GreMir Hawker Tempest Mk V 1:33 scale

I saw this model started here but never saw photos of the finished one so it was time to build one myself
This is second attempt because first printout had wrong colors - my fault, didn't read the specs for the paper I used :rotwerd:
Enough introductions, time for some building.

I'm converting the model to connecting strips as it is much easier for me to get the segments to allign.
For whoever builds this model, I suggest cutting the former B6B to leave only the bottom part (the one under the cockpit). Otherwise there will be an uncovered edge visible in front of the pilot. This complicates the installation of the cockpit but my work-around was to glue the cockpit directly to the former B6A and then slide the segment onto the rest of the fuselage.
Diagrams in the model do not show it, but there is an antenna mast behind the cockpit (place for it is marked on the segment). As far as I can tell from the photos, it was just a piece of wire sticking out...

Entire praise for the artwork goes to John Griffin.
I wanted to build this model for some time now and I just hope that I will be able to do justice to John's design.

Martin,
I will admit that the thought cross my mind :yahoo:

Tempest keeps growing. Two issues at this stage...

1. John did not provide any colored part for the inside of the tail wheel well so I improvised from spare printout. Also, former in the front of the cutout would be visible so I left strip of paper in the front of the segment to cover it. The opening for the wheel is now sligthly undersized, but it looks much better.

2. There are no slots marked on the horizontal stab but I realized that to late and not wanting to risk cutting the former already glued to the rest of the fuselage, I simply cut the formers for the inside of the stab to work around it.

I'm done with the tail
Color difference on the control surfaces is intentional. Since it was fabric covered, I wanted to have a different look from the rest of the stabilizer so this part was printed on matte paper.

As you can see on those progress photos, fit between stabilizers and the fuselage is excellent and installing fillets is a snap.

It was a very long evening, but I'm happy with the results and now it's time to catch some sleep.

Ohhkayy.....

Entire Sunday evening wasted.
There is nothing wrong with the design, just the semi-gloss (or gloss) paper and the glue will not work together on the chin.....

Yesterday I built the chin radiator, rounded all the edges and painted the inside black. Today I try to install it on the fuselage and BAM! Total failure............

Glue will grab, but not strong enough to hold the skins in place allowing them to move under slightest pressure. I had to pry it of the fuselage (so you have the beaten up look) and start from scratch. This time I started by mounting one side with CA glue (THANK YOU Loctite Control Gel!!!!) and after this was dry, I wrapped it around the former and glued on the other side - PERFECT!

Next step was to insert former in the front and massage the skin onto it.

That's it for the moment as tomorrow is regular work day for me.

Yes, I have to work today and tomorrow (24th)
Fortunately tomorrow is only 1/2 day so it's not that bad.

This proved to be a very difficult assembly and I will admit that I cheated :rotwerd:

I couldn't form the forward part of the radiator (R2) to fit the rest of the parts so I simply cut off the top part of it. Nothing is visible because part R1 covers the connection anyway

Next step will be to do the exhausts and canopy.

Thank you.
Nice part of the design is that whatever you have to trim at the front of the chin (top part) will be covered by the last piece

Windscreen was created from separated pieces glued onto the hood bows provided in the kit -worked perfectly.
Bubble canopy is adapted from Gomix' Typhoon Mk IB. It's to big and needs to be trimmed but the shape is dead on - well, almost, that's why it's in open position

When I looked on the photo showing gunsight I realised that the glass part should be up front of the box but I will not try to reposition it - CA glue makes it dangerous to the part...

I started on the center section of the wing.

Word of caution - John suggests using 1mm card to laminate formers, but this is for 1/24 scale. If you resize the model, you should also adjust the thickness - I chose to cut larger openings in the formers

Cut out for the wheel well in the RIB 1 is a bit undersized and should be enlarged about 1mm each side to easily slide onto the frame and wheel well.

Well...

This is going to be my last update in this thread - for 2008

Both center sections are installed and as you can see on the side view, fit is very good.

