Warbirds Replicas Hawker Tempest V -Mass Build 2024(part two) .

[RICHARD WILLS]

I thought somebody was going to chip in there ?

So, to answer your question Keith . I'm sure your picture comparison was a wayward digit issue as the picture is that of a Typhoon . The Typhoon , when you look at it from above has very little in common with a Sea Fury . 

However , as you rightly point out , the Sea Fury was a development of the Tempest V (with the chin scoop and 24 cylinder "H" format engine ) . 

The Tempest II which didnt quite see service in WW2 is identical to the Tempest V but has a Bristol Centaurus Radial Engine . 

The Sea Fury is really a "lightweight" version of the Tempest II . The main difference being shorter wing span and as shown above, a more sharply sloping front deck leading down to the motor . 

Regarding converting the Tempest Kit to a Sea Fury . 

This would be relatively easy . 

For a "one off " I would simply lower the front top formers to create the sloping "Bonnet " , sand up a balsa nose ring like the Fw190 and then use a thin plywood wrap to make the rest of the cowl . I wouldnt bother changing anything else as most people are not that familiar with the finer details , unlike a Spitfire !

[Ron Gray]

3 hours ago, Keith Billinge said:

but the Tempest isnt a favourite of mine

I was going to put a comment on here along the lines of there isn't a lot of difference between the 2 (apart from the nose) before I realised that Keith wasn't comparing eggs with eggs, more eggs with an omelette. But my suggestion would be to do what I plan to do, buy 2 kits, make one as intended, the Tempest, then butcher the other to make a Sea Fury.

[RICHARD WILLS]

[Ron Gray]

A straightforward modification!

[RICHARD WILLS]

In the two pictures above , you can see in the upper , the difference between the Centaurus engined Tempest which is basically our Tempest V but with a radial engine and 

the Sea Fury. The Sea Fury (red )  has its cockpit raised (probably to aid deck landing ) but mostly at the front which tilts the canopy back . 

The lower picture shows the Tempest V compared to the Tempest II (radial engine ) 

I guess what is not surprising is that once the Radial motor has been fitted to the Tempest V airframe . they do not move it for the Sea Fury (why would they ?) 

Well Keith , 

Has that answered your question ?

Let me know if you need more .

Happy to help . 

Richard 

[Eric Robson]

Tempest 2 plan view, note radiator and oil cooler, Seafury similar 

[Piers Bowlan]

15 hours ago, Keith Billinge said:

How easy would this kit be to convert to a Sea Fury??? Just asking..... I love the look of the FW190 but the Tempest isnt a favourite of mine and I wonder if a bit of fettling the front end would make a good Fury?

 

KB

 

The way to build a Fury is to persuade Richard to make it his next kit, after the Tempests are all sold and the (balsa) dust has settled.

Put me down for one by the way (preferably bigger😊)

[RICHARD WILLS]

5 minutes ago, Piers Bowlan said:

The way to build a Fury is to persuade Richard to make it his next kit, after the Tempests are all sold and the (balsa) dust has settled.

Put me down for one by the way (preferably bigger😊)

I agree Piers . Somebody like Ron or Eric would have no problem converting the existing , but realistically , if everyone agreed on a full fat version of the Sea Fury or any other single engined fighter , It would be better being around 62" span . 

Still , lets stick to the plot on this thread for the sake if those that will build the Tempest .

The significance of these two is that they represent the protagonists of 80 years ago . 

[RICHARD WILLS]

So I am going to tip toe away from the Sea Fury conversion gang . 

Not sure if I answered Keith's enquiry . He may have accidently locked himself in the toilet . 

I did that in Sainsbury's . Very awkward . 

Getting back to the Tempest , you can see that I have now fitted the wing , complete with front dowel and rear bolt . I am going to make the blind nut mounting plate bigger and bring the bolt and blind nut about 15mm forward on the kit version . 

After fitting the dowel , I pushed a small thin screw driver through the blind nut to mark where to drill the wing . There is easy access through the inside of the cockpit . 

The last shot shows the two main components joined . You can see that we will need wing fairings to make them appear as per the full size aircraft . 

 

[RICHARD WILLS]

Im going to nip to the rear of the fuselage and the area surrounding the tail .

First of all , you need to find the precut soft balsa tail mount and glue it to the central crutch behind the rear top fuselage deck . 

The Tail mounts purpose it to raise the Horizontal tail up a bit  .

The 1/4" sheet tail will fit on top of that, and the fin on top of that . To blend the whole lot in , we have triangular fillets either side of the fin . 

If we just stuck it all together , there would be no way to get in and sand the fin fillets to shape . They need to be a continuation of the rear deck . 

So what I suggest is that you create spacers with the same wood (but the offcuts) that the fin and stabilizer are made of . 

You super glue the spacers onto the Tail mount and then super glue the fin fillets either side . 

Now you can sand the whole fuselage right to the end in one smooth sweep .  ( Yes Sweep , I did just say that , sorry ) 

Once the fillets look like part of the fuselage , they can be cut from the spacers and are ready to add after the fin is located . 

[RottenRow]

Warbird Workshop on More4 tonight was the Sywell Tempest (Centaurus version).

It is repeated later tonight (midnight), or on catch up.

Worth watching.

 

Brian.

[RICHARD WILLS]

Lets have a look at the front now . 

