Eduard BIG3370 Hawker Tempest Mk.V Big Ed Detail Set for Special Hobby — 1/32 Scale

Manufacturer: Eduard Model Accessories

Product: BIG3370

Barcode/JAN: 8591437516636

Subject: Hawker Tempest Mk.V

Scale: 1/32

Series: BIG ED

Type: Aftermarket detail/accessory set

Base kit manufacturer: Special Hobby

Compatible kits: Special Hobby SH32049 and SH32070

Original release: November 2016

Current status: Discontinued

Plastic aircraft kit: Not included

Eduard's November 2016 documentation specifically identifies BIG3370 as a 1/32 Tempest Mk.V set for Special Hobby.
What is included

BIG3370 combines four separate Eduard products into one BIG ED package:

JX193 — painting mask for the Tempest Mk.V;

32392 — detailed landing flaps;

32880 — interior/exterior photo-etched detail set;

32881 — STEEL photo-etched seatbelts.

The combined package therefore provides improvements to several major areas of the Special Hobby model:

cockpit and interior detail;

exterior airframe detail;

landing flaps;

seat harnesses;

canopy and other painting masks;

small-scale structural and equipment details.

The product is made up primarily of photo-etched metal parts and masks, rather than additional injection-moulded aircraft components. A current catalogue description confirms that it is an accessory set and explicitly warns that the base model kit is not included.

This is significant when valuing the item: BIG3370 should not be priced as a complete 1/32 Tempest model kit. It is an enhancement package that was intended to be purchased alongside the Special Hobby kit.
The BIG ED concept

Eduard's BIG ED system groups several individual aftermarket sets into a single package.

For BIG3370, Eduard combined the individual Tempest products into one package, offering the modeller a more comprehensive upgrade rather than requiring four separate purchases.

Eduard's contemporary catalogue explains that the individual sets in BIG ED packages were also available separately, with the combined package offering a saving compared with buying all the components individually.

This particular package was released in 2016, alongside the Special Hobby 1/32 Tempest Mk.V. Eduard's contemporary announcement describes it as an "advantageous set" of photo-etched and mask products.
Manufacturer — Eduard Model Accessories

Eduard Model Accessories is a Czech company that began in a very different part of the model industry from conventional injection-moulded kit manufacturers.

The company was formed in 1989 in Most, Czechoslovakia, by Ctirad Kurák and Vladimír Šulc. The two had begun producing photo-etched components for their own modelling projects around 1987 and subsequently recognised that there was a market for commercially produced fine-detail components.

In 1990, Eduard produced its first commercially sold photo-etched set, a 1/48 Su-25K detail set.

Demand grew rapidly, and by 1991 the company had moved into more suitable premises and begun series production. Eduard subsequently expanded its photo-etched range into 1/72 and 1/35, followed by ship-related accessories.

The company entered the plastic-kit business in 1993, producing its first two kits:

Sopwith Schneider — 1/72

Sopwith Baby — 1/72

The following year Eduard introduced its first 1/48 plastic kit, the Fokker E.III.

Eduard eventually moved to larger facilities at Obrnice, where it developed increasingly sophisticated moulding and production technology. The company now produces injection-moulded kits as well as photo-etched, resin/Brassin, masks and other modelling accessories.

That history explains why Eduard became particularly well known among advanced modellers for photo-etched detail parts.

BIG3370 is therefore very much in the tradition from which the company originated: taking an existing plastic kit and adding much finer, thinner and more scale-appropriate detail.
The Special Hobby base kit

BIG3370 was designed around Special Hobby's 1/32 Hawker Tempest Mk.V.

The original Special Hobby SH32049 was released as a 1/32 injection-moulded kit and was priced at approximately €52.10 when reviewed in 2016. The kit represented a significant step forward in Special Hobby's large-scale aircraft range, with improved engineering, locating pins and more sophisticated moulding than some of the company's earlier limited-run products.

Special Hobby subsequently offered more elaborate versions, including the SH32070 Tempest Mk.V Hi-Tech 2, which added substantial resin and other multimedia components.

BIG3370 can therefore be thought of as a premium detail upgrade for the standard Special Hobby 1/32 Tempest, rather than a standalone model.
The real aircraft — Hawker Tempest Mk.V

The Hawker Tempest was one of Britain's most important late-war piston-engine fighters.

It originated from Hawker's development of the Typhoon, but the Tempest introduced a substantially redesigned wing and other aerodynamic improvements.

The intention was to retain the Typhoon's powerful Napier Sabre engine while reducing drag and improving high-speed and high-altitude performance.

The prototype first flew on 2 September 1942.

The resulting aircraft was a large, powerful single-seat fighter with an unusually thin wing for a Hawker fighter of the period.
Development from the Typhoon

The Typhoon had demonstrated considerable potential as a low-level fighter and ground-attack aircraft, but its thick wing and other aerodynamic characteristics limited its performance at altitude.

The Tempest development addressed these issues.

The new wing was significantly thinner, and the aircraft received a redesigned tail and other aerodynamic improvements.

The resulting aircraft was substantially faster and more refined than the Typhoon.

