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Hawker Tempest V Weekend Edition (84170) 1:48 Eduard The Hawker Tempest was a development of the Typhoon, originally called the Typhoon II, it was envisioned to solve any and all of the issues that bothered its designer Sidney Camm. The main difference was a much thinner wing which reduced drag and improved aerodynamics of the laminar airflow. The wings could accommodate 20mm Hispano cannons that packed an enormous punch, and lent itself to the low-level attack role that it was designed for. The engines intended to power the aircraft were the Centaurus, Griffon and Sabre IV, and initially the Rolls-Royce Vulture, which was terminated early in the design phase, leaving the three options going forward and necessitating substantially different cowlings to accommodate their differing shapes. The Mark V was split into two series, with the Series 1 having the Sabre II that had a similar chin intake to the Typhoon and many Typhoon parts, while the later Series 2 used fewer Typhoon parts and had their cannon barrels shortened so they fitted flush with the leading edge on the wings. A few of the early Mk.Vs were used as test beds, while other marks were developed alongside it, such as the Mk.IIs with Centaurus engines and a cylindrical cowl; Mk.VIs which had a very short production run; the Mk.III and Mk.IV that used two types of Griffon engine and didn't see service, and later the TT.Mk.5, which is where a lot of Mk.Vs ended their days towing targets. The Kit This is a reboxing of Eduard’s brand-new tool, and shouldn't be confused with their older Tempest V that's been around for a while. It arrives in the standard Weekend Edition box, with a variant of the painting on the front showing one Tempest in flight against a generic sky colour under the blue banner. The kit is packed with surface detail that is at the leading edge of moulding technology and skill at release. The interior is similarly well detailed with decals for instrument panel and seatbelts amongst other parts. Inside the box are five sprues of dark grey styrene, a circular sprue of clear parts, and a separate clear sprue for the drop tanks. The series 2 kit contains all the same plastic as the ProfiPACK, but removes the Photo-Etch (PE) parts and includes a smaller decal sheet with only two options. Construction begins in the cockpit, which has a solid floor and framework sides, exposing the interior of the fuselage behind, which has been detailed by the designers inside the fuselage halves, showing great attention to detail. The seat, control column and rudder pedals are fitted to the solid areas, while the instrument panel and side consoles are suspended from the framework sides, which fit between the front and rear bulkheads, the latter being armoured and supporting the seat with a small framework of parts. The included decal belts are applied to the seat before installation, and more decals are included for the instrument panel and side consoles, resulting in a very neat and well-detailed cockpit. Before the fuselage can be closed around it, the interior walls need to be painted black, the simple tail-wheel bay needs constructing, and the complex radiator intake is built up from a substantial number of parts, which are shown with the correct order noted for your ease. The final parts for the cockpit interior are fitted to the fuselage sides at this point, so that they show through the framework once it is installed. The lower wing is a single full-span part, and as you would expect the upper wings are separate parts that have the landing gear bay roof detail moulded in. The sides of the bays are added along with some detail parts in both bays, at which point the wings can be closed up, inserts go in the leading edge for the flush cannon openings, with tiny little barrel stubs added from behind. The whole assembly is joined with the fuselage, and once the tail with its separate rudder and elevators are fitted, that's the airframe ostensibly complete. The cockpit aperture is over-large, which allows an insert to be dropped in after it is fitted out with detail parts specific to the decal variant, the elevators and wingtip light are added to the wings, and it's then time to build and fit the landing gear. The tail wheel has a two-part strut with Y-shaped yoke and separate two-part wheel that has an anti-shimmy groove moulded-in, and two bay doors plus actuator for when the leg is retracted in flight. The main gear wheels have a large two-part balloon tyre, and separate hubs for both sides to obtain the most detail. There is no tread, so hiding the seam on the tyre's contact patch will be easy. The gear legs are a single part each, and have a complex single-part retraction jack that extends inboard into the bay, with large captive bay covers on the leg, and smaller inner doors that fold toward each other on the centreline. A drop-down stirrup is fixed to the underside of the fuselage to ease the pilot's ingress, a pitot probe is added to the wing, and the Rebecca antenna is fitted to the rear of the underwing area. On the topside the two-part canopy is attached, with the opener having a styrene insert for added detail that latches into the track, with a whip-antenna just behind its furthest point when open. The four-bladed prop is a single part that is attached to the back-plate and spinner cap, then glued to the front of the fuselage along with a pair of exhaust stubs, which don't have hollow tips. Rockets are included in the kit on the sprues in the shape of eight unguided rockets with moulded-in rails of the simplified and more traditional early types, plus eight separate tail fins, enough for one set of rockets, but the additional clear sprue contains parts for two drop tanks with part of the pylons left clear and decorated with stencils as per the real thing. If you’ve not seen them before, hop on Google and there are some good pics. Markings There are two decal options included with this Weekend edition as previously noted, one with lower fuselage stripes, the other unadorned. The sheet is combined with a full set of stencils. From the box you can build one of the following: NV724 JF-E flown by F/Lt. Pierre Clostermann, No.3 Squadron RAF, Kastrup, Denmark July 1945 EJ705 W2-X No.80 Squadron RAF, 2nd TAF, Autumn 1944 Decals are printed in house and are in good register, sharpness and colour density, with the stencils shown on the back page of the instructions to avoid cluttering the profiles. Conclusion A great kit with masses of detail that’s available now in a cost-effective package with some nice decals. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of