The Tempest was a custom design flown by young maverick Jedi Knight Nocturna Solace. Nocturna did not like the tiny, simple and tactically limited Delta-7 and Eta-2 class starfighters used by the Republic's Jedis, which were originally designed more for policing missions than for a full-blown war. She opted instead to commission a special fighter that was far more capable: the Tempest. The Tempest was supposed to become the prototype of a new medium-class starfighter (official designation, Epsilon-1) for consideration by the Jedi council in light of the new warrior role the Jedis found themselves performing. Unfortunately, Darth Vader's purge of the Jedi order spelled the end of those plans.

The Tempest followed the basic configuration of the Eta-2 midget fighter but at 10.8 meters long was more than twice the size and was fully equipped with shields, hyperdrive and a heavy armament of 2 laser cannons, 2 ion cannons, 2 torpedo launchers with 4 rounds each as well as a heavy turbo-laser. The turbo laser was the largest weapon to be mounted in a single-seat fighter at the time, and could be used in short duration only due to its high power requirements. Fixed radiator panels were fitted to the top surfaces of the wings. The Tempest was afforded exceptional performance by a pair of powerful fusion-ion main engines based on the units that powered the hyperspace booster ring used by the Delta-7 and Eta-2s. The engines are fitted with advanced maneuvering thrusters optimized for space combat. The Tempest also has a pair of auxiliary engines, which were placed at the the tips of deployable S-foils to maximize agility. The opened S-foils also exposed additional radiators for high-energy combat.

Nocturna was not present at the Jedi Temple during Vader's purge, and survived to fight a guerrilla war against the new Galactic Empire. In the early days of the Rebellion, her custom starfighter became a reliable and deadly mount in that struggle. She disappeared on a mission in her Tempest and nothing of her fate is known.

The Model

OK I really couldn't stand the Eta-2 midget fighters in ROTS. It's only my opinion of course but I always thought they were just absurdly small, looked like they were designed with the toy merchandising firmly in mind and came across like a bad kitbash, and had that as-cheap-and-as-easy-to-build-as-possible prop quality; which is fine if you were making a low-budget sci-fi film, but totally unforgivable for a mega-$$$ Star Wars production.

I really did try to warm up to them, but I just hated them. But I did buy one of the Revell kits for reference purposes. So, I decided to use it to convert to my own version of a Jedi Starfighter. I used parts from both the Fine Molds Delta-7 kit and the Revell Eta-2 kit, and added new parts from styrene sheet and other bits. The S-foils can open and close.

Image: Left front

Image: Left side

Image: Right side

Image: Right front

Image: Belly view