Jump to content

Matchbox Tempest II - Saved from a fate worse than death


Recommended Posts

Most modellers will have one or two kits lying around that never made it to completion. The majority of those kits languish on shelves or in boxes, unloved and forgotten. However, a select few end up in a worse state: They become experimental subjects, exposed to all sorts of toxic substances and chemicals. Enter my Matchbox Tempest II. This kit started life happily enough on the shelf of a toy store in the early 90s and was picked up for a few quid by my dad and early-teens me. She was destined for, lord knows what really. We only built planes that had seen service with the Dutch forces at that time. It was probably the similarities to the Seafury that did it, because a few years later I set out to turn it into exactly that. A valiant effort was made, unassisted at the time of course by internet references and just a few Seafury photographs in a book. It was quite a modification I recall: I moved the oil cooler from the starboard to the port wing, set out to add a propeller blade, changed the shape of the gear doors... The kit made it to the painting stage, and that is where it stalled. It sat on a shelf in its Dark Sea Gray / Sky livery for years. I went to college, started working and for about ten years didn't do much in the way of model building.

 

49455945542_6f850416ee_b.jpg

 

In 2009 I picked up the hobby again and I completed many of the old kits that had been left in various stages of completion. However, a few years older and wiser and with the help of the internet I realized that my Tempest-to-Seafury conversion had been somewhat misguided. I'd missed some obvious differences which are hard to correct, like the mid-wing section and resulting changes in the gear well positions, elevated cockpit as well as a few other things. Rather than dump the kit, it ended up as an airbrush test model and over the next ten years it accumulated layer after layer of paint.

 

49455716946_e006d0e51c_b.jpg

 

Still, the Tempest II remained an attractive plane to me and I found myself looking forward to actually building one, so I set out to buy another kit. However, like some other Matchbox kits, this one actually commands a rather hefty price tag. I didn't want to spend 15-20 pounds on it so I started considering renovating it. I'd never tried paint stripping with oven cleaner before but it went very well and within a day or so my poor Tempestfury was clean. Only after doing the cleaning did I realize I had done quite a lot of work on the tail as well, Changing it back into a proper Tempest II would prove to be more work than my original conversion to a Seafury.

 

49455717121_fd947860c5_b.jpg

 

I'd also lost most of the parts apart from the main airframe, so they would have to be sourced elsewhere. Not wanting to spend the money on another Matchbox kit, I got the cheapest Tempest 72nd scale I could get my hands on in Telford last November. The kit would serve as donor for the prop, landing gear, doors, wheels and canopy. I got hold of the ancient Revell tooling, but this turned out to be a bit of a mistake. The prop and spinner are a single molding and after removing the flash it does look rather anemic. The main gear and doors are single piece moldings as well but look ok once the ejector towers (I didn't know they could squeeze two in on such a small part!) were removed from them. The canopy only looks vaguely Tempest-like and is a lousy fit on the Matchbox kit, but hey, I wasn't building a show winner here and with some plastic card and putty I faired it in. I used the rudder from the Revell kit (despite it being short shot, needing more card) as the original had so much material removed to make it more Seafury-like. More plastic card was employed to restore the tail fillet and move the oil cooler back to the port wing. The gun ports were filled, redrilled and Albion Alloy tubing inserted to clean them up a bit.

 

The only completely unusable parts from the Revell kit were the main wheels. They have a sort of non-descript hub cap, rather than the spoked hub design of the original. There are resin aftermarket wheels for the Tempest but I stole a set from an Academy Typhoon. At some point I will have to fork out the dough for a new set. Or maybe use the Revell wheels on the Typhoon ;)

 

49455244518_b69292bc0f_b.jpg

 

I couldn't find the decals anymore but then I didn't look too hard for them; the original kit only offered Indian marking for the Mk II which I wasn't interested in building and they'd in poor shape anyway, so I invested in an Xtradecal sheet with Tempests and selected the most colorful option, MW800/HF-V from No.54 Squadron, flown by Squadron Leader Frank Jensen during the Victory Day Flypast on June 8th 1946.

 

49455717006_f132aac651_b.jpg

 

So there she is, almost 20 years in the making: Matchbox's Tempest Mk II. Not the quickest, neatest or most efficient build I have ever done, but I feel really good when I look at her and see her all cleaned up and finally reaching her intended purpose.

 

Edited by sroubos
  • Like 36
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry folks, it's been a while since I posted photos. I used to use dropbox but that apparently doesn't work anymore, although it does show the photos if you are logged in course, hence I didn't realize my mistake.

 

Should be working now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see it now. Nice recovery on the Tempest. Ever since I built a FROG Tempest way back in '69, I liked the look of the various versions.

 

It's also my favourite fighter to fly on my CFS3.

 

 

 

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That looks lovely and with a great back story to share. Funnily enough I also restored a half baked Matchbox Tempest as part of the Classic kit GB a few years ago. At the time, my teenage idea was to convert the Heller Mk.V into a Mk.II using the nose and various parts from the Matchbox kit. I still had most of the Matchbox parts, however acquired a Mk. VI nose and prop parts from a BM member. It did take an effort to get it back to a full model, however I’m glad I did. Your restoration is excellent, especially when you consider what it looked like only a short while ago. 
 

Cheers and well modelled.. Dave 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cracking build! I had the matchbox starter kit for my 13th birthday in 1996 when as a lad it was all aeroplanes and euro 96! I built mine outdoors in the shed in the June sun in an afternoon. But this is how it should have turned out. Bravo!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks guys, appreciate the reactions :)

 

I have a Zvezda Mig-23 that suffered the same fate but hey, some poor schmuck needs to be the guy to serve as painting experiment ;) A shame for him I'm just more into WWII than Cold War...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...