The Sound and the Fury - Wooksta's Tempest thread

[The Wooksta!]

Funny you should mention that. as I'm playing with the Kora conversion, but the first one went together horribly and I've a feeling the resin is twisted - it's a full fuselage conversion.  I've one of each spare, so the plan is to take one, just cut the nose off at the firewall, assemble and drop into rubber.  Think I have enough left to do the fuselage bit, but not the ducted spinner (that would also be handy for a long term plan to do the Ju 288V-5 with the Jumo 222).  I already have the conversion above done, largely because there was a Sabre engined Warwick prototype in with the Contrail one and I wanted some decent fronts.  The Kora conversion could also be applicable to Typhoon also, as there was one.

[The Wooksta!]

And so we reach the primed stage and this is after the few areas that needed some remedial sanding have been fixed.

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Next is a coat of Medium Sea Grey underneath.

[The Wooksta!]

Thought I'd stick this one in here.  It's the Kora conversion I mentioned upthread.  This is the second of the two fuselages I was working on and despite everything lining up when glued, as soon as it's fitted to the wing, it twists. Something is off somewhere.  My idea of a cut and shut with just the nose and a complete Heller fuselage is the better bet.  One has already been sacrificed to the Silicone, a second is likely to get chopped.

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This one is likely to get the ducted spinner, because it's just so cool and it'll hopefully detract attention to any alignment issues.  I'll also deflect the rudder somewhat too.  Next step is to get the front end sanded to get the base plate for the spinner fitted and then the wing glued on.  There's some really nice wing root intakes too, which may well work on another tropicalised P1027 Tempest. 

Having moulded the ducted spinner, I'm curious to see what it would look like on say, a Sea Fury.  A dry fit says it would look seriously cool.

[DogfighterZen]

Love what you've got going here, Lee. 

[The Wooksta!]

Having been up into the loft to find something, I came back with a handful of part started, nearly finished and wrecks and a Sea Fury kit.  More on that in another thread.

However, this was one of the things I went looking for.  It was the first Eagle Tempest I did, about twenty years ago.  The u/c snapped at some point and it got put in a box, then forgotten.

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Now, it *might* have been repairable with a new u/c but the decals had gone a bit micey - the codes were by Modeldecal and the glue they used was horrible and tends to turn a turd brown with age, so the decision was taken go for a strip and respray.  Well, the decals anyway, because there's nothing that'll remove 2006 vintage Halfords metallics except 2006 vintage Fairy Power Spray.

So out with the masking tape, sanding pads and a scalpel to remove the decals.  And we get to this.

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Much as I like the metallic scheme, I'm thinking something more normal, probably 2nd Tactical Air Force. No Sky band and the lovely Type C1A roundels on the wings.  It does need some remedial filler work underneath, as the engine seems to be parting company with the fuselage.  Of the 2006 vintage filler has shrunk.

Whilst I'm on the subject and to save from doing multiple build threads, I'll add these other on/off projects too.

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Another P1027.  This was found part started, along with a second that's now totally abandoned as Cat.E, in a Tempest box.  Obvs.  Now I'm unsure if this is going to go 2TAF, as it already has bombs racks under the wings, or perhaps I'll add some wing root intakes for a topicalised one in either MENA or Malaya.  Although Tempests in Malaya were more likely to be toting rockets rather than bombs. 

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This one is more recent, because I'd assembled the wings to go on the Kora conversion and had a spare fuselage. I managed to find enough cockpit parts in a bits box and threw it together.  The engine has been snapped off as the alignment was off, but it's going back on.  It was going to go on the now Cat.E Academy one, so already had the stub roots sanded back for leading edge radiators, so I decided to use the assembled wings and did the cuts to use the l/e rads.  This is going to go in the scheme intended for the Cat E one - 2TAF.  I've got one as a Polish squadron one, used for escorting Banff Mosquitoes, but wanted a 2TAF one.  This Type C1A roundels on the wings are just so...wibbly.

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Similar to the above, but an Academy one that got to the paint stage before the u/c got ripped off in a heavy landing and abandoned.  As I knew I had at least one Academy one that was going Cat.E, I had an u/c spare (and a Matchbox one, come to that), so reviving this was a good idea.  It was always planned as a Banff strike wing torpedo fighter with underwing drop tanks in EDSG over Sky, but I might add the Dark Slate Grey to detract from some issues.  Or perhaps not, as the Mosquitoes and Beaufighters by 1945 just had EDSG uppers (some 404 Sqn ones didn't have Sky underneath either, they'd just repainted the uppers over the originally delivered Nightfighter scheme of Dark Green over Med Sea Grey).  So Med Sea Grey as an under surface colour instead is not so far from the bounds of possibility.

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This is a Matchbox Tempest but with the wing of a PM Sea Fury, a Furious if you will.  Now, I've done a few of these, but not one with l/e radiators.  The resin used for the engine must have been off, because the cowling was still sticky, so I just tore it off and there'll be a new one going on it soon.  I do have an Aeroclub undercarriage, but again, I'm not sure where that went.

One of the snags with the Eagle engined Tempests is that I prefer to use 8 blade Wyvern contra props, rather than the six blade the P.1027 was drawn with, on the grounds that the 8 blade contras are just way more cool.  But Aeroclub no longer exists and I bought the very last one John Adams had about ten years ago.  I'm not sure I can mould and cast them either...


I've dragged out my Tempest references, I just need to find the decals for more inspiration.

[Mossie]

You can get Fairy Power Spray again, seems to work just well. Has the extra title Skip the Soak.

[The Wooksta!]

I've seen it, but I've a couple of cans of Dr Magic to use up first.

