In the modelling popularity stakes, there will be somewhere a virtual league table. High on this might be ‘Luftwaffe 46’, which has become a popular and well catered for modelling genre. For my part, although fascinated by the technical imagination and creativity of the German engineers, there is its counter-point in the more factual ‘RAF 46’, a still somewhat neglected, although emerging theme. True, the reality of the cash-starved immediate post-war is less colourful than the imaginative fiction of never-built drawing-board exotica. RAF 46 nevertheless is represented by a plethora of late mark Spitfires, Tempests, Hornets and early Vampires and Meteors. The Tempest II, the older brother of the wartime Tempest V, is a great example of this time.
The Ultimate Tempest
This immediate post-war late-40s/early-50s era is a fascinating time of transition and change, and one I enjoy exploring. The last, but most potent, of the piston-engined fighters passed the baton to the jet age in some style. The Tempest II is, compared to the wartime Mk V with its huge chin radiator, a more elegant and refined machine. Not as refined perhaps as its later perfected cousin, the Fury/ Sea Fury, but the Tempest II was a sleek, powerful machine. It missed out on wartime service due to problems with its engine. In modelling terms, the wartime Sabre-engined Mk V hogs the limelight and is now well served in kit form. The Centaurus Mk II was, apart from Matchbox’s mid- 1970s kit option, largely forgotten and has been generally ignored until only very recently.
Denne historien er fra January 2021-utgaven av Scale Aircraft Modelling.
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Denne historien er fra January 2021-utgaven av Scale Aircraft Modelling.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Mustard
BAC's Low Speed Research Vehicle
KOVOZAVODY PROSTEJOV (KP) 1 Was Monty's Triple'
Brian Derbyshire
SPECIAL HOBBY SAAB J-21A Review
From the late 1930s and early 1940s, with thewar in Europe raging around them andedging ever closer to its borders, the Flygvapnet had ordered Seversky P-35A aircraft, alongside Vultee Vanguards, but only sixty of the former and none of the latter were received.
VFR MODELS Beagle B.121 Pup
This is the first 3D printed kit I have come across and it is really rather fine.
Hearts in the sky RIAT RETURNS
After a nearly three-year hiatus RIAT returned to our skies with a hot show in every sense of the word. SAM’s Mike Verier and Ray Ball were there.
Colour Conundrum
A Cancellation Conundrum - The RAF F-111s That Might Have Been Part 1
COPPER CAUDRON Caudron G.Ill in 1/32
Copper State Models have carved a name for themselves in the last few years producing high quality plastic kits of World War One subjects.
Academy RF-8A Crusader Conversion in 1/72
USMC squadron VMCJ-2 used six RF-8As during the Crisis (designation F8U-1P until September 1962), with others held in reserve, two flying out of Guantanamo Bay, and four out of NAS Key West.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
Modelling US reconnaissance assets in 1/72 Part 2: The Nuclear Confrontation
UKRAINIAT striker
The Sukhoi Su-24 is an all-weather attack aircraft capable of supersonic speeds and characterised by its side-by-side pilot/navigator seating and its variable geometry wing.
