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Rafi Ben-Shahar
348 articles

Special Hobby 1/32 Tempest V & VI

August 27, 2022 · in Aviation · · 18 · 0.8K

I was quite happy with my Eduard kits representing the magnificent . A price drop provided a good excuse to check if size matters. Well, it does.

Being a limited run kit, assembly requires much part test fitting. Fortunately for that, the parts count is relatively low.

The main drawback of the kit is the wrong spinner size and radiator shape that cannot be fixed. (Big fatal error.) Fortunately, Barracuda Cast issued a resin correction kit.

The Tempest V represents the mount of Roger Beamont issued by . I chose the early variant to build with the correction kit. Challenging is an understatement to describe the work on the big resin chunks to fit the kit.

The Tempest VI was built OOB. I assumed that the different shape of the variant thanks to the additional wing radiators plus the silver metal coat will do the trick of hiding the flaw.

I sleep peacefully on that.

Reader reactions:
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10 additional images. Click to enlarge.


18 responses

  1. Yet another wonderful result, this time out of a very challenging kit, Rafi!

  2. Despite the incorrect spinner and radiotor, they are great looking builds, Rafi @blackmopane
    Nice result on the painting and weathering.

  3. Excellent work on both of these, Rafi. I’m hoping SH or Eduard do the Mk. VI in 1/48.

  4. Thank you John
    You can kit bash the V and the II if you cannot wait.

  5. Whatever the faults with the kits the Tempest is still one of the best looking WW2 fighter planes.

  6. Agreed, which is why I have a squadron

  7. I love the look of the silver version!

  8. Thank you Felix
    I may as well photograph some time my silver 1/48. They look better.

  9. Nice work on these birds. Love the lines of the Tempest. Not petite for sure.

  10. Thank you Steve. My favorite Warbird

  11. Great job, Rafi (@blackmopane). Terrific result with a challenging kit.

  12. Thank you kindly John

  13. Both look great, Rafi! Will soon have this kit done myself. Like you, I have two kits but I will do both as Mk Vs. The later build will have flaps down. I have had quite a trial getting the resin nose to fit and the exhaust bays securely mounted from the inside. Resin is not my favorite material to work with, even though the Barracuda part is nicely engineered. You have finished yours to perfection, it seems.

  14. Thank you Colin. I admire you for doing a double conversion. For me, one was more than enough

  15. Great builds - I always considered the Tempest as one of the "muscle cars" of the airplane world (at least in looks) - big and beefy!

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