Matchbox 1:72 Tempest (II)

[mike romeo]

Hi all, 

 

Although I haven't set up a thread previously, some modelling has been accomplished.  Luckily, I have been taking photos as I've been going along.

 

Although I cannot recall how much I spent on the Tempest, I am utterly confident it was less than a tenner.  Why?  Because I wouldn't pay more for it even now!  Nice kit it may be, but this is a builder, not an investment.

 

So, here is the kit:

 

Box

 

 

Contents:

 

 

Sprues:

 

 

This is going to be a Mk II.  At least, if things go to plan.  I like this simple little kit, and it will be built *mostly* out of the box, but with a few enhancements.  Although little can be seen once the fuse is together, I wanted to add a bit of interior detail.  So, here a start has been made.

 

 

I added the Mk II nose halves onto the respective fuse halves.  Incidentally, I will be slimming down the nose cowl contours a bit, asI think it looks a bit blunt out of the box.

 

Sitting alongside the fuse halves is the one piece seat / bulkhead.  I have added some kick plates and a cross-bar as a base for the joystick.

 

So, that's all for the first post.  More to follow soon . . .

 

Rgds

 

Martin

 

[mike romeo]

Next up, I thought I'd add a representation of the interior framing, using the Eduard Tempest instructions as a guide.

 

 

 

I'm no super-detailer, so that's enough for me.  In the foreground I've added a bit more to the seat.  Here's a closer look.

 

 

I've added as joystick and pedals from the spares box and, in the foreground is a Hurricane ip, with the sides bent forward to make it look a bit more like a Tempest's.

 

So, after adding crude straps out of wine bottle foil, a seat cushion from card, and a (badly applied)splash of paint, the cockpit is *done*.

 

 

After that, I opened up the tailwheel bay and added interior blanking, then could close up the fuse.  More pics soon.

 

Rgds

 

Martin

 

[PlaStix]

Hi Martin. Welcome to the GB. Great to have you here. Great choice of kit for this GB and it looks like you are off to a flying start already!

Kind regards,

Stix

[mike romeo]

Thanks, Stix, nice to be here!  I have a small update for you.

 

So, after the last post I got the fuse halves together.  The seams were a bit off and called for some sprue goo followed by sanding.  I then added the tailplane and smeared some tippex over the joints.   Here's how it looked after.

 

 

 

You may be able to see that I've done a fair bit of sanding of the cowling ring to make it sleeker, as I think it looks a bit blunt oob.  Due to the sanding, I've lost a raised fastener panel top and bottom of the cowling, so that'll be reinstated with wine bottle foil or tape cut to shape.

 

Having got the fuse to that point, it was time to consider the wings.  The 2 things I wanted to do here were:

 

1. Correct sink marks from the single piece flap area and on top of the block of plastic where the u/c legs attach;

 

2. Re-detail the gear bays.

 

Re 1, I used several thin coats of sprue goo followed when dry by vigorous sanding.  I checked progress by spraying several coats of primer which hopefully will also de-emphasise the recessed trenches.  However, sanding plus primer had removed some panel lines completely, so these were rescribed.

 

Re 2, I know that this is one of the few Matchbox with gear well detail, but it doesn't look very realistic, so I used a plastic chisel to get rid of the detail, then smoothed the remaining area with sanding stick, gave it a coat of Tamiya extra thin and, when dry, a scoosh of primer.

 

The net result of the above work is shown below:

 

 

The white spars at each wing root are plastic rod cut overlong and used to detail the wheel wells, using the Academy Tempest as a rough guide.

 

 

Again, I'm no super-detailer and I'm satisfied that looks better than the plain gridwork that was there previously.

 

So, having got to this stage, I joined the wing top and bottom pieces and started the attachment process:

 

 

You can also see the blanking plate I fashioned with a circle cutter to hide the ugly seam line above and below the prop spinner.

 

 

The port wing fit is none too stellar, and will have to be filled in due course.  However, the starboard wing had an even bigger gap ~1mm, so I decided to shim it.

 

 

So that's how things stand at the moment.  Once set up, the shims will be trimmed and the starboard wings added.  Then fill seams, more primer and we'll see what's what.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Rgds

 

Martin

 

 

[PlaStix]

Hi Martin. Great to see the progress you have made but it does look like it's causing you a bit of extra work in places. Having said that, it does look like your are knocking it into shape really nicely!  

Kind regards,

Stix