Eduard Hawker Tempest Mk.VI detail sets. 1:32

[Shar2]

Hawker Tempest Mk.VI detail sets

Eduard 1:32

 

Eduard appear to be covering all bases with their aftermarket detail sets for the Special Hobby 1:32 Hawker Tempest Mk.VI.  First, you have the wonderful resin cockpit and machine gun bay, and now they have released four etched sets and a set of masks.  The etched parts are for the interior, seatbelts, flaps and a smaller zoom set for the cockpit.  At least the modeller can’t say they don’t have a choice of what to use on his model, or how much they want to add.

 

Interior Set (32926)

This set contains two sheets of PE, one of which is nickel-plated and pre-painted, the other in bare brass. It improves on the kit detail in the cockpit by adding items to the sidewalls; replacing chunky styrene details on the turtle-deck behind the pilot; adding sill details to the cockpit sides; detailed new side consoles with throttles, levers and switches; replacement foot pedals for the rudder; a complete re-skin of the instrument panel with multi-layered pre-painted PE plus a more detailed compass mount A little dab of aqua clear will give them the appearance of glass fronts; a complete new pilot seat with masses of extra detail, and using the kit mounting brackets, and finally a few small details on the rear wheel yoke. The sheet also contains the myriad of coloured levers, knobs, side consoles, new throttle quadrant, switch clusters, trim wheel, and rudder pedal plates,.

 

 

 

 

Flap Set (32423).

The kit's flaps are moulded into the wing, so if you wanted to show them dropped, you'll need this set, which is surprisingly simple once you get past the preparation stage. You first need to remove the flaps from the underside of the wing, then the narrow section that's visible in the upper wing, taking care to thin the very edge of the remainder, which is shown in a scrap diagram for your ease. The flap bays are made up from one main part each, with a number of hinge-guides along their length, and a small wedge-shaped part just past half span. The flaps are made up using one main part which has all the tapering ribs attached, each one having a small fold at the base before twisting them round to glue them. You need to slide a piece of 1.6mm styrene (or brass) rod through the loops in the forward end, and add a small number of ancillary parts for inner and outer flap sections, and once done they are glued against the hinge-guides installed in the bay earlier.

 

 

 

Interior Zoom Set (33191)

This zoom set contains only the above pre-painted sheet and allows the modeller to build a well detailed cockpit without the hassle of getting bogged down with detail that might otherwise be deemed superfluous.

 

 

 

Seatbelts (33192)

This small single sheet set contains a complete and comprehensive set of seat belts, buckles and clasps. The belts look like they will be rather fiddly to assemble, but will look great when fitted. The seat belts are pre-painted so no need for some fiddly painting, just a slightly darker wash to tone them down a bit.

 

 

 

Masks (JX215)

Supplied on a sheet of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with a full set of masks for the canopy, with compound curved handled by using frame hugging masks, while the highly curved gaps are in-filled with either liquid mask or off-cuts from the background tape. In addition you get a number of masks for the various light lenses, and a set of hub masks for the wheels, allowing you to cut the demarcation perfectly with little effort.

 

 

Conclusion

There’s never a kit release without Eduard set of two being designed for it as they are so prolific.  Whilst not as comprehensive as some of the previous releases, but then they have released some resin items as well, they will add that extra level of detail sought by some modellers. The flap set looks to be particularly good and really will make the model stand out from the crowd. It is still disappointing that they chose to release the seatbelt set separate from what is basically an interior set, but I guess it gives modeller more choice on how much they want to add. The instructions aren’t the clearest, so care will need to be taken when adding the parts. The masks are always useful though.  Highly recommended.

 

Review sample courtesy of