Special Hobby 1/32 Hawker Tempest Mk V

By Nicolas Renoult

This is my latest build. It was not always easy, but it's one of the best Special Hobby kit I've built so far, and the details are really amazing, especially the surface details.

I built it almost OOB as usual with the SH kits (and this one was a "Hi Tech" boxing so there was already a lot of resin inside), except a few add-ons, like the resin exhausts or the reinforced resin landing gear legs.

I wanted to build something Hi Speed Silver, as there is now a new paint from Alclad. So I chose that Post War scheme from a Hannants decals set. I like the green spinner and lettering on the fuselage.

Straight out of the bottle, I think it's a bit too shiny and too reflective, but after an enamel wash and a bit of rubbing with mineral spirit, the paint starts to look dull, which is more accurate. I also sprayed a mist of satin varnish to even the finish.

I kept the weathering very light as it is a post war aircraft, and on the very few pictures of high-speed finish Tempest, they all seems pretty clean.