1/32 Special Hobby Hawker Tempest V - Fairbanks JJ+F

[zaxos345]

 

John

[MikeC]

This is coming along very well indeed.

 

23 hours ago, Thunnus said:

I think I'm getting a little anhedral on the wings so I'll see if I can make some sanding adjustments to make sure the wing bottoms are flat.

 

I rather think there was a bit of anhedral on the centre sections; of course, I (or rather Google) can't find a head-on shot of a Mk V to confirm whether my recollection is correct.

[Thunnus]

On 4/30/2022 at 11:14 PM, Dpgsbody55 said:

Very impressive.   I'm liking this a lot.

 

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Thanks Michael!

 

 

 

12 hours ago, scvrobeson said:

It's all coming together now John. Can't wait to see you tackle painting the engine.

 

 

 

Matt 

Thanks Matt!  Not sure how the engine will turn out but I'm going to have to paint it after assembly.  Which means a lot of the engine will be difficult to or out of reach.  We'll cross that bridge when we get to it!

 

 

 

9 hours ago, zaxos345 said:

 

John

Thanks for dropping by, John!

 

 

 

36 minutes ago, MikeC said:

This is coming along very well indeed.

 

 

I rather think there was a bit of anhedral on the centre sections; of course, I (or rather Google) can't find a head-on shot of a Mk V to confirm whether my recollection is correct.

A profile of a Sea Fury was posted in Chuck540z3's Tempest build that I am referring to...

 

 

I am assuming that the Sea Fury is simply a naval version of the Tempest.

 

Just a few updates before I jump to the engine.  Here is one of the wing tip lights.  The clear parts have an annoying sink mark/bubble in the middle of each that I can't really do anything about. When trimming the opening, I cut away too much and had to replace some material with sheet plastic.

 

 

I trimmed some of the wing/fuselage contact areas to make sure that the fuselage is not pushing the wings outward, creating an unintended anhedral in the wings. Since the cross section tapers uniformly from wing root to wing tip, the zero angle on the bottom means that the top of the wings slope downward slightly, giving the impression of anhedral. I can fix the wing bottoms but not the wing tops, unfortunately.

 

 

Added some fitting shims to increase contact area of the wing/fuselage joints. Dry-fitting the flaps has revealed a previously undetected issue... the rear corners of the cockpit cage interfere with the corners of the upper wing flaps.  Some surgery is going to be required.

 

 

 

That's it for now... next update we'll have a closer look at the resin engine components.

[MikeC]

4 hours ago, Thunnus said:

I am assuming that the Sea Fury is simply a naval version of the Tempest.

There's a bit more to it than that: the wings were shortened in span by eliminating the central bay of the centre section, so the wheel wells went almost to the centreline.  The fuselage was modified as well, not least with the higher seating position, and was a fully monocoque structure.  So it was a development (originally called the "Tempest Light Fighter (Centaurus)") rather than simply a Naval variant.

 

The drawing above is a Tempest V, not a Sea Fury.

 

For me the jury's out on the wing anhedral question, but you have a convincing case.

Edited May 2, 2022 by MikeC

[Thunnus]

8 hours ago, MikeC said:

There's a bit more to it than that: the wings were shortened in span by eliminating the central bay of the centre section, so the wheel wells went almost to the centreline.  The fuselage was modified as well, not least with the higher seating position, and was a fully monocoque structure.  So it was a development (originally called the "Tempest Light Fighter (Centaurus)") rather than simply a Naval variant.

 

The drawing above is a Tempest V, not a Sea Fury.

 

For me the jury's out on the wing anhedral question, but you have a convincing case.

Ahhh... good to know!  Thank you for that information!

 

Ok, let's jump over to the engine now!  The Napier Sabre engine is beautifully cast by CMK and is almost a model by itself with many parts.

 

 

Technically, it is not the full engine and displays a top 3/4 view of the engine from above.  There is also a full engine for the Tempest offered by CMK for the more ambitious.  One of the earlier things I've done is to replace some of the molded ignition wiring with copper wires.  You can also see the support arms on the engine bulkhead that help it stand in place.

 

 

The bulkhead had some small resin latches and wiring added per the instructions.

 

 

This is the most complicated sub--assembly that goes on top rear of the engine.

 

 

Slowly, the individual components of the engine are added.  Most of the larger parts have keyed attachment tabs that make for a positive fit.

 

 

I am taking a pause here.  There are more parts to add but they are mostly hydraulic or electrical lines. The rear bulkhead is a key connection point to the fuselage so I am trying to plan the construction order in terms of painting and assembly.  Do I put paint on the engine now and then add the hydraulic lines and wiring afterwards? Or do I assemble it completely and paint afterwards?

 

 

The exhausts are obviously an important component of the engine.  Based on the instructions, I think I'll have to cut each pair of exhaust stacks from their casting blocks and attach them individually.  So it would be easier to paint them now and glue them in later.

