by Christian Page
This is the good old Matchbox released in 1972. My first idea was to put the nose of this kit on an Academy Tempest MkV fuselage. I soon discarded this idea why I thought it was too difficult (or boring) to do such plastic surgery.
The Tempest MkII from Matchbox is pretty accurate; his only flaws are the lack of details and the heavy engraved panel lines. I build it almost straight from the box. I just added a more realistic seat from my spare box and fitted the undercarriage of a Heller Tempest MkV kit.
When assembled, I give the model a �severe� sanding on all surfaces to �cure� the panel lines and then I polished it with wet dry sand paper grade 800.
About the painting.
One first deceiving attempt to make a natural metal finish bring me to reverse to a camouflaged one. I elect to represent a Tempest of N�9
Sqn PAF. Unlike to the illustration I found on the PAF Museum website, I paint the propeller cone in red. (Maybe am I wrong, can you lighten me on this subject?)
I airbrushed some pre-shading along the main panel lines before applying the painting. I airbrushed the Dark green first, then the extra dark sea grey on the upper surfaces and finished with the medium sea grey on the under surfaces. All paints are from the Gunze acrylics range.
The Pakistani roundels and flag are computer made and printed on a white decal sheet. The victory white lines are hand painted with some masking paper.
Note.
A couple of months after I finished my PAF Tempest, Special Hobby released a very good Tempest MkII with resin and photo etched parts, and a vac-formed canopy. This kit is very well detailed, provide decals for three different aircrafts. One of these is a Tempest of N�5 Sqn, RIAF, based at Karachi before 1947.
Regards,
Christian
