A Pair of Tempest II's

[kitbasher]

I won't be buying any, my three Tempest models all used the delightful Matchbox kit of yore. 

[NARSES2]

Instructions are lousy.  I could start listing all the errors but i don't have all night...

Yup especially confusing right and left. I've built so many AZ/KP kits I'm almost used to it and my brain sees what they meant  At least the parts are numbered on the sprues on the 109's and numbered in order not higgledy piggledy 

Still I've had a serious crack at mine with some very rough emery paper and they are coming together. Spot priming and then some p.s.r. with gentler sand paper and we might be ready for a good bath and priming. To be honest I'm a tad surprised by this. Thanks Zen for getting me going again 

[zenrat]

Comparing the cowling halves shows one is longer than the other.  Of course that might be because of the asymmetric nature of the leading edges at the roots.
Or it might be an error I can solve by judiciously trimming a cowling half.
I won't know until I have the wings together.  Something delayed by the need to paint the UC bays.

[NARSES2]

Something delayed by the need to paint the UC bays.

Which look good with a wash 

[NARSES2]

One of these at least should be ready for its paint job by the weekend. Needless to say I wont be going down the natural metal or overall aluminium paint route 

[zenrat]

I now have a fuselage with two wings attached.  Wings went together very well.  Fit of upper and lower halves, and UC bay walls, and leading edge inserts was very good.
Fit of wings to fuselage is less good but should not be beyond the scope of PPP & a wet cotton bud.
I have also attached the panel that goes on the underside which goes between the cowling and the wings.  The fit of this was again very good.
Once all the glue has dried I shall offer up the remaining two cowling parts and see what needs to be done to get them to fit.

[NARSES2]

Once all the glue has dried I shall offer up the remaining two cowling parts and see what needs to be done to get them to fit.

And that's where the fun starts    Now I'm nearly there, on one of them at least, it's the cowl ring that causes the most issues, or did for me anyway. Took a lot of serious sanding.

[zenrat]

Woo hoo!
Some excitement to look forward to tomorrow then...
 

[NARSES2]

I suppose I've had a bit of a fixation with the front end of these for the last couple of months or so and now that I'm almost there, well at least as far as Government work is concerned, I've noticed a couple of smaller issues on the wing/fuselage joint. Now't serious so still hoping to get them in the paint shop next week.

One will be Tiger Force in the same scheme as the Hornet, and yes I know that scheme would have been unlikely, but as explained I like it. The second will be SEAC, but with earth/green uppers rather than OG/Green ones, mainly because I think SEAC roundels look smarter on earth/green.

The third one ? Maybe RAAF in Foliage Green, maybe RNZAF with lots of SW Pacific ID stripes as per their P-40's and as a complete outsider maybe Armée de l'Air in Indo-China ?

[Dizzyfugu]

maybe Armée de l'Air in Indo-China ?

In all Dark Sea Blue, like the F8Fs? That sounds s€xy for a Tempest II! 

[zenrat]

I think I see a way forward to achieve the best fit of the cowling.  I've trimmed away some of the inside mating surface at the very bottom of both sides of the front of the fuselage and have glued on the cowling right at the very top.
The cowling sides bulge outwards away from the fuselage sides leaving a gap
When the top glue has dried I plan to try to flatten this bulge and glue it against the fuselage.  Possibly using pieces of styrene card wedged between the bottom edges of the cowling and the wing roots.  My clamps are too powerful and will collapse the cowling.

I will continue detailing this work on my blog rather than take-up more space here.

[NARSES2]

maybe Armée de l'Air in Indo-China ?

In all Dark Sea Blue, like the F8Fs? That sounds s€xy for a Tempest II! 

Probably not Dizzy, but you've given me an idea for one of the Sea Furies in the stash 

[NARSES2]

I will continue detailing this work on my blog rather than take-up more space here.

Don't worry about that, doesn't bother me 

I widened the fuselage a bit forward of the canopy with plastic card and then glued the cowling so that most of the discrepancy was towards the bottom of the fuselage. Putty and emery paper then came into play. Luckily the cowling is thick enough, just, to take it. I deliberately say emery paper because it was far, far rougher than any of the usual grades I use. 

[The Wooksta!]

The reason the French Bearcats wore that dark blue scheme is that they were transferred from US stocks and just the national markings were repainted. The French rarely went for repaints of foreign supplied aircraft - the Seafires they got were filthy and just left in UK schemes.

[NARSES2]

Getting there, although hit a bit of a hiatus today. I'm determined to get one of these done for Telford now, warts and all. I blame you for this pressure Mr Zenrat.