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Late in the afternoon of 3 May
1945, Flight Lieutenant Pierre Clostermann led 24 aircraft of
No. 122 Tempest Wing in an attack on Grossenbrode naval air base
in northern Germany. The Tempest pilots were met by more than
100 enemy fighters over the target, while on the beach and at
anchor, approximately 100 flying boats and transport aircraft
were being used to evacuate the base. After positioning 20 of
his force to face the enemy fighters, Clostermann led the
remaining aircraft down to attack the airfield. He made three
high-speed strafing passes in his "Le Grande Charles"
and destroyed four aircraft on the ground and in the water, and
shot down a transport and two armed flying boats in the air.
After completing his attack on the air base, Clostermann engaged
the enemy fighters and shared in destroying two of them.
Following the battle, only 13 of the original 24 Tempest
aircraft returned home. Four days later, on 7 May 1945, Germany
surrendered. By the end of WWII, Clostermann had flown 420
combat sorties during World War II and achieved 33 confirmed
aerial victories, most of them in engagements with fighters
(from Air
University Bios page)
The Kit:
This offering from Academy was released in 1999. The box art
depicts Clostermann's Mk V Series 2 Tempest. It is molded in
light gray plastic which is easy to sand and scribe. Panel lines
are crisp, petite, and on the whole, accurate. Clear parts are
very clear and include canopy, windscreen and gunsight.
Cockpit:
Construction began with the cockpit which consists of 7 parts:
seat, seat mounting frame, rudder pedals, control stick, floor,
rear bulkhead, and instrument panel. Fuselage sidewalls have
molded in stringers, throttle quadrant and a few boxes. The
stringer detail is a little overstated, so I elected not to
highlight this detail and did not use any washes in the cockpit.
The level of cockpit detail is perfectly adequate for 1/72
scale, especially after the fuselage is closed up. After
painting cockpit parts British interior gray green (per kit
instructions), I came across the Hawker
Tempest page, which is an excellent source of
information about the Tempest. I found there that most Tempests
had black interiors and black or dull metal seats, not the
gray-green I had already committed to. Oh well. Cockpit parts
fit together quite well. The only thing I added were shoulder
and lap belts which I fabricated out of masking tape and painted
a leather color.
Fuselage
and Wings: The interior radiator parts and the
cockpit assembly are trapped between the fuselage halves.
Locator pins ensure that parts are correctly located. Once this
is done the fuselage halves fit together well. Only a small
amount of filler (putty and superglue) was needed along the
seams. Next the top wing halves were joined to the one-piece
bottom wing. I was impressed with how well the panel lines which
wrapped around the leading edges matched. The same can be said
for the pane lines of each fuselage half.
The only real fit problem in the
entire assembly sequence becomes apparent when the completed
wing assembly is insert into the bottom of the fuselage. With
the wing pushed forward to ensure a good fit at the front, there
is a gap of about 1/16 " where the rear central portion of
the wing should meet the bottom of the fuselage. I filled this
with a piece of plastic card and the filled the remaining seam
with superglue. Once this cured I was able to sand it out until
there was no hint of a seam. Referring to the Tempest line
drawings in Aircraft Archive Fighters of WWII, Vol. 2, I noticed
that there were several panel lines missing on the model which
should run along the fuselage. These lines were properly scribed
using a scribing tool with narrow strips of labeling tape as a
guide.
Painting the Fuselage: The
wheel wells and gear doors were airbrushed silver. Wheel wells
were then masked off with drafting tape. The cockpit opening was
also masked off with tape. Medium Sea Gray (Testors FS36240) was
then airbrushed over the bottom of the aircraft, and along upper
seam lines to highlight any areas still requiring filling. Once
dry the bottom was masked off with Parafilm and the dividing
line (which just happens to coincide with a panel line) was cut
through lightly with a new No. 11 scalpel blade. I rarely get
any bleed through with Parafilm, but just to make sure I
brush-applied Future Acrylic Floor wax along the border where
the upper and lower colors would meet. Next Tamiya Ocean Gray
was airbrushed over the top of the fuselage. After this I used
Parafilm to cover the upper fuselage and wings. An indelible
black felt pen was then used to draw the outline for the upper
camouflage demarcations on the Parafilm. Again using a sharp
No.11 blade I cut lightly through the Parafilm along these
demarcation lines and removed the Parafilm where the next color
(Tamiya Dark Green) would be applied. I have found that even if
the plastic is cut into, this is not noticeable after painting
since it matches exactly with the paint demarcation lines. The
Dark Green was applied and once dry the remaining Parafilm
(which was covering the Ocean Gray) was removed. There was no
overspray, with the results yielding a very nice hard edge
camouflage pattern. I should mention here that I elected not to
attach the horizontal stabilizers until after the fuselage had
been fully painted. The stabs were painted separately and then
attached to the fuselage using a small amount of superglue gel
after all painting was completed. This allowed for easier
masking and painting. Only a small amount of filler in the form
of white glue, was needed.
Decals:
Options for two aircraft are included. I chose to model the
aircraft of Pierre Clostermann, the leading Free French ace of
WWII. The decals were in perfect register, with the colors
appearing accurate. After airbrushing a coat of Future over the
entire fuselage, decals were applied. Unlike the decals in the
Academy Fieseler Storch kit I built several months ago, the
Tempest decals gave me no problem whatsoever. Once in place,
they snuggled down nicely, especially after a coat of decal
solvent was applied. After decals were dry, the aircraft was
wiped down with a clean paper towel moistened with water to
remove any decal adhesive residue. Finally a mix of
approximately 80% PollyScale Flat, and 20% Future was airbrushed
to produce a satin finish.
Finishing
Up: Various odds and ends were then painted,
including wheels, landing gear, propeller, spinner, pitot tube
and bombs. The windscreen and canopy were masked off with, you
guessed it, Parafilm, and airbrushed British gray-green followed
by the appropriate camo color.
Small parts were attached. The
landing gear fit snuggly into their locator holes. A small
(no.79 bit) hole was drilled into the top of the fuselage
immediately behind the canopy rail. I used a piece of stretch
sprue to replicate the antenna.
The kit was finished in about 3
weeks of "an hour here, an hour there". I was very
pleased with the final product. The Tempest is a sexy aircraft.
Although a direct descendent of the Typhoon, it has a graceful
appearance about it that the Typhoon just can't capture. I would
highly recommend this kit to anyone wanting to add a Tempest in
1/72 scale to their collection. |
