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Revell Hawker Tempest MkV 1:32 - 56 (Punjab) Squadron April 1945 , 2nd TAF ,Volkel, Holland - My uncle's aircraft (US-X)


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12 hours ago, Col Walter E Kurtz said:

Coming together nicely .. apart fro the issue with the broken canopy.

 

Canopy .. I have seen a pic of a canvas cover over the canopy on a Tempest .. so if i cant replace it .. maybe this is an option..

 

The wing dihedral looks ok too.. flat on inboard  and looks ok on the outboard sections of the wings. The wing assembly went nicely together at the wing roots. not massive gap to fill! 

 

 

 

A little good news is that the hood actually clicks into the rails so it is pretty secure without cement.  That way you can put a cover on the broken one and if you get a replacement in the future it's an easy swap.

 

Glad the wing inner section came together for you.

 

Looking forward to seeing more.

Cheers 

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1 minute ago, Bill Bunting said:

A little good news is that the hood actually clicks into the rails so it is pretty secure without cement.  That way you can put a cover on the broken one and if you get a replacement in the future it's an easy swap.

 

Glad the wing inner section came together for you.

 

Looking forward to seeing more.

Cheers 

Thanks Bill. It's coming together nicely. Feels very solid. I've cut out the decals for the seat harness too so plan to use these rather than apply the decals themselves.

Did the rudder  and rest of the tail today too.

Canopy will be unusual when covered and yes should be easy to replace in the future as it clicks in! 

Kind Regards,

Andy

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Just some more pics really.. slow progress this week and the disaster of the broken rear canopy. Can't be helped and lots of alternatives available so i'm not fretting over this.

 

The canopy with it's lovely crack down the middle

 

20210227_002803

 

 

The Starboard wing light. Such a nice touch on Revell's part and at this scale it looks the business in my opinion!

 

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Adding the 'gubbins' in the wheel wells and second coat of paint! Didn't help that i was watching The Cold Blue documentary about the 91st BG at the time! ( this is actually what i partly get paid for believe it or not!)

 

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Another spot on accurate detail is the drop tank pylons were made of glass! - reflected in the kit.. i like this! and i'm now happy with the drop tank surfaces smoothed out.

 

 

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Tail sorted out and dry fitted for this photo. Im not decided yet to glue them before painting or do my usual trick of painting them off the fuselage and then very carefully glueing them when done..

 

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One idea i had for the seat harness was to use the decals still on their backing paper to give some strength and depth

I will tidy the edges up and dirty them a little before i fix them to the seat.

 

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The u/c is the next problem area i think. The instructions are pretty unclear to see the parts in their final positions is a bit fuzzy.. 

 

Think i'll leave it mostly for the weekend. The weather promises to be really nice so might be good to get out on my cycle and enjoy the fresh air for once!

 

 

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16 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

It does look very impressive all together so great work. 

You get paid to watch documentaries,  wow, are there any jobs going???😃

 

Chris

 

 

🤣 I do technical testing of streaming services. Video On Demand, Live linear TV channels. That's part of my job and if it's a software release for different devices e.g. 'Smart' Television, Android tablet then i get to pick what i watch as a test. naturally I search for things i'd find interesting as test material.

 

Broadly speaking  i'm emulating what a real customer would be doing and trying to find bugs and defects before the software is released to all customers. Will put a word in for you! 😉

 

Regards

Andy

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Hi Andy, she's coming together nicely there :)

Shame about the canopy, although that tarp over the hood certainly makes an interesting approach if all else fails.

 

The Tempest is still in active sale at Revell, so the parts service @ https://www.revell-service.de/en/spare-parts-service/ (4-6 weeks*) might be worth a shot.

 

 

*that's what they all say nowadays - but the replacement decal sheet from Heller direct took only 2 weeks so mileage may vary.

 

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1 hour ago, Col Walter E Kurtz said:

🤣 I do technical testing of streaming services. Video On Demand, Live linear TV channels. That's part of my job and if it's a software release for different devices e.g. 'Smart' Television, Android tablet then i get to pick what i watch as a test. naturally I search for things i'd find interesting as test material.

 

Broadly speaking  i'm emulating what a real customer would be doing and trying to find bugs and defects before the software is released to all customers. Will put a word in for you! 😉

 

Regards

Andy

Sounds a great job Andy.  

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2 hours ago, alt-92 said:

Hi Andy, she's coming together nicely there :)

Shame about the canopy, although that tarp over the hood certainly makes an interesting approach if all else fails.

 

The Tempest is still in active sale at Revell, so the parts service @ https://www.revell-service.de/en/spare-parts-service/ (4-6 weeks*) might be worth a shot.

 

 

*that's what they all say nowadays - but the replacement decal sheet from Heller direct took only 2 weeks so mileage may vary.

 

Thanks Alt. It's looking nice indeed. I'm happy with how it's turning our so far..

I've made a spare part request through the Revell site. Thanks for link!

