Warren
Part three of the continuing saga – back in Europe
Hawker Tempest Mk V
Warren Schrader returned to combat in early 1945 with 486 [NZ] squadron of the 2nd TAF at Volkel, Holland, as they transitioned from Typhoons to Mk V Tempests. The years spent honing his skills bore real fruit flying the Tempest and over three weeks in April 1945 he had 9½ confirmed claims, a mixture of Messerschmitt 109 and Focke Wulf 190s. Apart from a FW 190 on the 10th of April flying SA-M [SN129] all claims were made flying SA-A [NV969] which is the subject of my third model of the series.
The Eduard kit is the only game in town for a 48th scale Tempest and as this was one of the first, if not the first, kit Eduard produced it is a long way short of their current efforts. At the time of its release there was rash of know alls who slated aspects of the kit such as the depth of the wheel wells, radiator profile and a lack of cockpit detail. Ignoring all that nonsense I pressed on and scratched details to embellish the cockpit then closed up the fuselage only to discover practically none of this was visible. Not an uncommon occurrence but satisfying to know it there.
However as work progressed the shape of the fin began to bother me. The rake of the leading edge looked wrong and it seemed too thick. Some crude measurements deduced from profile photographs while trying to get a handle on the fin suggested the overall length of the fuselage was also about 6mm short. All this was before the A2Z correction kit appeared so aside from the extension to the fuselage, added just aft of the cockpit, there was a lot of cutting, sanding and carving to correct the fin problem.
With the major elements assembled and being somewhat surprised at the large size of the model after the previous Spitfires attention turned to the details. The kit exhausts, propeller blades, spinner and wheels were well moulded but very basic so they were consigned to the spares box in favour of the infinitely superior Ultracast alternatives. Ultracast do not specifically list these for the Tempest however they are the same as used on the Typhoon and can be used to improve the Tempest.
Of greater concern was the sit of the aircraft when the kit undercarriage legs were check fitted. I think they have been tooled in the unloaded position and the overall length is about 2mm to 2.5mm to long for a correct sit. The sketch shows an unloaded leg and the photograph shows the leg loaded. Notice the position of the links between the leading and trailing undercarriage legs. The top crescent link should be nearly horizontal when the leg is loaded. After a couple of futile attempts at correcting the kit parts I resorted to a selection of fine brass tube and shim to scratched built new ones. The top fairings do not appear to have been fitted to Tempests, unlike the Typhoon which had fairings is fitted to the top of the undercarriage leg.
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