“Five past eleven and it’s still raining!”

[The Wooksta!]

"Well, let's open him up, then!"

Been tempted with this one for years - a Centaurus Typhoon. 

There was a real one, which looked like this:

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Strictly speaking, that was a Centarus engined Tornado, but you get what I mean.

But that's not what I'm doing, it's going to be a late Typhoon, but with a Centaurus power egg from a Tempest, albeit with some additions.

So after the Hobbyboss Typhoon met with an accident involving the razor saw, I've got this far.

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The tailplanes are from a Tempest and were spare in a box.  I've cut a tad too much from the fuselage, but some plastic card spacers and filler will sort that out.  I'll need to make some small intakes at the wing root for "unspecified engineering reasons" and a shallow oil cooler underneath the engine.  Or I may just do something that looks like the wing root intakes of the Firebrand.  We shall see.  Whichever is easiest or perhaps looks cooler.

I'll have to do something in the cockpit, as the Hobbyboss interior isn't that clever and the spine is just wrong, so I'll have to get a canopy from elsewhere.  I think I've got one on a Falcon set in the loft.  I saw it a day or so back.

As for lethality, well, the kit comes with rockets, but I prefer empty rails and the Hobbyboss ones are crap.I may well just steal the bombs from the Airfix one.  I also have a plan for the latter, which looks a bit like this:

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It will arrive later in the thread, but for now, the relevant bits are steeping in a bath of silicone.  That's just a prototype, but mine will have all the features of the late Typhoon.

Said bits look like this

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The smaller intake mould was a back up in case I ran short of rubber after doing the main engine. As it happened, there was just enough to do the larger mould with the ducted spinner, albeit with some angling to ensure enough rubber covered the intake bullet.

It was originally a full fuselage conversion, but there's a twist in it - either a master or casting issue, I can't tell - and I wanted to do the annular Tyhoon, so a cut and clone was the quick way round it.  I already moulded the front cowl and spinner some years back, which is handy.  If I go for the fan version, then I think the front cowling from the Firebrand TF5 (already moulded) should fit.  But this is further down the line.

The other thing I'd love to do would be a Tornado Ib - think late Typhoon, but with a Vulture. Or even perhaps a Vulture Tempest  That would really confuse people, but the wing placement is different, being 6 inches lower.  More thought will have to go into it. Although I might have a very rough Maintrack conversion that could be chopped for the engine.  Back to the loft...

[Andrew Gorman]

Your mold boxes are just glued sheet styrene? Where do you find that nice thick material if you are not buying it new?

[Rick Lowe]

Coreflute board used for signage would do as well - any 'stray' ones in your area?...   
Or thick cardboard, maybe? Shiny side (if there is one) innermost, to release properly.

[kitbasher]

My own Centaurus Typhoon is at http://arcair.com/Gal7/6201-6300/gal6247-Typhoon-Drake/00.shtm.

[The Wooksta!]

Your mold boxes are just glued sheet styrene? Where do you find that nice thick material if you are not buying it new?

I keep the sheet I've used previously and just recut it to shape when I need it.  You only really need to buy new if you're doing big moulds, which thankfully I'm not.  I mean, you can always recycle - margerine tubs, CD cases (although they don't like many styrene glues so superglue - but they are generally really cheap at charity shops) and Lego basic bricks have long been the go to for many, but I found that the silicone had a disturbing tendency to leak through the gaps.  You could caulk it with something, but why bother?  Lego comes in standard sizes and sometimes you want a half size.

My own Centaurus Typhoon is at http://arcair.com/Gal7/6201-6300/gal6247-Typhoon-Drake/00.shtm.

No oil coolers?  Still, it's nice enough.

[The Wooksta!]

"Okay, I'll change it, then! Hello, Cliff Richard!"

Well, the engine is on, with a plastic card spacer and a lot of filler to tidy up the gap.  Still needs a bit more work, but it's getting there.  I've also rebuilt the spine aft of the bulkhead that the pilot's seat attachs to, or rather will once it goes in. 

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The rocket attachment points have been filled.  Doesn't matter if they sink a little, as it just shows where they would go - Matchbox put the hard point holes on their Tempest wing, even though they never gave you any actual stores.

Not that you can tell, but I've sanded down the tailplane roots and reworked the Heller attachment stubs to fit the Hobbyboss holes.  I'll need some filler, but it's not going to be as bad as I'd feared.

