This Tempest Mk. V is built by Noel Balthasar, Belgium, from Wim Reynders' plans. 1/6,4-scale, 77 in. span and weighs 14 pounds. It's powered by an Enya 120 four-stroke. Noel uses Mick Reeves electric screwtracts. The model is painted and marked as SD-X(EJ763) from 501 Squadron.

Frank D'hont reports:

"Noel's Tempest has flown and made 5 flights until today. All 5 were with me at the sticks. I must thank Noel for his confidence. I fully understand and respect having your models, testflown by someone else, helps to get you around the stress, nerves and worries of a first flight. Maybe not the best option but is a choice one can make. Not having built the model doesn't make you think about the time, energy put into the plane and makes the pilot less nervous so he can fully concentrate on flying. But I must admit I was more nervous on the first flight than normally, although it was not my plane.

I was really impressed by the Tempest. First flight immediately revealed a c of g really on the aft limits and almost ended in disaster when the aircraft stalled into a sharp turn (my fault, with too low speed), luckily there was sufficient height gained to recover. The plane was very sensitive on the elevator and not easy to fly, always wanting to climb on full throttle. Trimmed fully down the gear stayed out, not to put cg further back. The plane was landed asap with no flaps. After c of g correction the second and other flights, things improved dramatically and revealed a very good flying airplane, gear and flap operation requires trimming. What a beautiful sight in the air. Flaps are very effective on landing and really requires engine throttle management.
The weak point is the limited damping of the gear struts, and some little damage was encountered on those.The landings have to be "perfect" ;-). I wish the Tempest was mine...."

Images and text source:
Frank D'hont