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SWORD releasing 1/73 FJ Furys


jpk

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4 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

Me too or China Lake

Nope- for me it's gotta be a VMF-235 Red Devil FJ-2...love those red bands and stars! Keeping my fingers crossed Xtradecal starts cranking out the sheets!

Mike

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FJ-2_Furies_VMF-235_in_flight_1954.jpeg

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6 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Keeping my fingers crossed Xtradecal starts cranking out the sheets!

 

As long as they get them right! I have some that are inaccurate for sure. :(

 

Martin

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  • 2 weeks later...

A teaser, really. An image of the mass of filler I've had to apply to my Sword F-80 :(

 

IMG_2758

 

Ignore, the blob on the top of the fuselage. That is where I picked it up with cement on the finger! :(

 

Martin

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14 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

I wasn't serious, chaps. I was simply showing how little it needed. ;)

 

Martin  

There I go with my notorious inability to sense irony! Apologies - I will try harder next time. :rage:

 

But that Pegasus Swift did use a lot.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Having been off the internet modelling scene for a while, the news of some new tool FJs fills me with joy ! I've been waiting for this to happen for a long time, in the meantime I had considered some cross-kitting and bought the Falcon conversion for the Heller Sabre, now I can finally just buy some new kits.

Regarding other modellers experience with Sword and other brands mentioned before, we can't expect short run products to fit as well as mainstream kits. Short runs allow us to have some lesser known subjects that would not sell in high enough numbers for the likes of Airfix or Revell to make a profit but in return they need some more work. Sometimes a lot more work (as in AModel's case), sometime little more (as in more recent SH kits). And yes, sometimes it's easier to build a short run than some mainstream kits, as I've found when I built the RS Re.2005, that went together better than my Airfix Spitfire Mk.I

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On 2017-08-18 at 17:06, RidgeRunner said:

A teaser, really. An image of the mass of filler I've had to apply to my Sword F-80 :(

 

IMG_2758

 

Ignore, the blob on the top of the fuselage. That is where I picked it up with cement on the finger! :(

 

Martin

Hi Martin,

 

Where did you get the wingtip tanks?

 

Excellent for Latin American F-80 :)

 

Cheers, Moggy

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Hi Moggy, 

 

they are from a Hasegawa T-33A. The fins need moving forward, though. They fit easily on the Sword F-80. She is going to be Latino! ;). Por supuesto!

 

M

Edited by RidgeRunner
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  • 1 month later...
14 hours ago, Smudge said:

The new Sword FJ-2 Fury is out. 

 

Anybody got one yet?

 

 

I have one on the way- will make comments as soon as I get my hands on it, but the sprue shots look promising. I think I will also wait for Tailspin Turtle to get his hands on one and give us his observations!

Mike

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I was searching for some sprue and decal info on the new FJ-2 and found this in the Rumourmonger section. I thought I would just put in a link for anyone that may come across this thread and might not be aware of the Rumourmonger thread.

 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235024924-172-north-american-fj-2-3-3m-fury-by-sword-box-artspruesresin-release-in-2017/&

 

I have to say it looks very nice. The resin seat is one of the nicest early ejection seats I have seen. And decals for VMF-235 ;) 

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Looks like a good starting point and you have to take your hat off to Sword for producing these kits. I imagine they will be very successful. From the test shots I do have a few notes: highlighted below and then see comparison photo (NAA Official, reversed to allow comparison).

 

001

 

001b

 

1. The intake seems a little too 'blunt': I suspect a minor bit of sanding will give it more of a tapered look.

2. Nose gear brace strut too far down the leg.

3. Sword seem to have modelled a strange 'lump' aft of the cannon blast panel that I haven't seen on production FJ-2s: again a minor sanding solution.

4. Drop tank end fins are a strange shape and the aft end of the tank should be up-swept (i.e. it shouldn't be a symmetrical taper in profile).

 

All minor issues and no showstoppers I can see. Couple more photos for reference (Lionel N Paul and Howard Levy photos)

 

2

 

3

 

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Also, the nose landing gear "yoke" that connects the strut to the wheel looks to be a bit long. If so, modifying it would make for a more realistic nose-up stance as well. The forward nose gear door appears to be a little long but that may be because the test-shot builder did not realize that the top part of it is actually inside the wheel well when the nose gear is extended. The flopped picture posted in comparison to the test-shot build is a little misleading with respect to the nose gear retraction mechanism because it is located on the left side of the nose gear strut. The lower pictures are more representative.

 

It should be appreciated that perfection is hard and Sword has really worked toward it. When I first looked at pictures of the sprues a few months ago, I thought that the bulge behind the NACA inlet on the fuselage was bogus but on reviewing high-enough resolution pictures like the one that Sabrejet flopped above for comparison with the test build, I discovered that Sword had got it right. Also, the main landing gear strut and doors are pretty complex and it looks like Sword got them right as well.

 

Sabrejet, please add a post that links to your excellent set of annotated pictures of the FJs.

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17 hours ago, Tailspin Turtle said:

Also, the nose landing gear "yoke" that connects the strut to the wheel looks to be a bit long. If so, modifying it would make for a more realistic nose-up stance as well.

I agree TT. The strut-fork connection does look a little odd. Looking at the sprue image, the fork looks like it's a separate part and indeed does look too long. So this yoke will need to be shortened but this will drop the nose and may well require the strut to be lengthened to compensate. Also, it looks like the modeler has connected the yoke to the bottom of the strut where it should've been connected to that small cylinder block forward of the strut; modeler/ instruction issue I think. 

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Maybe it is an optical illusion but the nose seems to have an exaggerated look to it when compared to the photos of the actual airplane. It may be a result of the combination of the camera lens used and the closeness to the subject. The exhaust area looks a bit off too but nothing a sanding stick can't fix. 

 

Still, it's way better than what existed before. I'll buy it.

Edited by jpk
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2 hours ago, jpk said:

Maybe it is an optical illusion but the nose seems to have an exaggerated look to it when compared to the photos of the actual airplane. It may be a result of the combination of the camera lens used and the closeness to the subject. The exhaust area looks a bit off too but nothing a sanding stick can't fix. 

 

Still, it's way better than what existed before. I'll buy it.

I know what you mean. The nose contours are very, very distinctive, and it's hard to tell for sure without yet having the kit to lay my hands and Mk 1a eyeballs on, but if you compare the photos that TT posted, especially the  assembly line photo- look at the last airplane in the RH-most row, and then compare that to the photos and the Sword kit fuselage. hard to describe in words, but the sidewalls of the intake look very parallel to each other and rather straight, blending into a curve at the top and bottom of the lip- the kit intake, at least in  the photos, looks like it has a continuous but gentle curve to the sidewalls.  Not a deal-breaker, to be sure, but that FJ2/3 intake is soooo distinctive, it really sets the character of the airplane, in my opinion.

Mike

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Oh, but what a blessing, all the same....would've done anything for this back in 2001/2 when I did the vac conversion as part of my complete Jolly Rogers history. Was glad for the experience, granted, but coming off that experience, this is absolutely beautiful!! 

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