Eduard 1/48 Tempest Mk.V Series 2 Weekend Edition
By Jacob Russell
The Hawker Tempest is one of my favorite World Two planes. The Tempest has been well served in 1/72nd scale with kits by Airfix, Academy and KP, but the only 1/48th kit that comes to mind is Pend Oreille's long out-of-production resin and white metal Tempest.
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The Hawker Tempest is one of my favorite World Two planes. The Tempest has bee>Eduard's new Tempest Mk.V Series 2 kit has recently been issued as a Weekend Edition kit. It consists of 201 injection molded parts molded in gray and clear on 7 sprues. The surface detail of the wings and fuselage is excellent, consisting of recessed panel lines, raised and recessed rivets and Dzus fasteners where appropriate.
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The cockpit is a multi piece assembly and it will look great with an oil wash and dry brushing of the raised detail. The radiator is another well detailed and complex assembly and you have 2 different dust filters to choose from. The wheel wells are also multi piece, have great detail and the Dowty levered undercarriage has been faithfully captured.
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The control surfaces are separately molded and the fabric rudder looks great. You have 2 propellers to choose from. Underwing stores include drop tanks and rockets.
The kit includes 4 different decal options:
"EJ750", JBW, W/Cdr John B Wray, CO of No. 122 Wing, B.80 Volkel, the Netherlands, December 1944. This Tempest was Ocean Grey and Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey with a black spinner. There are partially overpainted Invasion stripes and a Sky fuselage band.
"EJ536", USW, F/Lt Pierre H Clostermann, No. 56 Wing, B.80 Volkel, beginning of April 1945. This plane was also Ocean Grey and Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey with a black spinner.
"EJ705", W2X, W/Cdr John B Wray, CO of No. 122 Wing, B.80 Volkel, the Netherlands, December 1944. This Tempest was Ocean Grey and Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey with a Sky spinner. This plane also had partially overpainted Invasion stripes and a Sky fuselage band.
"SN330", J5H, S/Ldr Colin H Macfie, CO of No. 3 Squadron, B.80 Wunstorf, Germany, 2nd half of 1947. This plane was painted Silver with a black anti-glare panel and a Green spinner.
The decals are very well printed, in register, and have accurate colors, and there is a separate sheet of stencils. The instructions are well illustrated and include a parts map, a 2 page stencil placement guide and color callouts for GSI Creos (Gunze) and Mr. Color paints.
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Conclusions
This is a superb Tempest kit. It's accurate and well detailed, plus you have numerous Eduard's aftermarket accessories (Brassin resin, masks, photo-etch) to choose from. I recommend Eduard's Tempest Mk.V Series 2 kit and I would like to thank Eduard for the review sample.
References
Hawker Tempest, Mk.I,V, II,VI, TT Mks. 5, 6, by Michal Ovcacik & Karel Susa, Mark I Publications, 2000