[NARSES2]

Some terrific builds planned here Lee, looking forward to them 

You've definately got my taste buds salivating    I must have a rummage in my boxes of resin bits as I know I've got some Tempest conversion sets somewhere, plus I think I've another Tornado kit.

[The Wooksta!]

Work continues on with the Tempests.  There's some rethinking about how these will end up. Too many 2TAF ones and not enough variation.

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The wings were chopped and sanded back for the l/e rads, and the engine was refitted after a few false starts, then filled.  So the wing went on earlier after the radiators were fitted and liberally smeared with filler.  Really like the sleek look the l/e rads give it.  This one is definitely going 2TAF.

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The Furious F.II now has a new engine, which is all bedded in with filler and the dints in the rads have been fixed with some plastic card and superglue.  Primer time soon.  Probably 2TAF but post war in that Intruder scheme that the Hornets wore with the Type B roundels.  Definitely getting underwing tanks and zero length rocket racks, if not the rockets themselves

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Tailplanes to go on and I've yet to cast the under fuselage scoop, but this one is definitely going post war in that intruder scheme, simply because of the bomb racks.  Might go with a Mosquito unit, rather than a Tempest one.  Quite pleased that I didn't abandon this one.

The Aluminium salvage one is probably going 2TAF, but I'm thinking of adding the wing root intakes and respraying the Aluminium finish and 8 Sqn postwar markings - they had Tempest VI OTL.

The Kora Annular Sabre conversion - which is frankly sh*t, btw - is continuing to fight.  The wing root intakes don't fit properly and I've resorted to a lot of filler to blend them in.  My cunning plan to get round the twist in the fuselage by cutting off the nose has been foiled by the fact that it's actually too narrow by about 2mm either side.  So that's a whole mould wasted and the planned Typhoon now on the back burner..  The twisted fuselage I'd assembled and abandoned?  Well, I'll just have to live with it.  Ducted spinner for the coolness factor.  Both will go 2TAF, because that Type C1A roundel is just too cool to ignore.

[The Wooksta!]

The Kora horror now has had the wing root intakes sanded back a bit and a second coat of filler applied, plus the tailplanes have gone on.

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And as if I didn't already have enough Tempests to be going on with, I resurrected this F.1b.  It's been abandoned in a box for some time, so I'll get some primer on it and see what needs fixing.

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I've done this concept twice, but one has vanished and the other... Well, both the Heller and Academy ones have the u/c legs at virtually scale thickness so they have a distressing tendency to collapse with time.  Even a stiff breeze can do it.  Pity, because the 213 Sqn one I had looked really good.  2TAF for sure.

[The Wooksta!]

A day of much sanding, adding a few bits and some surgery. I'll not bore you with much of it, but the second annular radiator Tempest now has it's tailplanes and wing root intakes.  I really despise that Kora conversion.

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A bit of progress on the second Furious, although this one has got a set of Ventura leading edge radiators rather than the resin ones I was using for the Tempests because the PM wing I'm using is thick and as the Ventura bits are top and bottom halves, I could put some splices in.  The wing roots are wider because of the width of the sea Fury being more portly than the sleek Tempest fuselage, so I packed them out with plastic card before liberally smearing on the filler.  This is getting underwing tanks and rocket racks for a post war one in RAF Germany, probably in the intruder scheme worn by the Hornets.

More sanding tomorrow.

[The Wooksta!]

"Clive Dunn?! Aged stowaway!" 

The second Furious has all the filler sanded back to a stage I'm almost happy with, there's a last skim on it before I get the tailplanes on.  Of the two, I think I'm happier with this one.

The P1027 with the l/e rads also seems to be endless with the filling, partly because the plastic is nearly white and the filler I use is the same shade.  A coat of primer could help and it's going to have one anyway.  I've been rethinking the scheme somewhat, as performance wise, it could just about top the Ta 152H for height and certainly speed up to 37,000ft.  498mph is knocking on jet speeds and that was the one with the scoop - how much faster would one with l/e rads be?  The Tempest 1 was a good 30mph faster than the Tempest V, although the former had a better engine.  The ubermenschen won't like it up 'em, to quote someone.  So I may go for the High Altitude Day Fighter scheme rather than 2TAF for now.

I'm also tempted with the same scheme on this beastie:

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I really need to get some primer on it and do the final snagging.  The other one...  I really loathe this conversion kit.  It's not far behind, but that's *definitely going 2TAF, if only to detract from what is a really horrid conversion.

[The Wooksta!]

Not a lot going on, other than the interminable filling on the 1027 with the l/e radiators, but this Furious is ready to prime.

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I'm a lot happier with this one that the other, for some odd reason.

I also got this rotten thing ready to prime.

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The Kora annular radiator, this being the one with the normal four blade prop.  I absolutely hate it.  I want it finished, so I can hide it away in a dark corner and forget I ever did it.  The conversion is *that* vile.  Dominic did warn me, but did I listen?  No. At least the other one has the cool ducted spinner.

[The Wooksta!]

"Doesn't it? Well maybe that's what's going wrong!"

The two annular Tempests were the last things to get a coat of Dark Green in the mass spray session.

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My favourite of the pair.

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And the other one.  Not as keen on this one.  Both looked okay and then I took the masking off underneath.

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Same issue as the Typhoon.  The lower camp and the primer came off with the tape, right down to the plastic.  That was the ducted one.  It's fairly easy to respray it.  Might not even have to mask it.  But then...

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The other one and the same thing to the max.  Really not looking forward to trying to fix that one...

[NARSES2]

That's a "B" to put in politely Lee