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Some questions on the Airfix Sea Fury


Junchan

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I got the kit a couple of weeks before and have checked it against the Sea Fury reference books and photos. I'm very happy with this kit in respect of the shape and details except for some minor drawbacks such as a lack of the gunsight. 
After weeks of reserch and check, I got the following questions. 

1. What is the purpose of the tear-drop shaped bulge on the main gear cover and when it is introduced? 

2. Why both the left and right ailerons droop when the wings are folded up? 

3. The kit parts almost perfectly match with John Levy's MAP drawings. However the chord length of the tail plane is too narrow by about 2mm. 
How wide is the root chord of the real aircraft? 

Any information will be highly appreciated. 
Thank you inadvance for your help. 

Jun in Tokyo 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/horaburo/albums

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Hello Jun

Have a look a @NAVY870's thread at start of cold war.

Undercarriage door bulges were fitted to some aircraft as far back as 1958. Still don't know what for though.

Ailerons' control runs most probably disconnected when wings folded hence the droop

Don't know answer to your tail quection.

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I'm sure I've seen it that those u/c door bulges were related to Fleet Requirement Unit Sea Furies, which seems to tie in with your 1958 date.

Unsure if it was related to FRU use, or the fact that they were the predominant user of the type after that date and the mod may have been introduced anyway - or it could be rubbish.

Another thing I have seen somewhere is that the U/C leg was extended by a few inches, but again unsure about the validity of the info.

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Thanks guys for your responces.

I have checked the Sea Fury thread already, but found nothing answers to my questions.

The bulges on the gear covers were introduced on the late aircraft after Korean War. I found a photo of WJ231 with these bulges taken in 1961, a decade earlier when the FRADTU was established. I think that the bulge was related with introduction of the longer stroke oleo to secure more clearance between the prop blade tips and ground.

 

Jun in Tokyo

https://www.flickr.com/photos/horaburo/albums

 

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5 hours ago, Junchan said:

The bulges on the gear covers were introduced on the late aircraft after Korean War. I found a photo of WJ231 with these bulges taken in 1961, a decade earlier when the FRADTU was established. I think that the bulge was related with introduction of the longer stroke oleo to secure more clearance between the prop blade tips and ground.

Are you able to link to that picture Jun?  I wonder if there is a possibility of a mis-captioned or dated picture?

 

WJ231 was delivered in late 1951, so if the picture is correct it would indicate that the aircraft was built with the bulged doors.

It served with the FRU and definitely got the bulges by then, however it is now displayed with the flat doors.

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Thank you Jun, I am familiar with that picture, it was taken in 1961 while WJ721 was operational with the Fleet Requirements Unit.  The FRU used Sea Furies from 1957 to 1962, they didn't see service into the FRADTU era which grew out of the FRU and ADTU in the early 1970s.

 

I did gett confused with your earlier post and had thought that you were suggesting that it was taken in 1951/Korean era. 

There seems little evidence that the bulges are pre late 1950s as Scimitar suggests.

Edited by 71chally
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1 hour ago, 71chally said:

Thank you Jun, I am familiar with that picture, it was taken in 1961 while WJ721 was operational with the Fleet Requirements Unit.  The FRU used Sea Furies from 1957 to 1962, they didn't see service into the FRADTU era which grew out of the FRU and ADTU in the early 1970s.

 

I did gett confused with your earlier post and had thought that you were suggesting that it was taken in 1951/Korean era. 

There seems little evidence that the bulges are pre late 1950s as Scimitar suggests.

Sorry for getting you confused. I mixed up the FRU with the FRADTU.

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In the following book there is a picture of VX653,complete with bulges, marked as '032' of the FRU. It was delivered to them on 24/10/57. It was at the AHU at Lossiemouth on 31.03.60 and I don't know if the bulges were fitted during its tenure with FRU or before when it was in Donibristle for repair or at the Anthorn RDU before issue to thm.

Unfortunately the on-line book stops just short of the undercarriage description. Perhaps some kind soul reading this has the book?

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-IdNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=sea+fury+undercarriage+modifications&source=bl&ots=Bvj5HH2tAN&sig=1IYUVqUXrLDM2BVYC7a5lgZWTgw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiY1aHrhs7ZAhXMJsAKHR_fCBQQ6AEIPjAI#v=onepage&q=sea fury undercarriage modifications&f=false

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