1:32 Hawker Tempest Mk.V outside canopy and windows and wheels paint mask (for Revell 3851 kit)

The Napier Sabre and the hunt for V-1 missiles

The Hawker Tempest Mk.V was among the fastest British piston fighters of the last year of the war at low altitude, and that is exactly where it found its best-known role: shooting down flying bombs over southern England in the summer of 1944. The Napier Sabre H-24 engine, with its horizontal cylinder banks, gave the aircraft its performance and the thin laminar wing its speed, and as the Allies advanced the squadrons with this type moved to the continent.

The package deals with three places at once. Besides the glazing of the cockpit and the side parts it holds circular shapes for the wheels, thanks to which the hub is sprayed separately from the rubber without outlining by hand. Work that would take an evening shrinks to a few minutes.

• Glazing, side windows and wheels in one package
• A circular cutout separates the hub from the tire
• It fits the British fighter in 1:32
• The inside of the frames is not covered

With the wheels it pays to start with the lighter shade of the hub and only then to cover it and spray the dark rubber, because a light coat over a dark base calls for more layers. The circular shapes fit the wheels from the kit in question exactly; if you reach for a resin replacement, count on a small difference in diameter and try the fit dry before gluing.

The real subject deserves attention outside the cockpit as well. The machine had a bulky fuselage with a large radiator under the engine and a wing whose outline differs clearly from the older type from the same maker. Whether you reach for an aircraft from English bases or for a later example from field airfields on the continent, the work on the glazing stays the same.