The Tempest Mk.V became the principal production version during the Second World War.
Production of the Mk.V

Production of the Tempest Mk.V began at Hawker's Langley facility in 1943.

The first production aircraft, JN729, left the production line on 21 June 1943 and made its first flight shortly afterwards.

The Mk.V was built in two principal production series.
Series 1

The first 100 aircraft were the Series 1 machines.

They retained some components derived from the Typhoon and used the long-barrel Hispano Mk.II 20 mm cannon.

These early aircraft also had external strengthening plates around the rear fuselage/tail joint.

They were primarily associated with serial numbers beginning JN.
Series 2

The subsequent aircraft incorporated numerous improvements.

The most visually obvious change was the adoption of the short-barrel Hispano Mk.V cannon, whose barrels were largely contained within the wing.

The revised design also allowed the rear fuselage/tail assembly to be detached and provided for external fuel tanks.

Series 2 aircraft carried serial prefixes including EJ, NV and SN.

The total production of the Tempest Mk.V was 801 aircraft.
Engine

The Tempest Mk.V was powered by the Napier Sabre II, a liquid-cooled 24-cylinder H-block engine.

The Sabre was an unusually compact and powerful engine, and its performance was a major factor in the Tempest's capabilities.

The combination of the Sabre engine and the Tempest's relatively clean aerodynamic design produced a very fast low- and medium-altitude fighter.

The aircraft used four-bladed propellers supplied by de Havilland or Rotol, depending upon production aircraft and configuration.
Armament

The Tempest Mk.V carried four 20 mm Hispano cannon mounted in the wings.

This was a very powerful armament for a single-engine fighter.

The later Series 2 aircraft's short-barrel Hispano Mk.V installation was particularly clean aerodynamically because the cannon barrels did not protrude significantly beyond the leading edge.

The aircraft could also carry external stores, including bombs and drop tanks.

The Mk.V received clearance to carry bombs in April 1944, although bomb use during the war was relatively limited compared with its fighter and anti-V-1 duties.
Combat role

The Tempest's greatest wartime importance came from its combination of:

high speed at low and medium altitude;

excellent firepower;

good low-level handling;

strong construction;

substantial endurance compared with many contemporary fighters.

It became particularly valuable for attacking German aircraft and ground targets and for intercepting V-1 flying bombs.

The aircraft's performance at low altitude made it one of the RAF's most useful fighters during the final year of the European war.
V-1 interception

The Tempest developed a particularly famous association with the German V-1 flying bomb campaign.

Its speed at low altitude made it well suited to intercepting the V-1.

Tempest pilots used several techniques against the weapons, including conventional gunfire and, in some cases, deliberately disturbing the aerodynamic stability of the flying bomb by placing a wing close to the V-1.

The Tempest therefore became one of the RAF's most successful V-1 interception aircraft.

Special Hobby's later Tempest releases have specifically commemorated this aspect of the aircraft's career, including its "Doodle-bug Hunters" boxing.
Ground attack and fighter operations

Although often remembered primarily as a fighter, the Tempest was also used extensively for ground attack and armed reconnaissance.

Its four cannon were effective against lightly armoured and soft targets.

Later in the war, Tempests also carried bombs and rockets in appropriate configurations.

The aircraft therefore evolved into a multi-role fighter-bomber while retaining excellent air-to-air performance.
Famous pilots

The Tempest was flown by several prominent RAF and Commonwealth pilots.

One of the best known was Pierre Clostermann, the French-born RAF fighter pilot whose combat career included extensive Tempest operations.

His Tempest, NV724, became particularly famous through his wartime memoir The Big Show.

The type was also operated by Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and other Commonwealth personnel.
Post-war service

The Tempest Mk.V remained in service after the end of the Second World War.

This was partly because it was still a very capable piston-engine aircraft, even as jet fighters were beginning to transform military aviation.

For example, No. 16 Squadron RAF operated Tempest Mk.V aircraft in Germany after the war before converting to the Tempest Mk.II.

The Tempest family therefore bridged the transition between late-war piston fighters and the first generation of operational jet fighters.
Surviving aircraft

A small number of Tempests survive today.

The surviving examples are particularly significant because the Tempest was produced in relatively small numbers compared with aircraft such as the Spitfire, Hurricane or Mustang.

The rarity of surviving Tempests also contributes to their value as museum and historic aircraft.

There is no normal transparent commercial market for original Tempest Mk.V aircraft, making it inappropriate to give a single modern "selling price" as though they were ordinary used aircraft.
Full-size aircraft selling price

I found reliable production and historical information for the Tempest Mk.V, including the 801-aircraft production total, but I did not find a sufficiently reliable primary or specialist source giving a universally applicable wartime unit selling/procurement price for the Mk.V.

Accordingly, I would record:

Documented full-size wartime selling price: No reliable unit price established from the sources reviewed.

This is preferable to using a production-cost estimate or a price for another Tempest variant and presenting it as the Mk.V's actual selling price.
Current full-size value

There is similarly no meaningful standard current market price.

An original Tempest Mk.V is a very rare historic aircraft, and any hypothetical private transaction would be highly dependent on:

originality;

restoration;

airworthiness;

provenance;

surviving components;

historic combat associations;

certification and operating status.