Although I like my builds to be riveted, I don't necessarily like it when the rivets come as part of the molding. The rivets made manually using a circular rivet tool produce very fine holes and result in an effect that is subtle and not distracting. Molded rivets are commonly too large and only a few companies can produce rivet detail that I think is great right out of the box (Tamiya and Eduard for example). Based on my initial observations, the riveting is good in some areas and inconsistent in others. The dot pitch of the rivets does not align with either the RB Productions Rivet-R nor the Galaxy Tools rivet tool so any repair option is going to be manually intensive. Outside of the rivets, the molding quality on this kit looks very good. One of the places that manufacturers commonly sacrifice on mold definition is the interior side of the fuselage, wings and landing gear covers. Special Hobby has done an excellent job of not skimping in these areas. I like how Special Hobby treated the fabric-covered control surfaces.. the stitching detail isn't overly exaggerated. Given the amount of included resin and photoetch, it is somewhat surprising that Special Hobby does not give the modeler a choice when it comes to the instrument panel. But, it looks like a good result can be obtained by using the plastic instrument panels with the instrument faces represented by decals. The clear parts exhibit some scratching (maybe not the manufacturer's fault since I bought this kit secondhand) and some distortion as well. I can fix the scratches but not the distortion, unfortunately. Back to that Napier Sabre engine... the highlight of the kit for me is the beautiful representation of the Napier Sabre engine in resin. The resin components come in their own little box. Inside the box, I found four separate baggies of resin parts, including this bad boy... It is not a complete engine but nevertheless an impressive representation of the upper half of the Napier Sabre from the exhaust stacks on up. I don't normally like to model my aircraft with open panels but I'm going to make an exception for this one. This resin is just too beautiful to ignore. Here are the contents of the next baggie full of resin. I'm not familiar with all of the parts yet but I think this bag contains mostly engine components including impressively long and complex lengths of hydraulic tubing. I believe the small block in the front are the four gun barrel tips. This next bag contains some exterior components like the engine cover panels and resin versions of the wheels and pilot seat. Although the cover panels are very thin, I don't think they are meant to placed over the engine, which is actually fine by me. The last baggy holds mostly cockpit components, by the look of it. I see foot pedals, a couple of different gun sights, the handle for the control stick, among other things. There has been breakage of a few delicate parts but nothing that will be noticeable or significant, I don't think. Edited June 11, 2022 by Thunnus daveculp, John Stambaugh, Greg W and 24 others 27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-4Phanwell Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 (edited) Ohhh man, you work on the assembly line? Just finished one kit, comes here the next one.................amazing Edited February 6, 2021 by F-4Phanwell Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 Great John! Looking forward to this one for sure. Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunnus Posted February 6, 2021 Author Share Posted February 6, 2021 I'm quicker than some, slower than most... I think. And I like having two projects going. It allows me to have something to work on when I'm in the paint drying or otherwise waiting phase. I can also shut down one build to concentrate on the other when I get to certain phases or moods. Gonna jump right into the deep end with this one! The engine! I have some thoughts and preliminary ideas about the engine but I think the most critical thing is how the engine fits into the fuselage. And there is no way to do that until we make the necessary cuts. So... With the nose halves taped together, I've drawn the cut line just above where it should be to give me room to trim neatly down to the actual line of demarcation. Razor saw made pretty quick work of the required surgery. You can see the panel line just below my cut line that I'll eventually have to get to. The ironing board-shaped casting block extends along the entire bottom. I don't have the necessary cutting tools to deal with such a large block but cutting the tip off the ironing board was enough for preliminary testing. With the front tip of the casting block removed, and some minor shaving of the fuselage interior right at the front, the engine block seems to slip into position pretty well. I've not attempted fitting the radiator intake parts but I'm going to assume that removal of the engine casting block will be necessary for those parts to fit. I performed this surgery right away to help answer a question that I have in the back of my mind: Do I consider using the Barracuda corrected cowling and spinner? How will the reduced diameter of the spinner and fuselage section at the forward end impact the placement of resin engine? Is it worth an attempt? At this point, my mind is saying no, don't bother but I'm going to sleep on it. rafju, Landrotten Highlander, Greg W and 13 others 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 I think you're pretty fast, actually John, and you're off to a flyer already! I reckon you'll have this one done before I've finished Chuck's book on the subject! Kev Wackyracer and Thunnus 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nighthawk Calling 1 Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 Great start, will follow with interest looking forward to seeing that engine painted. Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 Some help from our man Rick ... https://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/5305-132-tempest-mkv-nose-replacement/ Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennismcc Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 As a huge fan of the Tempest I'll follow along with great interest Cheers Dennis Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 Good stuff John! That engine certainly is a beast Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aircommando130 Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 Wow...that's a very detailed engine! Looks like a great project! Where do you get those saw blades that fit an exacto handle? Cheers...Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamme Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 Hello. Will Follow this one as I have the same kit in my stash. Cheers, Jamme Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.B. Andrus Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 John I'd go with the corrected cowl. You won't regret it. Damian Anthony in NZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 John, knowing your skill set I would definitely use the Barracuda nose. And no I am not saying that because I did the master for for it (Kerry did the prop and spinner and Roy tidied up my rivet details). But there are significant differences between the two. In my mind (personally) they are worlds apart from the kit. I obtained factory lofts from the Typhoon guys in Canada. The bottom half is where most of the detail changes were made. So by cutting the top off you only address the slight upper profile change, the rest is all wrong. The 'mouth is significantly bigger and all the 'cheek shapes are wrong. Aside from the obvious mouth opening and shape between the lower spinner and top of opening, the lower surface and back end are different too. The base of the nose needed considerable flattening and the radiator exit is shallower. I am actually wanting to do the same with my kit and use the top half from CMK too. Might be a little bit of tweaking around the spinner area as the dia was reduced, but I would go for it. The chin radiator on the Tempest/Typhoon is such an iconic feature it really needs to be fixed. Thats just my opinion anyway and not because I did the nose. Cheers Anthony Thunnus, Paul in Napier, D.B. Andrus and 1 other 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunnus Posted February 6, 2021 Author Share Posted February 6, 2021 Thanks guys! Appreciate the encouragement on a new build, especially since this is my first 1/32 RAF effort. Much like my F4U-1a build, I am going into this one without much knowledge of the Tempest except that it's a cool looking aircraft! 9 hours ago, MikeMaben said: Some help from our man Rick ... https://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/5305-132-tempest-mkv-nose-replacement/ Thanks for that link Mike! Good reference for using the Barracuda nose parts whole but am I missing the part where he uses the CMK resin engine top with it? 2 hours ago, aircommando130 said: Wow...that's a very detailed engine! Looks like a great project! Where do you get those saw blades that fit an exacto handle? Cheers...Ron RB Productions. Check it out... https://www.largescaleplanes.com/reviews/review.php?rid=888 42 minutes ago, D.B. Andrus said: John I'd go with the corrected cowl. You won't regret it. Damian 25 minutes ago, Anthony in NZ said: John, knowing your skill set I would definitely use the Barracuda nose. And no I am not saying that because I did the master for for it (Kerry did the prop and spinner and Roy tidied up my rivet details). But there are significant differences between the two. In my mind (personally) they are worlds apart from the kit. I obtained factory lofts from the Typhoon guys in Canada. The bottom half is where most of the detail changes were made. So by cutting the top off you only address the slight upper profile change, the rest is all wrong. The 'mouth is significantly bigger and all the 'cheek shapes are wrong. Aside from the obvious mouth opening and shape between the lower spinner and top of opening, the lower surface and back end are different too. The base of the nose needed considerable flattening and the radiator exit is shallower. I am actually wanting to do the same with my kit and use the top half from CMK too. Might be a little bit of tweaking around the spinner area as the dia was reduced, but I would go for it. The chin radiator on the Tempest/Typhoon is such an iconic feature it really needs to be fixed. Thats just my opinion anyway and not because I did the nose. Cheers Anthony My first inclination was NO. Most resin improvements that are incorporated within the fuselage halves commonly require considerable thinning of the fuselage sides to accommodate the resin. And the Special Hobby instructions do indicate some sort of thinning after cutting the top off. But the CMK engine plug seems to fit between the kit fuselage halves without much thinning at all. So there may enough wriggle room in the Barracuda nose, with its narrower width at the spinner, to fit the CMK engine plug without too much issue. Possibly. Heck, if the man that designed the Barracuda nose says go for it, how can I NOT at least give it a try? Ok... I'm game. I'll give it a shot. chuck540z3, Beaconroot, levier and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.B. Andrus Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 Your new Tamiya saw will be perfect for the Barracuda resin blocks. Cheers, Damian Anthony in NZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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