Special Hobby 1/48 Tempest Mk.II
I saw this item as a new arrival at Sprue Brothers, and looked at Special Hobby's website. I read that they had consulted with Eduard on the kit, and ordered it immediately. To my great pleasure, it appears to be the Profi Pack Eduard kit due in July! The kit includes resin to display the left half of the Centaurus engine, masks, terrific clear parts and an extensive decal/marking selection. Looking forward to starting this, but need to clear some other projects first…..
Well, the way this kit is designed, with a purpose-molded fuselage, it doesn't look like anyone is going to have to resort to what I've been doing with the 1/32 kit. Also with the wings purpose-molded without the inserts for the radiator and oil cooler intakes, it appears the wing will assemble easily. That is good news. In fact, parts-wise, this looks better than the Eduard Tempest V for buildability.
Overall, it appears Special Hobby learned their lesson from their 1/32 Tempests. Doing version-specific molding makes excellent sense.
It would appear to be a Eduard kit . . . " it appears to be the Profi Pack Eduard kit due in July! " I'm on board with that.
Looks like you will enjoy making this model Jeff !
I have not made special hobby kits yet. In have 2 in the stash. Some day...They look very good.
I have been pleasantly surprised, built the AF-2 Guardian, and it looked good….until my grandson took an interest! Oh well..
That clear sprue screams Eduard. Looks like a nice kit!
Hey Andrew- love the vintage Honda Motorcycle emblem. I have a CB100 I will be overhauling this summer- I am assuming you have a Honda Motorcycle?
Hi Jeff,
I don't know why the Tempest grabbed my interest years ago, but I love it- got two of the original Eduard Tempest V kits, and a Tempest II conversion for one of them. Sold one with the conversion, but kept one of them- once I saw the new Eduard Tempest kits- series I and II, I cried a bit, now I see they went ahead with the Tempest II, I will cry some more!
Enjoy the build- looks like a great kit!
Dan from Bermuda.
No need to cry - just put the old kit (which is sooo wrong you can never really get it right, no matter what you do) aside and go buy this one!
I also bought and built one of the T II conversions. Total disappointment. So happy to see this.
Looks like a super kit, Jeff.
Looking at the photos again, I see the wing has the "overlap" trailing edge. The join line for the lower wing to upper wing in that area is supposed to be a panel line. The way to insure a lack of grief there is to test fit the wing and sand down the lower wing rear edge from inside as necessary till it's a perfect fit with the upper wing. Then when you glue together, flood that area in the upper wing with glue, then press the two parts together. Wipe off any excess that oozes through, and you should have a nice tight joint that will only need rescribing once it's set up, without having to sand any of the surface detail. This also works with Dora Wings kits and the old Hasegawa 1/32 1930s quartet - the P-12, F4B-4, P-26 and BF2C.
Looks like a great kit.
As always, TC, your building tips are meaningful and worthwhile. The challenge for us less-than-expert builders is to get it right the first time. The key to success...be careful, go slowly, and dry-fit often.
The Holy Trinity of modeling! And not just the less-than-expert. Failing to do that for the most advanced modeler in the world is a guaranteed trip to the minefield.
Looks like a nice kit, Jeff.
Detailed instructions as well.
I’ve had this kit on my must build list but guess what? Sold out already!
The Tempest is one of the best looking WW2 aircraft in my opinion, lookiing forward to seeing the build.
I look forward to seeing your model. Agree with Tom that the 1/48 kit looks to be an easier build than the 1/32 kit.
Might get one in the future as one can never have enough Tempests.
They are just a beautiful plane, and this kit makes me smile!
I was fortunate to see one at RAF Hendon back in 1996, haven’t been the same since!
Eduard is releasing the same kit, sans additional resin, as the "early" Tempest II in August.
What's the difference between early and late? The "late" production all have the cooling screen aft of the engine just forward of the gas tank, for tropicalization. In fact, almost all of the Tempest IIs were eventually brought up to this standard befre being sent to the tropics were where it was used (other than the one squadron with BAFO in Germany). I have a photo of PR533 just out of the factory, without the tropicalization modification, and then another with it in Malaya.
The "embarrassments to the hobby" over at The Other Place are already saying the Eduard kit will be "superior." What part of "it's the same plastic" do they fail to realize?