A new addition to Eduard's LööK range comes in the shape of an instrument panel and seat harness for their new 1:48 Hawker Tempest.

The set comprises an instrument panel which is cast in black resin and features pre-painted instrument faces which are also "glazed" with varnish, plus colour photo-etched seatbelts.

The resin panel and etched fret arrive glued firmly to a cardboard backing. And by firmly, I mean really firmly - so much so, in fact, that I was worried I might damage the parts removing them. It does seem overkill, and I think Eduard would do better to use a dab of low-tack glue dots to avoid potential mishaps.

The printing on the instrument panel is very good - far more precise than could be achieved with even the finest brush - and, of course, the beauty of it is that no assembly is needed. Just remove it from its casting block and it's basically ready to fit. That's not to say it won't look better with a little careful dry-brushing to help pick out the moulded details and add a bit of "life" to the clean black resin.

The harness is also excellent. To be honest, the close-up photo doesn't do it any favours because it exaggerates the speckled appearance. In fact, to the naked eye, it looks very convincing, with a subtly shaded effect to give a used look.

Decisions! Decisions!

Life's never perfect - and the LööK set underlines that. In terms of detail on the instrument faces, it really doesn't improve on the colour-etched panel and the Cartograf decals for the styrene alternative in the Profi-Pack kit (in fact, I think the resolution on them might be slightly finer). But the LööK panel features cast details that neither of the alternatives offer - plus, of course, they don't have the instant convenience of the resin panel. So, there is definitely a choice to be made there.

I'm not so sure with the seat harness, though, because the kit's etched harness is basically identical, with only the shoulder strap buckles being treated differently.

Where the LööK set will really come into its own is once Eduard release the inevitable Weekend edition of the Tempest that won't have any etched accessories. Then it will be a straight choice between different ways to add an upgrade for the instrument panel - and the inclusion of a set of seatbelts will be a major "plus" for the LööK approach.

A nicely illustrated sheet of instructions is provided. Fitting the panel is largely self explanatory because it's a drop-in alternative to the kit's styrene vesrion, but the diagram showing the seat harness is certainly useful.

Conclusion

I've got to say, it's a bit of conundrum if you've got the Profi-Pack boxing of the new Tempest, because the LööK set boasts better cast "3D" detail than the kit panels - but both the colour-etched and decal instruments are marginally higher resolution and include extra details. That said, whichever route you take, the detail is eye-poppingly good to the naked eye.

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