 

 

The exhausts were first given a coat of Alclad Steel straight onto the resin without a black base coat.

 

 

I then give a light coat of Alclad Exhaust Manifold, which gives the exhausts a nice burnt brownish tone.

 

 

I mixed up a combination of Tamiya Flat Red and Flat Red Brown to create a rusty shade and used that to dry brush onto the exhausts.

 

 

Finally, I use my airbrush and shoot a highly thinned black mixture up into and around the exhaust openings, isolating each individual exhaust with a Post-It.

 

 

After the paint dries, I'll cut the exhausts from the casting block and give them a test fit. I need to see how the exhaust tips fit in relation to the corresponding openings in the nose part.

[Scale32]

Be careful not to rub off that nice looking paint when test fitting those exhausts...... looks great.

 

Cheers Bevan 

[scvrobeson]

If it was me, I'd paint and assemble as much of it as possible, then run the final lines on it just before final assembly, or even after it's secured in place.  But I know you'll conquer it either way.

 

 

 

Matt 

[Troy Molitor]

Looks simply amazing, as always.  Not sure about painting first and then adding later or securing it all to the fuselage and adding a few bits afterwards.   I'm sure it's going to look amazing regardless to what direction you end up doing.    We still need the Me-163 update however, so don't let the Bass season catch up on you John!  ha!  Fish on brother!  Love the Bull frogs catch too!    

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys!  Still nervous about the nose/fuselage connection and haven't quite figured that out but I am adjusting as I go and hopefully it will turn out acceptably.

 

As mentioned in my previous update, the rear bottom corner of the cockpit cage was interfering with the sit of the upper wing flap assembly.  After wasting hours of slowly grinding and scraping away, I realized it would much quicker just to SNIP the material off with my sprue cutters.

 

 

The upper wing flap assembly can now sit without interference.

 

 

To test the fit of the exhaust tips, I glued them into the engine block with white glue.  But they immediately busted off when coming into contact with the nose piece.

 

 

Didn't need the whole row to check fit so I glued the first and last exhaust tip in each row with CA glue. Seems just squeeze into the provided openings.  I think I'll need to provide a bit more space in front of that leading exhaust pipe.  And yeah, they are getting scratched up with the pre-fitting so I'll probably have to repaint them at some point.

 

 

I just wanted to point out the complexity of the engine assembly by showing these instructions. To Special Hobby's credit, the fit of the engine parts has been very good and they have a provided many of the pipes and fluid lines as separately cast resin parts. Instructions aren't crystal clear but usually, if you check closely, most parts have some sort of positive connection in the form of a tab or pin.

 

 

One of the thicker lines is a pair of segmented pipes that I wanted to try and fit. Avoid the temptation of trying to snip these types of parts off with a sprue cutter.  A razor saw is recommended.

 

 

One of the casting runners looked different than the others so I didn't cut it off until I verified that it was indeed not a necessary component.

 

 

Here are the two pipes that have been carefully cleaned up.

 

 

Here is how they fit onto the engine block.  In this case, both ends of the pipe fit into openings provided on the engine block even though these openings are not shown in the instructions... you just have to look carefully and find them.

 

 

There is a fuel fill port on the front of the engine cover that is not molded onto the kit plastic and I was curious to see if it was present on the resin part... nope.  So I scribed one.

 

 

I also added a piece of sheet styrene with a hole punched out on the interior side to match.

 

[Nighthawk Calling 1]

Hi John 

Looking at the top panel the round access panel could be for coolant not fuel. Great work so far looking forward to seeing her in paint soon.

Stuart

[Thunnus]

1 hour ago, Nighthawk Calling 1 said:

Hi John 

Looking at the top panel the round access panel could be for coolant not fuel. Great work so far looking forward to seeing her in paint soon.

Stuart

 

Ahhh... that makes sense given the proximity to the radiator! Thank you!

 

[dennismcc]

Great modelling going on here, that engine is a work of art, they certainly did a great job on it.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Bobs Buckles]

Excellent progress. 

 

Bob 

[JayW]

On 5/2/2022 at 12:02 PM, Thunnus said:

I mixed up a combination of Tamiya Flat Red and Flat Red Brown to create a rusty shade and used that to dry brush onto the exhausts.

 

Once again I get surprised that a great build is happening and I don't know about it.  Am now following.  I too am a great fan of the Tempest/Typhoon series of Hawker aircraft.  Bad to the bone.  Am sure you are enjoying this.

 

And, I really like the color combination you selected for exhaust stacks.  I have struggled with that on my big (1/18) builds, both the Mustang and the Corsair.  I might try that combo.  Although - both those aircraft have exhaust pipes that are made from corrosion resistant steel (CRES), which makes me wonder if it is appropriate to give a rusty appearance.  Or is it a burnt appearance....  I wonder if the Tempest exhausts were CRES as well, or a steel that rusts.       

[Jim Barry]

Hawker baby. Nice!