New model Hawker Tempest in flight

Elsewhere on this forum I've posted info. about my 1/5th scale MkV Hawker Tempest...  Well it' finally had a few flights and gone beautifully..  

The wingspan is 2.4mts (8ft) and it weighs in at 18kg without fuel (which is around another 1.5kg).  The original engine was a DJ80cc single cylinder 2 stroke motor.  This is a Chinese built copy of a better USA built motor.  Plenty of power but we had trouble with the tune, couldn't get it leaner without the throttle pickup being impeded.  So now have spent the past few days installing the 'original' USA engine - a DA85cc, so a little bigger and should be much, much better at about 3 times the cost at nearly $1000.  

Hoping to get it up in the air again on the weekend of the 20th - 22nd September at a large model scale rally in Shepparton Vic.  Public are welcome to come in and have a look (for those interested) - there will be many large models and quite a few jet (turbine) powered aircraft.

So a few photos here - looks tremendous in the air; and with a little imagination you would think it was the actual full size aircraft in flight.  Also have uploaded a video to Youtube, very difficult to take vids of these aircraft but have done the best I could and spliced a few different flights and portions together into one.. 


 

Looks bloody great.
Is this the one you had in your living room a while ago, unpainted?

That's bloody spectacular Bruce.  Certainly looks the goods - a credit to your fabrication skills obviously.  I can see it being paired with an FW190. 

madmax wrote:Looks bloody great.
Is this the one you had in your living room a while ago, unpainted?

Yes.. same model..  Took quite a while to paint as it had undercoat with the panel lines and rivet marks put into that, then the colour coats (all the insignia were masked and painted too) and lastly the 'flat' two pack clear. 

For Ewok, no photos yet with the enemy but here are a couple with a Spitfire of the same scale and a Hawker Typhoon (which was the forerunner of the MkV tempest) of a slightly smaller scale - perhaps 1/6th...   Perhaps after Shepparton there may be some pics with some of the German aeroplanes..  

Let's hope you don't have to paint some crosses on the Tempest after Shepparton mate - or you'll be banned forever! 

Ewok1958 wrote:Let's hope you don't have to paint some crosses on the Tempest after Shepparton mate - or you'll be banned forever! 

They're already there!!  23 of them on the rights side of the fuselage just in front of the cockpit!

Great job , & that looks like fun

Awesome.

Fantastic mate.
I admire your dedication to craft something like that.

Bhoffo wrote:

Ewok1958 wrote:Let's hope you don't have to paint some crosses on the Tempest after Shepparton mate - or you'll be banned forever! 

They're already there!!  23 of them on the rights side of the fuselage just in front of the cockpit!

Mate, you might have to paint over a few - according to Wikipaedia:

"In air-to-air combat, the Tempest units achieved an estimated air combat success ratio of 7:1, accomplishing a 6:1 ratio against single seat enemy fighters.^{[nb 9]} The top scoring Tempest pilot was Squadron Leader David C. "Foobs" Fairbanks DFC, an American who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941. By mid-1944, he was flying with 274 Squadron. When he was shot down and made a POW in February 1945, he had destroyed 11 or 12 German aircraft (and one shared) to make him the highest scoring Tempest ace".   

Ewok1958 wrote:

Bhoffo wrote:

Ewok1958 wrote:Let's hope you don't have to paint some crosses on the Tempest after Shepparton mate - or you'll be banned forever! 

They're already there!!  23 of them on the rights side of the fuselage just in front of the cockpit!

Mate, you might have to paint over a few - according to Wikipaedia:

"In air-to-air combat, the Tempest units achieved an estimated air combat success ratio of 7:1, accomplishing a 6:1 ratio against single seat enemy fighters.^{[nb 9]} The top scoring Tempest pilot was Squadron Leader David C. "Foobs" Fairbanks DFC, an American who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941. By mid-1944, he was flying with 274 Squadron. When he was shot down and made a POW in February 1945, he had destroyed 11 or 12 German aircraft (and one shared) to make him the highest scoring Tempest ace".   

You're probably right there Ewok; I don't know for sure either, but the model is meant to be the aircraft the Flt Lt. Pierre Clostermann flew.  It appears too that there were possibly three Tempest MkV's that he flew as with the research I did there was different aircraft numbers on the rear of the fuselages, also different 'kills' shown and some half 'kills', they all had the same registration number; ie: JF E and were called "Le Grand Charles".  He wrote a book called "The Big Show" (which is quite an enjoyable read) following the wars end and in it describes many of the sorties he was involved in over the war years, flying a number of Spitfires, Hurricanes (I think), and I think also the Typhoon plus the Tempest.  Perhaps the 'kills' the pilots had were transferred from aircraft to aircraft, so, say 12 on a Spit, 7 on a Hurricane, 4 on a Tempest - maybe?  Seems reasonable that that would be what happened.  Its a great pity that none of these aircraft survives in flying condition, not many photographs either and of those mainly black and white, so alot of what the historians say about the aircraft are educated guesses.  I believe that most of the aircraft that survived the war were melted down to make aluminium saucepans - what a waste!!   
There is one remaining now that I'm aware of hanging in the top of a hangar at 'Hendon' aircraft museum outside of London though this is painted now in the colours of a tug aircraft - I saw it many years ago and it was in the war time camo colours but for some reason they repainted it as a 'tug' - sacrilege!!,   believe also that there are some parts of a couple lying and gathering dust in some museum in India - which is where some of the war-time aircraft went following the war.

cheers

Good point Bruce - Pierre would be entitled to put his total on whatever he was flying - 23 doesn't seem extravagant. Cheers.