Hawker Tempest Mk.II
in RAF Service
 

Special Hobby, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

 Special Hobby's 1/72 scale Tempest Mk.II is available online from Squadron.com
 

About fifteen years ago, I built the Matchbox Tempest II and thought it was a great little model. You have to keep in mind though that I was only just getting back into modelling then and I wouldn't have known a good model if I tripped over it.

Since then, I've learned a thing or two about what I think is a good model, and that includes anything from Special Hobby.

The Tempest II fits right into the Special Hobby line-up. Other companies have already done the Tempest V and Typhoon and are therefore unlikely to follow up with this one and that's where manufacturers like Special Hobby (MPM), Pavla, Sword and others come in. They seem to specialize in models that the majors aren't interested in because they think they're not popular enough.

The Hawker Tempest Mk II was a radial engined version of the better known Tempest Mk V. Although it first entered service near the end of 1944, by the end of the war only 152 had been delivered. I don't know if any saw combat in European skies as they were scheduled to be sent out to the Far East as part of Tiger Force and the three marking examples in this kit are all post-war. The Tempest II led directly to the Hawker Fury and Sea Fury fighters.

 

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

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Special Hobby’s 1/72 scale Tempest Mk.II contains two plastic sprues, both in light grey with beautifully subtle engraved panel detail and very little flash. The main one carries fuselage halves, prop and spinner, wheels and under carriage legs, gear doors and drop tanks. The other has upper and lower main-plane (3 pieces) and two tail planes.

Resin parts include cockpit floor and rear bulkhead, two side panels, seat, joystick and front bulkhead including the instrument panel backing. There is also, front cowling ring, gear bays, under carriage actuating arms, radiator matrices, exhaust pipes and tail wheel insert.

The PE fret includes instrument panel, seat belts, compass face, alternative radiator matrices and other small items.

The decals, by Aviprint, consist of two sheets, one with all the colour markings such as roundels, codes and other yellow stencils while the second has all the black markings such as serials, black codes and the rest of the stencils. In the past, I've complained about the red in Aviprint RAF roundels being to bright but in this case I think they are okay as they are all postwar.

Of the three marking examples in the kit, only one has camouflage, a Tempest II from 54 squadron, location unknown, in Dark Green, Ocean Grey and Medium Sea Grey, coded HF-X, then there are two silver birds, FR-C, flown by W/C F Carey of 135 Wing in Germany, 1945 and OQ-R of 5 Squadron in India.

The Sea Fury kit that Special Hobby released about eighteen months ago, I found to be some what disappointing. The model lacked detail in the cockpit even though most of it will not be seen as everything is painted black and the under carriage actuating arms had not been supplied. Both of these shortcominga have been addressed in this kit and it might be interesting to see if the relevant parts will fit the Sea Fury.

Highly Recommended.

Thanks to MPM/Special Hobby for the review sample.

Review Text Copyright © 2006 by Glen Porter
Images Copyright © 2006 by Brett Green
Page Created 10 April, 2006
Last updated 10 April, 2006

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