Hawker Sea Fury

[cph64]

This is the Frog 1966 rebox of their initial 1964 release and is boxed as a Mk. X but the decals are for a FB 10. Comprising 40 grey plastic parts plus one clear, for the canopy, and a decal sheet giving two options, one Royal Navy and one Royal Canadian Navy.
This is another of the 'pre-loved' kits that I bought and as such the engine, propeller and spinner had been assembled, as had the cockpit floor, seat and pilot. The first job was to remove the pilot and fill in the dip in the seat and repaint everything Humbrol Satin Black as it had been painted Cockpit Green. By this time all aircraft had black interiors. Dry fitting the fuselage showed various gaps, with the biggest being the non-existant wheel wells meaning you could see straight through via the cockpit so plastic card was fitted as a backing for filler in places. The other big job was sanding down all the raised panel lines as these were barely visible on Sea Furys.

[cph64]

To detail the wing fold I'd bought the Airwaves set which said it was was for the Frog and Novo kits (same thing) but closer inspection of the instructions and the inner wing halves which had been previously glued together showed a discrepancy on these and the outer sections. I trimed back the plastic in both cases to allow fitting of the etch which was then applied using CA. Whilst this was setting I joined the fuselage halves together, after trimming the cockpit floor, and filled any holes in the join and sink marks in the plastic with Signal putty. s the cockpit is a definite 'coal hole' and the canopy is thick I decided against detailing the cockpit so the seat is all there is in there.

[MSea]

Etch brass looks great - how is the language in your room - hohohhoho

[chriswil42]

Looking good Chris.

[cph64]

The inner sections of the wings have been added and the main undercarriage and tailwheel fitted. Due to one of the main doors being warped I had to make a replacement from 20thou card. The wing sections had to revisited as fitting as per the kit make up there was dihedral visible so these were bent back to lay flat, re-glued and any gaps filled, as was anything shown up by the undercoat. The canopy was then fitted, masked and the inner Satin Black painted. The etch brass for the wingfold brackets had been added but matching the wings together showed that the rear brackets were 1mm out of their correct location. I put this down to the not so clear Airwaves instructions, so they will have to be removed and re-attached.

[Bigkev]

Those pesky instructions.........
Have a lot to answer for!
Kevin

[chriswil42]

Those pesky instructions.........
Have a lot to answer for!
Kevin

I concur.

[cph64]

The offending brackets have been removed from the inner wing sections and positioned on the outer, hopefully all will match up later. The propeller tips were painted and masked before cowling was glued into place. Filler was needed to reduce the gap on the joint to the fuselage. Prior to this the wing walkways had been painted Tamiya Rubber and masked.

[MSea]

Soon be flying Chris

[Bigkev]

Steady progress Chris.
Keep it up.
Kevin

[Bob C]

looking good Chris.

Bob c

[chriswil42]

Looking good Chris.

[cph64]

Despite using thinners, levelling thinners and flow improver the Tamiya German Grey, a match for Extra Dark Sea Grey, refused to go through the airbrush without clogging so all the upper surfaces were handpainted. These were then masked and lo and behold the Tamiya Sky went through the airbrush with no problems, Doh!!!! I tried to match the primer that Hawker used by mixing Tamiya Yellow Green, Vallejo Tan Earth and White but it looks too yellow when compared to the yellow of the propeller tips so I'll mix another batch, hopefully a bit nearer. I remasked the wing walkways to create the taper which I'd missed the first time.

[chriswil42]

Another labour of love Chris.

[cph64]

Indeed Chris. Not quite as many set backs as HS2, but then again it's not being built by the Government, lol!!!!!