Eduard 1/48 Hawker Tempest II

[Thunnus]

Coming off a long break from modeling, I momentarily jumped back onto my Spitfire XIVe conversion but now as I await some additional 3D-printed parts from Laminar Flow Design, I am going to start something new and a little different.  Straying from my normal WW2 fighter subjects, I am going to do a post-war bird...

 

 

I chose this kit for a few different reasons.  First of all, Eduard makes some REALLY good kits and I was interested in sampling one of their more recent releases. At 1/48 scale, this is smaller than my normal 1/32 subjects and it SHOULD be a quicker build. And finally, I've always liked the Tempest and this radial engine version has a connection to another favorite aircraft of mine: the Fw 190.

 

 

Eduard's Profipack editions come with a few extras including photoetch, canopy masks and sometimes resin.  No resin in this particular release but I picked up some to add some detail.

 

 

As usual, before I start a build, I like to take a photographic tour of the kit contents.  In addition to being a possible interest to readers, it gives me a chance to get familiar with the kit parts.  Eduard packs multiple sprues into bags, which allows parts to rub together and cause some damage.  My copy had some superficial scratching on the larger parts and a few detached parts. Below are the wing parts for the Tempest II, which was bagged with the fuselage sprue.  Unlike some manufacturers, Eduard is not stingy when it comes to molding different variants.  So thankfully, there are no problematic inserts for the leading edge intakes and we get a brand new wing for the Tempest II.

 

 

Eduard molding is superb.  I really wish that they would do some 1/32 scale kits.

 

 

The fuselage parts are also Tempest II-specific and reduces the amount of joints that would need to be corrected if they used a modular approach like Special Hobby did on their 1/32 Tempest releases.

 

 

The next four sprues were packaged into a single plastic bag and resulted in a number of detached parts.  Given that this sprue has many Tempest II-specific parts such as the radial engine and cowling ring, I assume that the prop here is the one that I'll be using.

 

 

That radial engine is not much to talk about being a very sparse representation of the cylinders.  But given the very tight clearances between the spinner and the NACA cowling, this is probably more than adequate. Similarities to the Fw190A are not coincidental and a captured Focke Wulf was closely examined in conjunction with the Tempest II design.

 

 

The exhaust tips are solid, unfortunately.  And since they are square in shape, not circular, they would be a royal pain to try and hollow out.  That is why I opted to buy the Eduard Brassin replacements.

 

 

Two more props on this sprue but I'm guessing these are for the Mark V or VI.

 

 

Three loose wheels on this sprue.  I am going to use Barracuda block tread resin replacement tires on this build.

 

 

The tail fins on the rockets are quite thick.  I'm not sure if the underwing rockets are appropriate for the aircraft that I'm modeling but I picked up Eduard Brassin replacements for the rockets just in case.

 

 

The final grey sprue holds all of the tiny parts. Even without the addition of aftermarket stuff, you get a very detailed model!

 

 

To Be Continued...

[Thunnus]

Wrapping up with the kit contents, the majority of the clear parts are held on Eduard's signature circular sprue.  Even though this circular sprue was held in its own bag, both the windscreen and the bubble canopy were detached and floating in the bag.

 

 

Thankfully, there does not appear to be any damage to the canopy parts.

 

 

The supplied photoetch includes pre-painted parts for the cockpit and some unpainted detail parts as well.

 

 

Markings for six aircraft are supplied on this huge decal sheet.  Biggest I've encountered and wouldn't fit on my desktop scanner. These are the newer style decals from Eduard that feature a removable clear carrier, similar to the wet transfer decals from HGW and 1ManArmy.

 

 

I am planning to do a natural metal bird from Royal Indian Air Force circa 1947.

 

 

Construction will start in the cockpit and my attention is drawn to the three ways Eduard provides for the instrument panel. The first version has molded detail on the instrument faces that are meant to be painted.  The second version provides partially flat faces for the panels that are meant to be used with the kit-supplied decals for the instrument faces.  The third version uses the pre-painted phototetch parts.

 

 

Since the molded detail version lacks the raised instrument dials, I thought I would morph the three version into two alternatives.  1: Using the decals on the molded detail parts and 2: removing all of the raised details on the 2nd version and applying the photo-etch parts onto that. Same purplish grey that Eduard seems to use on ALL of its instrument panels.

 

 

I'll have to double check to see if the decals actually line up with the molded details as I notice some differences between all three instrument panel version. But I've prepped Version 2 by removing all of the raised details.

