1/32 PCM Tempest V

[stona]

This kit arrived the day after I started a stop gap project and has been sitting in the cupboard waiting for a couple of weeks.

It is a typical PCM kit. Here's what you get in a rather large box.

Firstly a bag containing four substantial sprues and a second, little bag with some correction parts for the radiators and spinner, which were a problem on the initial release. Nicely moulded parts, but with some flash and some meaty sprue attachments as you'd expect from a low pressure injection moulding process. Nothing a sharp blade and a quick sand can't sort out. The plastic is by Czech company Sword for PCM. Here's a picky to give an idea of the quality.



Next up some resin parts, principally the wheel well. Nicely done and undistorted. I always have fun with resin!



Just to keep the fiddle factor high there is some nice photo etch from Eduard included. Some of these parts are very small indeed.



Some nice clear parts. I checked these as my PCM Fw 190 was missing this sprue. I still haven't had a reply from PCM about that!



You also get the usual and excellent "paperwork".

First the usual slightly vague instructions, particularly as regards colour call. You are expected to either be familiar with the aircraft or get off your botty and do a bit of research



Some excellent profiles.



And decals for five options.



I won't be doing any of those. I have in mind a Tempest flown on occasion by Flt.Lt. Joseph Berry of No.3 Squadron RAF. Flying with 150 (Newchurch) Wing he was credited with 60.5 V-1 flying bombs. That is 60.5 V-1s.....not a typo!

I'm planning to do a reasonably detailed account of the build, hopefully not boring everyone to death, so wish me luck!

Cheers

Steve

 

[0ne48thtel]

Looks good steve

 

[spanner570]

Nice looking kit Steve. I do like the Tempest.....7 tons of brute force!

 

[stona]

.....7 tons of brute force!

And bloody quick as well!

The reason the Newchurch wing was so successful, they shot down 500 V-1s between 29th June and 26th July 1944, was because the Tempest could catch them more easily than other types.

A corridor was established in the area bounded by London, Hastings and Folkestone in which only the Newchurch Tempests, two squadrons of Spitfires and a P-51 Mustang wing were allowed to operate. All other aircraft were kept out of the area as they were too slow to achieve worthwhile results.

The Tempests, significantly faster than even the Spitfires and Mustangs enjoyed considerable success.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Ian M]

Marked this one to watch. popcorn at the ready.

Ian M

 

[AlasdairGF]

Looking forward to this - feel free to give as much detail as you can, I've got my notepad at the ready...!

 

[yak face]

Like ron ive always really liked the typhoon/tempest , itll be a great watch seeing this come together (not to mention very useful reference for the future !) cheers tony

 

[stona]

I'm hoping to make a start tomorrow afternoon/evening, if everything goes according to plan.........which it probably won't

Cheers

Steve

 

[colin m]

I like the look of this one loads. That plastic looks very shiny.

 

[Polux]

I wish to follow this one Steve!

It will be an inspiration for me; I bought a Eduard limited edition of a Spitfire (have to finish my tartan one...).

Your builds are a references for me, so here I am!! If you are agree...

Polux

 

[mossiepilot]

That looks nice, looking forward to seeing it come together.

Tony.

 

[flyjoe180]

Nice choice Steve, the Tempest is one of the ultimate piston fighters. Here is a link about your man: http://www.hawkertempest.se/berry.htm

 

[stona]

Thanks Joe, some good stuff there. I have a record of Berry flying JF-Z on occasion, but that site (and I'm not going to disagree with it having seen the contributors (Thomas, Shores etc) has it as Flight Lieutenant Remy van Lierde's aircraft. A beginner with a mere 44 V-1s destroyed! I will therefore do it as his aircraft, complete with happy ending as he survived the war. It will also be good to represent an aircraft flown by a Belgian pilot. Some RAF messes must have sounded like the tower of Babel!

Poor old JF-Z, JN808, didn't survive. It was lost on 2nd February 1945. Sadly so was the pilot, Sgt. J.K.Holden. It was then with 56 Sqn. coded US-G. Holden was seen to fail to recover from a dive whilst attacking a train.

Cheers

Steve

 

[papa 695]

I'm also looking forward to this build Steve

 

[stona]

Pressures on now

I have actually started by liberating the resin parts from their casting blocks deploying an assortment of knives, razor saws and bad language. I only damaged (slightly easily repaired) one wheel well wall. That's good going for me!

Cheers

Steve

 

[Ian M]

An old hand like you probably knows this but I find plopping the resin part onto a blob of blue tac helps stop it flying about when I cut it...

Also when cutting thin parts with a knife, make the first pass with either the back of the blade or a scribing tool.

Like I said, you probably knew that but thought I would share any way..

Ian M

 

[stona]

Good advice Ian. I do use a scriber to help liberate the smaller bits.

The wheel wells or even exhausts are pretty straight forward but I'm sure you can imagine how tricky that very fragile gun sight was !



I have a couple of Tamiya razor saws and also a fine and extra fine blade from Radu Briznan (I hope I spelt that right). You have to clamp the blade in a holder, which he supplies, with a couple of screws and provide your own handle but I rate them highly.



Cheers

Steve

 

[Vaughan]

Another interesting build Steve, keep posting the photos. By the way was it an expensive kit?

 

[Ian M]

Looks like a good little blade that. I use an old x-acto razor saw. A bit big at times but does the job. I'm on the look out for new one, so I might just look into the one you use.

Those castings look very good indeed. The ones for my Mossy where ok but quite brittle. how are those ones.

Good job on that sight! (My fun bit was the replacement struts!)

While we're hear, whats the difference between a Typhoon and a Tempest? As a casual on looker they look pretty alike.

Ian M

 

[stona]

The resin is good. If you find it very brittle work on a warm day or warm the resin up slightly. I will have a little bit more "give" in it.

The Tempest and Typhoon ended up being substantially different. The original plan, as of a meeting between the Ministry men and Camm in March 1941, was for a thin winged version of the Typhoon, powered by a new version of the Sabre engine, incorporating wing root radiators and capable of 430 mph. The wing would rectify the disappointing altitude performance of the original Typhoon. This was then referred to as a Typhoon II but by February 1942 the name Tempest appears. Various prototypes were ordered, both with inline engines (EC.107C which became the Sabre IV, Sabre II) and a radial engine (Centaurus IV). There were proposals for a Griffon engine type and one was eventually built (LA610) as a Hawker Fury prototype and direct ancestor of the Centaurus powered Sea Fury. As you can see it was all a bit complicated!

To cut a long story short the plan to keep much of the original Typhoon in the Tempest, apart from the wing, didn't work and substantial modifications were made to the fuselage, which was substantially lengthened to incorporate fuel tanks in front of the pilot as there wasn't room in the thinner wing for large enough tanks. The fin was also very different. Other changes are less visible.

The two still appear superficially similar, particularly if the comparison is with a late Typhoon with the one piece sliding (bubble) canopy, but side by side there are obvious external differences, apart from the wing.

The only version of the Tempest to see WWII service was the Tempest V with the big chin radiator. The radial engine Tempest II missed the war as did the tropicalized version of the Tempest V designated Tempest VI.

The P-51 is probably rightly regarded as the "best" fighter of WWII (whatever the hell that means!) and all the usual suspects will follow along. The Tempest is for some reason often overlooked. It was a late comer and a very fine aeroplane indeed.

Cheers

Steve