Eduard Tempest Mk.V ProfiPACK (82121) 1:48

[Mike]

Tempest Mk.V ProfiPACK (82121)

1:48 Eduard

 

 

The Tempest was a development of the Typhoon, and might account for my endless ability to get their names confused.  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 Rollf-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 Series 2s.  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 a 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 in garish colour schemes.

 

 

The Kit

This is a complete 100% new tool, and shouldn't be confused with their older Tempest V that's been around for ages, and has some known issues with its tail.  It arrives in the standard ProfiPACK box, with a brand new painting on the front showing the Tempest upsetting a V1 "Doodlebug" flying bomb, which was one of their tasks due to their speed and ruggedness, with stories of tipping them with a wingtip, and blowing them up from way too close with cannon fire.  Either way it's extreme bravery on the part of the pilots that helped to reduce the toll on London from these new "vengeance" weapons late in the war. 

 

 

 

Following on the heels of their recent Spitfire, 109 and 190 toolings, the Tempest is packed with surface detail that is at the leading edge of moulding technology and skill.  The rear of the fuselage is festooned with raised rivets that are correct for this series, and there are differing width panel lines, a number of types of fastener, with the detail extended across the whole airframe.  The interior is similarly well detailed with pre-painted PE instrument panel and seatbelts amongst other parts, which you can upgrade further by purchasing the Brassin set that's available separately.  Inside the box are five sprues of dark grey styrene, a circular sprue of clear parts, a sheet of pre-painted and nickel-plated Photo-Etch (PE), a set of canopy masks in yellow kabuki tape (not pictured), and the instructions with the profiles printed in colour in the rear of the booklet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 pre-painted belts are attached to the seat before installation, and more PE is used in the side consoles, resulting in a very neat and well-detailed cockpit.  Before the fuselage can be closed around it, the interior area needs to be painted black (I prefer dark grey with a black wash), 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. You may want to pre-prepare some of the sub-assemblies in case there are any seams to fill in the intake trunking here.  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 and the whole assembly joined with the fuselage, and once the tail feathers with their 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 this variant, the elevators and cannon barrel inserts 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 with the Dunlop brand in raised letters on the side, 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, and if you like your wheels weighted, just sand a flat spot at the bottom.  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 for the pilot, a pitot probe added to the wing, and a bunch of PE fish-plates are added to the transport joint at the rear of the fuselage, which were to correct a structural weakness in these early airframes that utilised some of the Typhoon parts.  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.  There is a resin set that adds more detail and includes hollow tips that we'll be reviewing later, once we've finished drooling over this.  The canopy masks also include a pair of dots for the tail wheel, and tread-plate masks for the root of each wing that will be useful to cover up an initial squirt of black before you begin painting the main colours.

 

 

There aren't any weapons shown in the instructions, but they are available 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.

 

Markings

There are six decal options included with this ProfiPACK edition, and due to this aircraft's service and duties, half of them are shown in D-Day markings, with the familiar black and white invasion stripes that stopped them getting shot at by their own people.  The sheet is combined with a set of stencils that are also being sold separately for those with the Overtrees that can't get enough of their Tempests.  Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• JN766, No. 486 (RNZAF) Squadron, RAF Station Castle Camp, Great Britain, April 1944
• JN751, Wg Cdr Ronald P. Beamont, DSO, DFC & bar, CO of No. 150 Wing, RAF Station Bradwell Bay, Great Britain, April 1944
• JN755, No. 3 Squadron, Newchurch, Great Britain, May 1944
• JN751, Wg Cdr Ronald P. Beamont DSO, DFC & bar, CO of No. 150 Wing, Newchurch, Great Britain, June 1944
• JN763, No. 486 (RNZAF) Squadron, Newchurch, Great Britain, June 1944
• JN765, No. 3 Squadron, Newchurch, Great Britain, June 1944

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

If this builds as well as the 109 or Spitfires from Eduard (and I suspect it will), it will be awesome.  The kit is just packed with detail, and if you still want more, there are a whole host of PE and Resin sets that we'll be looking at in the near future.  What an end to the year for Eduard!

 

Eduard have shut down for the Christmas period at time of writing, and will be back on the 7th of January 2019.

 

 

Overtrees (82121X & 82121-LEPT)

If you have one of these new kits but wanted to do another decal option in addition, or have an aftermarket decal sheet in mind, you'll be pleased to know that you can get just the sprues from the Eduard site, and if you want to add some detail, you can also get a set of Photo-Etch to go with it.  They arrive in a white box with a sticker on the end, with all the styrene in the one bag, and the clear parts bagged inside that for their safety during transport and storage.  The Overtrees as they're called can only be bought directly from Eduard, so click on the button below to pick up yours.  You can also download the instruction booklet if you don't already have one from the main kit page.

 

 

Overtrees Kit

 

Overtrees PE

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[Kwad]

Er...the series 2 tempest V was still sabre powered and had the chin rad!! It had the shorter cannons , wings that could take drop tanks , bombs or rockets and new wheels . Great looking kit though.

[Mike]

6 minutes ago, Kwad said:

Er...the series 2 tempest V was still sabre powered and had the chin rad!!

My fault. I double checked my references and I misread it I'll change it tomorrow, cos I'm even more tired than I was before, so would probably double-screw it up.