Kind Regards

Andy

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19 hours ago, Col Walter E Kurtz said:

Another spot on accurate detail is the drop tank pylons were made of glass! - reflected in the kit.. i like this! and i'm now happy with the drop tank surfaces smoothed out.

Hate to say it. But the drop tank joints need a little work.  The smoothing of the engraved details look great!

Quote

Tail sorted out and dry fitted for this photo. Im not decided yet to glue them before painting or do my usual trick of painting them off the fuselage and then very carefully glueing them when done..

I left the horizontal tail off until after painting. It worked out great and much easier to paint.

Quote

One idea i had for the seat harness was to use the decals still on their backing paper to give some strength and depth

I will tidy the edges up and dirty them a little before i fix them to the seat.

 

 

The u/c is the next problem area i think. The instructions are pretty unclear to see the parts in their final positions is a bit fuzzy.. 

 

 

I have done the seat harness decal cut outs for many kits. I usually paint the edges, give them a light wash of sooty brown and then a flat coat, trying to not coat the buckles.

 

Yes the landing gear alignment is tricky. The side to side is not too bad, the retraction arm helps set the vertical alignment (when viewed from the front).  The tricky part is front to back as the mounting point can "rock" a bit. You need to ensure the leg sits fully in the "socket" and then double check both legs are the same when viewed from the side and top.

 

Looking really good, keep on it!

Edited by Bill Bunting
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5 hours ago, Bill Bunting said:

Hate to say it. But the drop tank joints need a little work.  The smoothing of the engraved details look great!

Yes i agree with you looking at them again in the daylight  Bill. A bit more sanding needed in some of the joint areas. Thanks for pointing this out. Im revisiting these. Cheers

Andy  

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5 hours ago, Bill Bunting said:

Tail sorted out and dry fitted for this photo. I'm not decided yet to glue them before painting or do my usual trick of painting them off the fuselage and then very carefully glueing them when done..

The Last 3 models i did i even left the wings off until final painting was completed. Can work well with a bit of care and i do find it much easier to do this less masking work! 😀

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I have had a very long conversation with my cousin tonight. We have not seen each other or been in contact for... 40 years. 

 

We have discovered we are both as passionate as each other about discovering our Uncle's RAF exploits.  

 

He has 2 scrap books with some pictures in kept by my uncle throughout his training in Canada. He has a pic of uncle Peter in a Harvard Trainer at Calgary in Canada!  He has a whole load of other stuff in his loft and will find them soon. This is good news indeed!

I've given him an overview of what i've found out so far. He was amazed and grateful. He has been on the same path as me and i've managed to open up whole new exciting vistas for him.

 

My cousin tells me our other uncle,older brother of Peter named  Maurice, flew Lancasters and reached the rank of Squadron Leader.. This is another follow up project! 

 

My cousin wonders where Uncle Peter's Flight Log Book is. It seems unusual that all the other documents are there. Uncle Peter seemed to keep everything related to his RAF service in way of documents. Is it possible that upon demob he was required to surrender his log book to the RAF? I've no idea of the protocol here but seems likely he would have been permitted to keep it. In which case it's lost from the other papers.

 

He does , my cousin, have Uncle Peter's 'Wings'. He plans to give them to our German cousin, Peter who is the direct biological son of our uncle. Seems to be the natural thing to do we both agree. HIs son has spent a lifetime searching for his real father. Just seems right and proper he has a real object belonging to his Dad!  

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47 minutes ago, Col Walter E Kurtz said:

The Last 3 models i did i even left the wings off until final painting was completed. Can work well with a bit of care and i do find it much easier to do this less masking work! 😀

Ha! Me too, but this was the craziest build I ever did. Painted and decalled with no tail. Wings or even a front fuselage!

 

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33 minutes ago, Col Walter E Kurtz said:

 

He has 2 scrap books with some pictures in kept by my uncle throughout his training in Canada. He has a pic of uncle Peter in a Harvard Trainer at Calgary in Canada! 

 

We had a lot of young men come through Canada on the BCATP.   If you or your cousin ever find yourselves over here, at the museum where I fly, we have an RAF Tiger Moth and a BCATP  RCAF PT-26 Cornell that we can take you up in. We've flown many vets and their children and grandchildren.  We're just 60 miles north of Toronto. 

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6 hours ago, Col Walter E Kurtz said:

I have had a very long conversation with my cousin tonight. We have not seen each other or been in contact for... 40 years. 

 

We have discovered we are both as passionate as each other about discovering our Uncle's RAF exploits.  

 

He has 2 scrap books with some pictures in kept by my uncle throughout his training in Canada. He has a pic of uncle Peter in a Harvard Trainer at Calgary in Canada!  He has a whole load of other stuff in his loft and will find them soon. This is good news indeed!

I've given him an overview of what i've found out so far. He was amazed and grateful. He has been on the same path as me and i've managed to open up whole new exciting vistas for him.

 

My cousin tells me our other uncle,older brother of Peter named  Maurice, flew Lancasters and reached the rank of Squadron Leader.. This is another follow up project! 

