But I wanted to be as accurate as
possible, so to add some extra
detail I also added some very fine
copper wire to the framing of the
cockpit. This was the cherry on top
of an already fantastic cockpit.
The cockpit was given its
distinctive late-war two-tone
colours with Mr. Colour 364 Aircraft
Grey Green and Tire Black. To
make all the detail pop I added a
wash of Mig Enamel Dark Wash,
and with some dry-brushing
and fine detail painting most
of the cockpit was complete.
This kit comes with a plastic seat
and a resin seat, and the decision
was not a hard one to make. The
level of detail on the CMK seat is
astonishing, and with the HGW
belts it is a match made in heaven.THE ENGINE
Let’s talk about the CMK engine. I
have never seen a more exquisite
looking piece of resin in mylife. The level of detail is out of
this world and it would be any
modeller’s dream to build it.
When I was asked to do this
model, I was fully aware of the
hard work that was going to come
with the CMK resin engine. The
Napier Sabre engine was one of
the most complex engines that
the RAF had, up until the jet era.
There were tubing, wires, and
piping running all over the place,
displaying an air of pure power.
The engine in the kit is a kit
within itself; with nearly 43 parts,
it alone would make a stunning
display piece on its own. However,
the front half of the fuselage is
separate (for the different versions
of the Hawker Tempest), which
makes the necessary plastic
surgery much more convenient.
This was a step that I wanted
to make sure was as close to
perfect-fitting as possible.
With a fine JLC razor saw I began
to cut from the exhaust cut-out. Iremoved the plastic engine covers
and replaced them with resin
covers, which gave me an aid as
to where to cut the plastic on the
forward fuselage. Special Hobby
uses a very thick, hard plastic, so it
certainly put the saw to the test.
Once the cut-out had been made
for the resin engine, the plastic
sidewall where the engine would
go was far too thick and would
have been hugely over scale for the
model, so the walls of the engine
bay needed to be thinned down.
I used the wonderful Ultimate
Modelling Products sanders to
do this and chamfered the panel
edges with the same tools.
The only time I had even
the slightest fit issue with
the engine was its bulkhead.
Because the fuselage curvatureneeded to be thinned down
considerably, I needed to ensure
that the inner arc of the fuselage
retained the correct curve.
In terms of painting, it’s hard
when looking for reference material
for accurate painting schemes,
as you may stumble upon some
inaccurate restorations. But luckily
for painting the engine, SAM
Magazines’ Facebook page shared
one of the best references for this
engine on the internet. With lots
of tiny pieces of resin surrounding
the engine, I wanted to make every
piece stand out, which I achieved
by painting with an abundance of
different paints. Gloss, matt, and
satin blacks were used to show
the different types of tubing and
wires, as some were a heavy-duty
rubber and some metal. All the
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