RE: Getting a Tempest Ready For Silver
Iron Dogs screw idea is a good one. If you have the time it would be a plus. I have not done that and been fine with those metal ones. I will say after a while I ended up using a bigger fender washer as the smaller one started compressing the area too much. There is another area to look at and it is that slot at the front of the wing where it meets the bulkhead in the fuse, lets call it an alignment tab and slot. That tends to wear with vibration. I had many races on my WM Dagos and that was always a troubled area. I would for future use think about a 1/4x20 nylon, ot two in there for sure.
Just a thought.
Another area on the planes were the control horns in the ailerons. I had one bust through in a race as I exited #2 and it was ugly. What happened was the wood (balsa) cracked and it pulled loose where it mounts. I now use thin CA in and around that immediate area to protect it from extra stress of gold speeds. And yes I do hinge those gaps, top and bottom with vinyl, and it still stressed out at the horn.
I also usually just glassed the bottom of the wing since I am not doing any aerobatics with the plane. All the pressure from racing/landing was at the bottom.
From the two Hawkers I have seen fly, they are fast and goergous in the air. I hope to see yours doing well and tracking smoothly for many races.