 

My cousin wonders where Uncle Peter's Flight Log Book is. It seems unusual that all the other documents are there. Uncle Peter seemed to keep everything related to his RAF service in way of documents. Is it possible that upon demob he was required to surrender his log book to the RAF? I've no idea of the protocol here but seems likely he would have been permitted to keep it. In which case it's lost from the other papers.

 

He does , my cousin, have Uncle Peter's 'Wings'. He plans to give them to our German cousin, Peter who is the direct biological son of our uncle. Seems to be the natural thing to do we both agree. HIs son has spent a lifetime searching for his real father. Just seems right and proper he has a real object belonging to his Dad!  

Excellent update and discovery of new info and a future project too.  An excellent excuse for a large scale Lancaster???

Chris

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2 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Excellent update and discovery of new info and a future project too.  An excellent excuse for a large scale Lancaster???

Chris

Thank you Chris. My cousin Tom has some great documents and pictures. he lives in Wales which is not that convenient to just pop in. We have resolved to meet up and collate our material. He's an artist, photographer and a published author. It's great to get back in contact with him and fantastic that he appreciates what i've done so afr.

 

Uncle Maurice definitely needs some follow up research .. i'm thinking a Tamiya 1:48 scale Lancaster! 😀

Regards, Andy

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8 hours ago, Bill Bunting said:

at the museum where I fly, we have an RAF Tiger Moth and a BCATP  RCAF PT-26 Cornell that we can take you up in

 

Thank You Bill!. That sounds like a great thing to do! Maybe be something to plan for my fast approaching retirement? 

Think i'd like a Tiger Moth 'hop'. I've had 2 Cessna -150 trial lessons in my time. I managed to do some pretty good ( according to the instructor) 1 and 2 min timed turns. He even let me take control on finals but my rate of sink was too much so he took control again. 

 

 My cousin yesterday said he is really interested in visiting The Shuttleworth Collection here in England. They have a large collection of 'string bags' He seems to be even more of a WW2 and aviation 'nut' than me!  We always got on as kids and it's great to get in contact with him again

 

Would the museum you fly at have a website? 

Regards

Andy

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A straying off topic Andy,when my wife's Grandmother passed away we found an old large envelope from the Imperial War Graves 

Commission(the title date's it to pre-1960),it contained the register for the Ottawa memorial to those allied airmen missing while

training or flying operation's from Canada during the war,marked inside was the name of Sgt Ronald Farnsworth who went missing

in April 1943,we have no idea why she had the register other than her Mother was a Farnsworth by birth so there must be a family

connection,it appear's he was part of the crew of a Mitchell which was lost over the Bahamas aged 19.

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53 minutes ago, stevej60 said:

Canada during the war,marked inside was the name of Sgt Ronald Farnsworth who went missing

in April 1943

 

That's a sad story. Only 19 too.

Our local graveyard has a fair few War graves. I looked up one a few years ago. It was a very young RAF pilot who died at an OTU in Scotland flying a spitfire. I posted on a WW2 website and got the full details from someone including the accident report of his fatal crash. He must have had a local connection to Cheshunt i guess as he was buried there. Pleased to see that the local branch of the RBL look after the grave. Gone but not forgotten. 

As an aside the Royal Gunpowder Mills Factory is just up the road from me in Waltham Abbey, Essex. ( My great -great Grandfather worked as a 'stoker' at this factory)  In the graveyard there is a group or Wargraves commission headstones. some 6 workers killed in a manufacturing explosion at the gunpowder mills. It's right and proper that they are acknowledged as war graves too. Theirs was a very dangerous job , essential to the war effort. Thankfully there were few munitions factory accidents during WW2. Far fewer than in WW1.

Regards

Andy

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We had a Hurricane crash a mile up the road Andy flying out of RAF Usworth they think due to an oxygen failure despite all my effort's

I cannot get the codes for this machine I'd love to model a tribute someday especially when Revell give us a new tool 1/32 Hurricane!

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/90033

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2 minutes ago, stevej60 said:

We had a Hurricane crash a mile up the road Andy flying out of RAF Usworth they think due to an oxygen failure despite all my effort's

I cannot get the codes for this machine I'd love to model a tribute someday especially when Revell give us a new tool 1/32 Hurricane!

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/90033

I have a cunning plan Steve!😀

 

43 (China-British) Squadron Royal Air Force (43 (China-British) Sqn RAF) - see if the Squadron ORB ( Operations Record Book ) is available for download  from the National Archive?. This could be mentioned in the day to day details. If you're lucky the squadron code will be recorded there! If it was an OTU usually only exceptional events were worthy of note. A pilot sadly killed during a training flight would be such an event.

 

Also i believe the NA holds RAF accident reports too. Think the range is WW1- 1960s .

 

I'm going out for a cycle soon but if you give me a couple of days i'd be most happy to see what i can find for you.  

 

Have you been to the site of the crash? Perhaps you might find a piece of the said aircraft? Though i think most of the WW2 crash sites have been visited by metal detectorists since the 1960's .. might be lucky! Also looking at the crash report from your link  most likely is was buried quite deeply. 

 

Regards, Andy

 

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