Eduard Hawker Tempest Mk.V Series 2 (82121) - 1:48 Eduard ProfiPACK

[Julien]

Hawker Tempest Mk.V Series 2 (82121)

1:48 Eduard ProfiPACK

 

 

The 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 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.

 

 

The Kit

This is a complete 100% new tool, and shouldn't be confused with their older Tempest V that's been around for a while.  It arrives in the standard ProfiPACK box, with a brand new painting on the front showing two Tempests in flight.

 

 

 

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 interior is similarly well detailed with pre-painted PE instrument panel and seatbelts amongst other parts.  Inside the box are five sprues of dark grey styrene, a circular sprue of clear parts, a separate clear spure, a sheet of pre-painted and nickel-plated Photo-Etch (PE), a set of canopy masks in yellow kabuki tape (not shown). The series 2 kit contains almost the same plastic as the series 1 kit reviewed here. 

 

 

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, 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 cannon openings. The whole assembly 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 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, 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 for the pilot, a pitot probe added to the wing.  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.  Take care to select the correct prop for your build option as they do differ. 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.

 

 

For weapons anything you want as long as it is rockets are included in the kit they are 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.  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:

 

• JN803, No. 486 (RNZAF) Squadron, No. 122 Wing, B.80 Volkel, the Netherlands, October 1944
• NV994, No. 3 Squadron, No. 122 Wing, B. 112 Hopsten, Germany, April 1945
• NV994, No. 3 Squadron, No. 122 Wing, B.152 Fassberg, Germany, June 1945
• JN862, No. 3 Squadron, No. 150 Wing, RAF Newchurch, Great Britain, June 1944
• NV708, flown by W/Cdr. John Chester Button DSO, DFC, CO of No. 123 Wing, RAF Station Wunstorf, Germany, 1946/ 47
• EJ865, No. 80 Squadron, No. 123 Wing, RAF Station Wunstorf, Germany, October 1947

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

This is another stunning looking kit from Eduard who seem to be bringing us what we want at the moment. Highly recommended. 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[colin]

3 hours ago, Julien said:

Conclusion

This is another stunning looking kit from Eduard who seem to be bringing us what we want at the moment. Highly recommended. 

 

 

Especially now BarraccudaStudios have released the resin to correct the small mistakes Eduard made with the spinner/intake on the kit

[davmarx]

Unluckily I found a broken propeller in my box, pay attention and check yours before buying, if you can do it. 😉👍

 

Ciao.

Davide

[Eivind Lunde]

Two of the decal options, and the plane on the box, is of course Clostermanns "Le Grand Charles" .

I find it a bit curious that it is not mentioned as a decal option on the kit, only pilot mentioned by name is John Chester Button. 

 

But since reading "The Big Show" as a kid was what got me interested in airplanes, I've waited for years for a good 1/48 Tempest series II, so that's what I'll build. 😃

Edited March 30, 2019 by Eivind Lunde

[Julien]

1 hour ago, Eivind Lunde said:

Two of the decal options, and the plane on the box, is of course Clostermanns "Le Grand Charles" .

I find it a bit curious that it is not mentioned as a decal option on the kit, only pilot mentioned by name is John Chester Button. 

 

But since reading "The Big Show" as a kid was what got me interested in airplanes, I've waited for years for a good 1/48 Tempest series II, so that's what I'll build. 😃

It is mentioned in the instructions.

[Eivind Lunde]

15 hours ago, Julien said:

It is mentioned in the instructions.

OK, I assumed it was not since your list of decal options was identical to the one in the Hyperscale.com review, none mentioning Clostermanns, so I assumed it was from the instructions. 

But no big deal, only a bit curious. 

[Rabbit Leader]

I thought I’d read somewhere that this boxing had the spinner prop cutouts corrected, seems that’s not the case. Either way a nice overall product from Eduard and the clear drop tanks bits are especially welcomed. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

[Julien]

4 hours ago, Eivind Lunde said:

OK, I assumed it was not since your list of decal options was identical to the one in the Hyperscale.com review, none mentioning Clostermanns, so I assumed it was from the instructions. 

But no big deal, only a bit curious. 

Those are only the headers, in the detailed text it mentions who flew the aircraft in more detail.

[Venelin]

Actually, Eduard added a 3rd spinner option with the angled cut-outs, on the sprue with the propellers  

[Rabbit Leader]

6 hours ago, Venelin said:

Actually, Eduard added a 3rd spinner option with the angled cut-outs, on the sprue with the propellers  

Thanks for clarifying that. So the photograph above is from the Series 1 kit I presume? If so, the corrected spinner would be a most welcomed addition. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

[Julien]

16 hours ago, Venelin said:

Actually, Eduard added a 3rd spinner option with the angled cut-outs, on the sprue with the propellers  

Hi,

 

Yes you are right, I never noticed this as its come off the sprue in review boxing. TBH I used some pics from the Series 1 kit as this kit took quite a bashing in the post at some point with an unusually large number of parts being off the sprue. However the spinner with the angled cut outs is rattling loose in the bags. It is on the prop sprue below the inner main gear doors.

 

Julien

[P.o Prune]

I'm considering buying the Tempests Mk.V for my friends birthday. But I'm in doubt which on is the best? Eduard, no doubt, but series #1 or #2?

What is the difference between the two?

[cerperal]

13 hours ago, P.o Prune said:

I'm considering buying the Tempests Mk.V for my friends birthday. But I'm in doubt which on is the best? Eduard, no doubt, but series #1 or #2?

What is the difference between the two?

Series 1 and 2 refer to the production aircraft designations, with Series 1 being the earlier model with full-length Hispano IIs, Typhoon air intake and a considerable number of Typhoon bits and bobs in the airframe. Whereas, Series 2 was the slightly later, updated model with Hispano Vs shaved off to be flush with the wing, and significantly fewer Typhoon bits (among other things). 

 

Both are of equal quality, it's just preference for which you'd rather represent. I've not built either kit personally but there's a lot of RFI threads of them and the consensus seems to be they're accurate and with good construction.