Build along with Wonwing from start to finish -Hawker Tempest V

[wonwinglo]

We can leave the nose assembly for completion later,I have some better ideas than the items supplied with the kit for the spinner assembly.
Meanwhile we can move onto the wings which despite being fairly straightforward the instructions if followed is not the best way to do them,they leave the dihedral joint unglued until the wing has been built however this leads to a flimsy wing during the build and would hamper sanding and clean up,instead I have built the wings as one piece ignoring the dihedral joint for the time being and treating everything as a single wing before the dihedral has been cracked in and re-inforced,that way it will be much easier to handle,a better approach would have been to have made the centre section as one then the two outer wing panels separate which could have been butt jointed on then gusseted,all kits tend to skimp on things to save a few extra parts and this is one example of this.



First job was to laminate the two leading edges from two strips of balsa.



Then lay out the parts required and pre cutting the spars.



Lots of the usual re-inforcement gussets that are sanded in later when everything is set.



All that remains of the parts box,its a basic model but you still have to put the work in,do not be fooled by the relative simplicity,it is the challenges that count.



The area where the wheel well is can be worked on when the wing is cleaned up and turned over,the thick gussets are sanded in with the trailing edge and add a lot of extra gluing area and strength.

[Steven000]

Nice build, that nose is looking great :thumb2:

[wonwinglo]

At last a break in the weather and it has stopped raining long enough to do some messy sanding outside,the wings were lifted from the building board and the leading edges carefully planed and sanded to taper,the tailplane was laid down this morning also and then the wing cranked with its dihedral and the wingtips setting up with suitable blocks while the adhesive dries,then small gussets will be added at the breaks for extra strength.
A suitable former in the shape of a marker pen was used to wind glued paper around to form the basis of the tailwheel doors,then the doors were made by cutting in situ on the former to make two halves.



The wing yet to be dihedraled shown sitting underneath the fuselage for a check fitting.







The wings are cracked at wing rib W4 and suitable blocks placed underneath the wingtips,once set gussets will be added at the breaks,in the foreground the tailplane is setting





Notepaper is rolled and glued around a pen to make the basis of the curved tailwheel doors shown cut out below.

[wonwinglo]

With a tiny amount of trimming the wing slid straight onto the fuselage formers and after a light sanding on the aft former slipped cleanly into place,not bad when you consider paper plan shrinkage on any drawing,after a bit of adhesive it was left to set and then the two wing fillet pieces were glued back onto the lower formers,these form the seat for the paper wing fillets.
The tail fin was made up ready for sanding and installation with the tailplane.



The wing went snugly into the fuselage opening,some lower stringering to complete.



You can just see the root end fillets in this view,extra diagonal braces have been added to prevent wing warps in outer panels,light and effective.





Laying down the fin and rudder.

[flyjoe180]

Enjoying watching your various builds Barry.

[wonwinglo]

Enjoying watching your various builds Barry.

Thats good Joe,what its all about giving some inspirational building to enjoy together.

[wonwinglo]

Smaller tasks to do today on the Tempest,first the remaining underside stringers were added I wondered what the four holes were for in the former just in front of the wing ? they were for the front ends of the formers to fit into then drawn back towards the rear.

The tailplane and fin were covered in thin depron,this gives a bit more shape to these and stiffens them up without adding weight at the rear,the depron is simply laid over the balsa frame then trimmed and sanded to shape.

The tail wheel is interesting,there was not one supplied in the kit so I took a look at what wheels I have in my stash,the wheel is quite large for a fighter and I found a genuine 1941 wartime wheel made from moulded fire clay,fire clay was considered a non important material in wartime so was used for accessories,a simple wire leg and it was glued into place with jewellery cement ideal for wire to wood joints,the cement is made by Pritt and called 'metal glue' I found it by accident and have used it ever since.



The tailplane glued into place,covered in thin depron to prevent warping.



Next the tail fin,a paper covering has been applied where the canopy sits,this gives it somewhere to grip rather than just on a few stringers,also the covering can butt onto this as well.



Lower stringers and root fillets have been added.



The period wartime large tail wheel made up with a music wire leg.




And the wheel installed with jewellery cement,some cotton binding will be added when dry around the balsa support,then the paper doors can be fitted.



Tail parts soon after cladding with thin depron.

[wonwinglo]

Today I have concentrated on working on the wheel wells,they looked wrong with no inner finishing off so I have inserted material around where the position is for the main wheels,also other work as can be seen in the photographs below with a brief description.



Where the wheel wells are I have added balsa infills so they will look like proper wells once painted,on the upper surface the cartridge paper panel which represents the aircrafts skin also helps the effect,the undercarriage is made to plug in for display and removed for flight,the cannons have been added as well made from balsa dowel with pins for fixing to the leading edges of the wing.



The wing root fillets have been made from cartridge paper that was rolled under a rolling pin resting on carpet underlay to give a slight dished effect.



The paper is fixed with aliphatic resin adhesive,once in place the surface is rubbed with the fingers to smooth it out onto the framework,it quickly grabs,by pressing gently you can ease it around compound curves.



The distinctive cannons made from balsa dowel sanded by hand,once primed they will be drilled for added effect.



Looking down onto the wing fillets.



Basic wheel parts,these slot into the corresponding slot on the wing underside,balsa traps the wire end fixings.



The rolled paper tailwheel doors cut to shape and mounted,laminated glued paper is excellent material for things like this.



Undercarriage hydraulic suspension represented with rolled paper and barbecue sticks cranked in the middle with a smidgin of adhesive.



Wheel doors pre painted with black/white identification underwing stripes ( not to be confused with invasion stripes ) white is artists gesso primer just happened to be conveniently at hand,these doors will be mounted onto the printers litho plate seen to the left making them warp free once fixed into place onto the mainwheel legs.

[wonwinglo]

Concentrating on the undercarriage assemblies today and made good headway as can be seen here,materials and construction details under each photograph.



You can see the wheel well infills here in this view,much better than seeing voids into the wing.



Sitting on her undercarriage for the first time,I have blocked in the cockpit with scrap depron to stop the rubber lubricant from splashing into the clear canopy,a lesson learned from many similar situations in the past !





The undercarriage slots,a good fit into the receptive boxes in the wings.









The doors were glued to printers litho plate for more stability.

[wonwinglo]

Time to do some covering,so in small sections tissue is carefully applied a piece at a time,the model will then be water shrunk to tighten everything up in readiness for its first coat of Ezydope.

[scottie3158]

Hi Barry,
This is really looking good. what do you mean by water shrunk?

[wonwinglo]

Hi Barry,
This is really looking good. what do you mean by water shrunk?

When tissue paper is applied it is not tight,a spray with water tightens it up prior to doping which then shrinks it again and the tissue holds tight for good.

[wonwinglo]

The cockpit canopy has been added,some areas of the model have been lightly painted,I say lightly because paint is heavy to a flying model and needs to be applied sparingly,some areas will be left grey tissue colour,the white/black identification bands are done with artists gesso chosen because the white gives good coverage with one coat.
The panels above the wheel wells wrinkled on me and they are being sanded and smoothed down,I made a mistake by not applying paste onto the paper and the tissue wrinkled,we are constantly learning new things.







The kit propeller will be used for test flying and a three blader is being carved for display purposes.

[wonwinglo]

A bit of lightly applied artists watercolour paint brings the Hawker Tempest V alive,I broke the exhausts off while handling so will make some more stronger ones,the repaired overwing panels were left in primer to see how they settle down.