 

[scvrobeson]

This will be another fun John Kim build to follow and enjoy

 

 

 

Matt 

[TankBuster]

Looks like a great kit, parts falling off seems to happen a lot with Eduard kits. Cheers.

[Shoggz]

I haven't built Eduard's Mark II Tempest, but I did build their Mark V.. A lot of the cockpit parts had come off the sprue and indeed some of them had got damaged - so I had to repair them before I started!

 

I just wish they'd apply their current levels of kit creation to 1:32 scale. I really enjoyed building quite a few of their WW2 1:48 models.

 

Having said that, I'm really looking forward to see what you do with this John, being a big fan of your previous builds!

 

PS: There's quite a few videos of the recently restored airworthy Mark.II on YouTube, which is actually in a silver scheme quite similar to the one you've chosen!

[Wayne Bull]

I am going to watch this with great intrest to see how you tackle a 48th subject John .

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys!  I wish Eduard would do 1/32 as well.  I love their range and quality of 1/48 scale WW2 fighters but frankly, the scale is just too small for my preferences.  I enjoy working on LSPs the best.

 

I've cobbled together two versions of the instrument panel.  One is pre-painted Eduard photoetch panels glued onto the kit plastic parts (right).  The other is the kit plastic parts with the molded detail and the kit decals placed over it (left). It took a bit of effort to get the decal to conform to the molded detail using multiple applications of Microsol, Solvaset, a sharp knife and physical pressure.  The remaining silvering around the instruments was carefully painted out.  The Eduard version is clearly superior in terms of detail but the purplish grey color, which isn't apparent in the picture below, bugs me.  Haven't decided yet but I'm leaning towards using the decal version because I like the color better.

 

 

I'm slowly working on the cockpit components.  It's not as straightforward as it could be since some of the Eduard PE is pre-painted, which means I have to pre-paint some of the plastic parts before the PE is glued on.  But it's getting there.  In the meantime, I've taken the time to open up the fuselage openings aft of the engine.

 

 

I'm not going to do too much extra detailing in the cockpit but I didn't like the throttle quadrant so I've cut off the levers and will make new ones.

 

[Wayne Bull]

Yeah eduard do have some funny colors to their PE , i find a thin wash of your cockpit color or what ever color your panel is seems to tone it done and blends it in to match . Their rlm 66 is not the best but using the gunze 66 that i use in the rest of the cockpit it does work out . It is a very nice  kit and builds into a very nice model ,as one of our local club has just finnished it . Have fun ,cheers Wayne

[Alex]

That's a really sweet looking kit!  Very tempting to break my "prop fighters are 1:32" rule and pick one up.  Especially intrigued that Eduard are now doing "wet transfer" style decals.  That should work beautifully for your planned NMF bird. 

[JayW]

Cannot wrap my head around the small scale, I have been in 1/18 world for so long.  It is a different world.  Go John.

[Thunnus]

Going from 1/32 to 1/48 is hard enough... can't imagine transitioning from 1/18!!! 

 

The parts with PE enhancements as well as the parts molded in clear plastic have been given a coat of Mr Primer Surfacer 1000 including some scratchbuilt levers on the throttle quadrant.

 

 

The other cockpit parts are here including the footrest, tubular sidewall structure, seat and rear cockpit bulkhead.

 

 

The fuselage interior has some molded detail in the cockpit area.

 

 

[Thunnus]

The Eduard resin exhausts are nicely detailed despite their small size. Each array is about 1/2 inch long and I was afraid of them dropping into the fuselage when it came time to install them.

 

 

So I boxed in the area with small pieces of sheet styrene.

 

 

Now I can paint them separately and install them at the end of the build without worry of losing them.

 

[SwissFighters]

2 hours ago, Thunnus said:

The Eduard resin exhausts are nicely detailed despite their small size. Each array is about 1/2 inch long and I was afraid of them dropping into the fuselage when it came time to install them.

 

 

So I boxed in the area with small pieces of sheet styrene.

 

 

Now I can paint them separately and install them at the end of the build without worry of losing them.

 

How come there are only 8 exhausts? x2=16. I guess two were routed into each other?

[scvrobeson]

Great start John. It's interesting that Special Hobby has the Indian roundels clipped off by the black wingtips, but Eduard has them overlap. I wonder which one is correct?

 

 

 

Matt 

[scvrobeson]

16 hours ago, SwissFighters said:

How come there are only 8 exhausts? x2=16. I guess two were routed into each other?

 

I think the last two come out from the bottom of the cowling

 

 

 

Matt