Bottom look is not a concern since John provides belly plates that will cover everything nicely.

When viewed from the front, wings appear to be sagging a bit but it is an illusion - when placed on the edge of the desk bottom surfaces are perfectly flat with upper surfaces slightly sloping downwards (exactly as on the plan)

Best wishes in New Year :yahoo:

Belly plates and wing fillets installed - no problems at all, they fit like a glove.

Thank you.

I finished left wing. I separated the outboard part of the wing, reinforced the spar and added card on both top and bottom surfaces - there are no ribs in this assembly.

Next came the difficult part - leading edge. I must admit that I was a bit apprehensive here but everything turned out ok. After careful forming (I used secret modeling compound - water :D) and gluing those petals (I added pieces of printer paper to reinforce the joints) mounting it on the wing was a pleasure.

I messed up the wing tip, but this is entirely my fault - it turns out the simplest solution worked the best...

The only thing required was to assemble the wing tip, THEN glue it to the wing - will do better on the right wing....

Thank you. This means a lot from you - I'm still afraid to start a new Halinski kit :rotwerd:
Model grows very quickly because there are very few parts to assemble and the holiday time is well suited to stay up a bit longer and build.

Hi Rene,
Thank you.
It seems that all I need is about 5-6 hours of sleep a night. Even if I go to bed earlier, my biological clock will wake me up..

Both wings in place.

As soon as I stopped fiddling with the design, putting the right wing together was a snap

Tempest doesn't look really big when printed, especially that when reduced to 1/33 scale parts take only fraction of the sheet, but this is a massive fighter - I placed it next to P-40 for comparison.

Hi Michael,
I use metal ball to round up parts like this. The effect could be even better but I used CA glue to connect the edges and that introduced certain stiffnes to the card.

I used satin (or semi gloss) photo paper. I love the way model looks when printed on this paper, but there are disadvantages...
Glue has difficult time to adhere to this surface, requiring use of the CA glue and I noticed (in several places) that the print is flaking off on the edges, usually on light colored ones. It's not major, but a bit annoying...

Sparrowhawk,
This is exactly the reason why I build everything in the same scale.

Tail wheel....

Well, I couldn't bend the wire to the proper shape so I improvised and the wheel is set nice and strong but not as per design so no photo

Main legs - as you can see they are of the retracting-while-folding veriety due to the huge propeller.

The main difficulty was to make sure that both are the same length.

I added pieces cut from the spare printout to cover the insides of the legs where wheels are installed.

Design does not provide templates for the wires simulating retraction mechanism but this is very easy to figure out.

I used Gomix wooden wheels of similiar size.

Time for the photos:

Michael,
Third photo shows even better how big this plane was - figure is in 1:32 scale.

Not much progress to report eventhough I hoped to get the Tempest finished this weekend...

When I looked at the plane standing on the shelf I realized that it's standing way to high - and of course I was right...

When I built the main legs I did them exactly as the diagram shows them, but they are in fully extended position that is rather unlikely for a plane of this size and weight. So quick work with the scalpel to separate the lower legs and then rebuilt the connecting parts.

Now the plane is shown as it would be standing on the tarmac - extended undercarriage to clear propeller from the ground but compressed shocks because it was a huge and heavy plane.

I also received the replacement hood (thank you Model-Hobby.pl ) and installed it, this time correctly.

There is a mistake in the kit - both parts and instructions state for the propeller to turn in the opposite direction that it's shown for the original.

No problem to fix it though. Photo shows the part as designed and my modification - I simply cut off the little strips intended to wrap around the blade

I also added cut off toothpick with strip of paper rolled at the end to fill up the end of the blade.

This will provide required stifness and give more area to mount the blades to the spinner.

Better photos will have to wait till daylight and probably better weather to take advantage of natural light. Some wind in the forecast might prove a bit of a problem.
Spinner will stay the way it is - I preffer not to use any compounds or paints on my models and I'm perfectly happy with the card model looking like a card model.