Once I've sorted out the sanding on the spine, I can look at mugging up some sort of cockpit for it, although as it's going to be black (as all HSA produced aircraft were post 1942), then I doubt I'll have to do much more than a seat and a stick.  The cockpit has to be next so's I can get the wing on and look at some sort of nifty wing root intakes.

[The Wooksta!]

"I still tend to think that the whole outfit is somethat on the snug side."


We now have some kind of cockpit interior, after some work with a few bits of plastic card.

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The instrument panel, which is installed in the fuselage, is the one left over from the Rareplanes Firebrand.  It fitted, it'll do.  The rest is cobbled together from some plastic card, a Tempest seat and a cut down stick from a Spitfire.  Well, an Aeroclub white metal one anyway.  It's currently got coat of paint that's drying now.  Bit of work to weather it with a quilting pencil and some tape straps and I can get it closed up.

[The Wooksta!]

"Think I'll play murder in the dark."

So, after being attacked by a quilting pencil and stuck with some tape, the cockpit looks a bit like this.

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Doesn't look like much, but I can guarantee it's a 110% better than what was there before.  The Hobbyboss Typhoon is one of the few of their kits where you can tart up the cockpit a bit.  Admittedly not much and no doubt others might go further whilst most simply wouldn't bother and would buy a better kit to start with (I had this long before the Airfix one came out and it was a case of use it or let it continue to gather dust in the loft), but in this case, it's what's outside that counts.  I know what inside is better than before, I'm happy with it and in the immortal words of Father Fintan Stack "I've had my fun and that's all that matters."*

With the cockpit all smartened right up, it can get wedged into place - literally, it's very snug fit - glued and then the wing goes on.

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And with that in place, the tailplanes went on too.  I've got some filler around the wing roots, but I've yet to add any to the tailplanes as I'm still thinking about how I'll tackle the gaping chasm at the trailing edge there.

Still to consider how I'll tackle the wing root intakes, but that's for another day.


*The best of Father Fintan Stack can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeqhsOlCDtA. One section would be even more chilling sans laugh track.

[su27rules]

   Nice!!  

[The Wooksta!]

"Don't be stupid, Neil. That's not a shark!"


Tailplanes now sorted, the chasms being filled by wedges of plastic card and filler.  I'll scribe better lines in once I've got some primer on.

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As you can see, I've made some rough root intakes for the oil cooler with some scraps of plastic card and a lot of filler.  I'll sand that back tomorrow and go from there.  There's likely to be a small intake under the cowling too.

Really pleased with how this is coming together.

[The Wooksta!]

"Brilliant! Let's fill it in!"

I've got much of the filler in this sanded back, especially the new wing root intakes and it's looking pretty good.

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There's a few areas that need a bit more work but I'll get some primer on it soon.

[Rick Lowe]

 

[The Wooksta!]

"We never did get to watch the video."

For some reason, I missed the photos of this in the primer stage, but TBH, they do look rather boring in a light grey.  First colour went on, masked during the snooker and on with the Ocean Grey.  The Xtracolour is playing up, so it got two coats.

But as I'm masking stuff for the green and staring down the deadline of a show looming, getting this across the finish line appealed more than the myriad Tempests that need non-available eight blade contra props.  I'm also running out of the wider masking tape, so prioritising stuff is also deciding the choice of projects to advance.  I've still to spray the Ocean Grey on a number of Tempests, so which ones get any further will be determinate on how quickly they could be finished.  I would like to get at least one of the annular cowling ones done, but that's for another thread.

The Typhoon.

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Various profiles show no real consistency in the dark green pattern, with some being more squiggly and wavy than others.  With it having a different engine, it changes the shape somewhat, so the scheme is a mixture of side profiles from the Paul Lucas combat colours on RAF fighters overseas for the side and the Airfix distructions for the top.  I shall refer anyone who complains to the fine words of Father Fintan Stack.

It's definitely going 2TAF, using the Airfix Typhoon decals, so no pesky Sky band and those lovely post Jan '45 Type C1A roundels with the yellow surrounds on the upper and lower wings. And a spinner as black as the endless blackness of space that leads to the chasm of clams.

[The Wooksta!]

"It looks well on him, though, doesn't he?"

The Typhoon got it's final light coat of green, tidying up the few areas that needed doing.

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Really happy with it so far.  Well, until...

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The masking lifted the paint.  That shouldn't be too difficult to fix.