I drilled some 6mm holes in the two cowl openings and then with an electric jigsaw (you could use a hand held coping saw or even a junior hack saw blade ) I cut the holes out roughly . 

Then I used my trusty 50mm diameter drum sander to tidy things up. They only cost £5 and are brilliant at "round sanding " . 

I've temporarily mounted the motor with self tappers and reinforced the back of F1 with the offcut that came with the servo boxes . 

 

One thing that is worth noting on the motor front :

The motors come with a nice X mount but the arms are a bit short . This is a bit of a common theme , so what I do is drill the mount holes out a bit bigger and countersink the holes for the self tappers . If you remember to do those simple things first , it all goes in rather well . 

 

[RICHARD WILLS]

I glued F2 in position next with Golden Gorilla glue . Now , normally I would glue in F1 next with some 10mm balsa triangle reinforcements in the corners where it joins the ply doublers . 

However , because on this model F1 and F2 are not far apart , I decided to put some 6mm balsa sheet between the two leaving a 3mm gap at the front to provide a shoulder for F1 to locate on . 

I made my 6mm balsa "cheeks" from scrap offcut but in your kit , I will provide two precut pieces . 

Use Epoxy or Gorilla Glue to fix F1 . 

[RICHARD WILLS]

While that is drying I got the tailfeather pieces out of the box . 

The fin is made of three separate pieces as its quite a lump !

The Tail plane is pre cut , as are the elevators . There is a wire joiner included . 

I simply round off the edges and don't bother about trying to feather the tail end . Generally I knock them about in the car or house so like them fairly meaty . 

Nobody seems to notice when painted . 

Not that I cut the mylar hinges to an oval shape so they don't snag when you push them into the a slot . 

[Eric Robson]

The x mount is like me I've short arms plus deep pockets. 

It's annoying, I use 3mm  capheads and nuts, having a small milling machine I elongated the holes to enable the bolts to fit. A needle file would also do the job.

Edited March 15 by Eric Robson
Photo added

[Martian]

Hi if any budding Tempest builders are interested on MORE4  episode two Warbird Workshops is about the rebuild of the UK,s only flying Hawker Tempest

[Eric Robson]

It was on Thursday night Martin, I forgot about it but watched it on the app today. Great achievement, not cheap to run 3 gallons a minute £250000 for the propeller.

I hope you are well. 

[Jim Hearnden 1]

17 hours ago, Eric Robson said:

It was on Thursday night Martin, I forgot about it but watched it on the app today. Great achievement, not cheap to run 3 gallons a minute £250000 for the propeller.

I hope you are well. 

That's 180G an hour or 817L per hour, that must be at full chat, I have a flight test on a Corsair & that's 350L per hour. Avgas is currently £1.85 a litre in the UK so that gives you an idea of running costs. Another major cost is insurance with Spits currently paying in excess of £300,000 for a year.

[Eric Robson]

2 hours ago, Jim Hearnden 1 said:

That's 180G an hour or 817L per hour, that must be at full chat, I have a flight test on a Corsair & that's 350L per hour. Avgas is currently £1.85 a litre in the UK so that gives you an idea of running costs. Another major cost is insurance with Spits currently paying in excess of £300,000 for a year.

Hi Jim, 

The fuel consumption was the figure quoted on the program,  and here's me complaining about my insurance  going up by £200.

[Paul Johnson 4]

17 hours ago, Eric Robson said:

here's me complaining about my insurance  going up by £200.

That's because heard you were 'Flying around' in your car...

[Eric Robson]

Not me Paul, I don't do indoor flying and I can't flap my arms quick enough to get out of the seat.

[RICHARD WILLS]

Wing fairings next . All British aircraft seem to have bigger wing fairings so we might as well embrace the technique , ready for a Spitfire !

Its actually easy once you know the drill . 

Four pieces are employed . A ply base , a triangular former and two thin balsa top skins . 

On this model I also use a 70mm long piece of 10mm triangular section balsa to reinforce the joint . 

I would recommend covering the wing with the clear wrap that the canopy came in . If not , some cling film . 

The first thing to do is lightly score the underside of the ply base plate and then gently "crack " it upward .

To more clearly show you , I have built the assembly off the model . However it is better to do it on the model .

The first step is to glue the base to the fuselage side using super glue . Keep it all in place with pins till it dries . 

Next step is to glue in the triangular reinforcement and the curved former . 

 

[RICHARD WILLS]

The two top skins are made from 3/32 balsa and your kit there will be a template or the pieces will come precut . 

I wetted the inside of the skins to make them curve before fitting them . 

They are oversize so its a case of getting the top glued in the right place , then trimming round the bottom . 

The curved little former on the trailing edge is wide enough to support the front and the rear skin.

I built the second fairing straight onto the model and it was quicker and came out better . 

You can see where I marked the crosses that you can trim off some of the overhang , but dont take off too much at a time . The skins do need to ovehand by about 3-4mm to look good from above . 

 

[RICHARD WILLS]

At this point I think we have enough parts completed to mock up a final look and see if she's in the ball park . 

Always wise to get a second opinion at about this point . 

Luckily I know a couple of experts .

 

 

[RICHARD WILLS]

The plan view looks good too . Overall I'm pleased with the shape and the lads seemed happy with it too. 

You can't say fairer than that .