FINISHED 1/48 Airfix Fury -

[delta7]

I thought I was being all interesting and slightly obscure to chose this plane but it seems a popular choice. What is the collective for furies... A howling perhaps

 

Anyway we can probably get hints and tips for putting together this subject.

I was inspired by this fantastic build and will steal some of his ideas....

wont get anywhere near this standard but it is a platform for some scratch building and spraying silver as a test for my BAC lightning I purchased at the same time

 

here is the starting point, an older boxing of the kit

 

the kit is in not a bad shape, some ejection points need filled

 

and ronnie the rivitter must have had a few too many pints the night before at the pub

 

even percy the pilot isnt too bad, here next to one from the recent spitfire Vb boxing

 

Aftermarket is some plastic rod, some decals for stencils , bobs buckles for rigging and some spare etch from a hurricane kit and a gladiator kit I built years ago

 

First step is to sort out the fuselage and wings and then decide wether to scratch a cockpit or just put in a pilot to hide everything

 

Edited May 11, 2018 by delta7

[Robert Stuart]

Looks good delta

[mackem01]

All that etch will keep you busy, even in 48th it's tiny. You must have good eyes.

[delta7]

not much done today, using mr surfacer 1000 to fill in injection marks and other surface issues. Removed the wonky rivit line then sprayed primer to check the surface and panel lines are gone so will have to scribe these.

Ill post pics once all surface work done

[delta7]

Surfaces sanded, scribed and coated with primer to check

 

replaced seat with spare and working on radiator. I have sawed down at front to create a more open look, I will sand both to tidy up . the solid rear was removed and I will replace with mesh and I will scratch a small radiator as well

Edited April 4, 2018 by delta7

[delta7]

Slow progress wurkin down t' pit

 

scratch built using plastic tubing, guns are off the new 1/48 airfix hurricane, seat  and control panel out of  spares box

first I cut down the solid kit base to use as a template. Then I copied some etch from a hurricane and attatched this. The plastic tubing was built up, not 100% accurate but good enough for what will be seen when closed up

The panel was cut down and shaped to approximate the real one.

Painting next and attatching some spare etch instruments

 

 

 

 

[MarkSH]

Nice scratch building for the cockpit framing.

[Robert Stuart]

I can just echo Mark's comments, that does look like a typical Sydney Camm fuselage structure.

[delta7]

cockpit finished and engine built and into place - loook 1980 ah them were the good old  days

 

last good view of pit before closing up

 

closed up , im impresssed by fit for its age, lower wing not glued yet

 

 

One issue, the engine block sticks out a bit far, there is a slight gap between prop and cowl but test fitting shows its way to big so thinking cap will need to be dug up and a solution found

 

 

[Colin W]

Looking good. Interesting you have omitted the cabane struts. I elected to get them on to assist with wing alignment.

I also noted the gap between fuselage and spinner so omitted the rear engine accessories to push it further back. You can easily trim the front of the engine or prop to eliminate the gap.

 

Colin

[delta7]

Thanks, I don't like to have much attached at this stage as there is a lot of handling and sanding.

I have seen off the offending engine parts so prop fits fine now

Currently filling and sanding the main joints

As this is a test for spraying silver, I plan to take time and care here to ensure good surfaces.

After smoothing I will spray gloss black then silver.

Edited April 14, 2018 by delta7

[Robert Stuart]

This is looking good.  What silver will you be using?

[delta7]

I am going to try vallejo acrylics,for the shiney parts and probably humbrol silver for painted silver

 

Edited April 14, 2018 by delta7

[delta7]

Not much progress, bit frustrating just now , 2 issues

1) a ghost seam on the top of the fuselague has taken a lot of , sand, fill, prime, inspect,sand......but now seems to have gone away to haunt some other poor modler

2) Tried to put on some etch to replicate strengthening plates on top wing, but one didnt look straight then when trying to work it ......ping and away to feed the carpet monster. Sneaky devil as its a laminate wood floor but zipped  in and gobbled it up anyway.

So I tried to cut some thin plastic card but again couldnt get it to look square so fed up Iv removed everything and sanded it back . Ill probably just mark out some squares later on.

 

I have put some etch to simulate the rigging locator thingys and the elevator controls circles and have fitted some other parts. These arnt glued, just in place for priming and coating with gloss black. then Ill remove them and mask and paint the chrome areas.

 

 

the other reason for not glueing the legs is the radiator needs fitted but the more I look at the radiator the more I dislike it so I think Ill be removing all the front and scratching some vanes so one step forwards but will need to go back a few to progress

Edited April 18, 2018 by delta7

[delta7]

Been tackling the radiator

Plan  A was to cut some spare plastic card, so I found my thinest and measured and cut but it was difficult to get distances right  so spacing looked ok and they were straight so that was binned

Plan B was to get a baseplate, measure and cut at right distances and then put card here but still didnt look right

Plan C was I remembered I had some spare resin radiator parts from a F-5 so I have measured these up and fitted to plate.

Even this was difficult to try  to get them to line up, then some knocked off when others were fitted , then some fell off when trimming

The plate will fit to roof of housing and I will trim some plastic card to even everything off

and so after 3 days work I have this

 

 

vanes still needs tidying up but nearly ready to try to fit them to housing,

If I cant get them to look ok Ill scrap them and just put another sheet of mesh at front

Edited April 22, 2018 by delta7

[delta7]

Well after finishing with the radiator things progressed a bit quicker and we now have a natty little nightfighter

 

next step is to mask off the chrome areas and paint the silver, then mask that off and spray the chrome

did the radiator vanes survive or did they suffer a terrible fate ..................... tune into next weeks exciting episode to find out   

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2018 by delta7

[Robert Stuart]

That does look good at this stage.

I'm building other "Silver Wings" types, and will be interested to see how your chrome/silver looks

[delta7]

Here it is a bit shiney, sprayed with humbrol silver from can. Its a bit brighter than Id like, looking at photos then in reality it can appear anything from silver to a white aluminium, but perhaps the dullcote will tone it down. I just hope that there is enough contrast with the bare metal parts.

 

Silver is very very unforgiving, you might be able to still make out some sanding marks on top wing which were invisable before, it all depends on the angle that light hits it.

I was going to go for 1sqdrn markings but will now put on the checkerboard of 43 sqdrn plane to hide this a bit.

 

Another problem is drying time, even after 24hrs and a light buffing with a paper towel (.....oooh errrrr missus) then paint still appears on tape

 

 

so Im going to leave it alone for a couple of days before masking and then spraying  the bmf .

 

 

[Robert Stuart]

28 minutes ago, delta7 said:

paint still appears on tape 

That might be a problem with the paint film, I find masking metallics harder than most other colours.

 

Do you have a test piece?

Could you experiment by spraying the test piece, letting it dry for a while, then spraying some varnish (Future, ClearCote &c), on the test piece, and checking that with tape.

[delta7]

Some progress, the humbrol silver dried after 48hrs so I masked up and painted the bmf. Sprayed in mist coates straight from bottle.

I also futured the top wing and applied the decals to test them out , very pleased with result for age, setled down very nicely with a touch of decal sol

The undercarraige broke when I removed the masking so that will need attended to later on.

 

 

close up to show difference in shades of metal finish

 

 

will let everything dry before moving on

[delta7]

A bit of progress.

The silver finishes looked very similar until I put on the future which dulled down the vallejo , so Iv got a difference now but would have preferred it to be the alternative to what I have i.e. the painted parts duller than the metal.

I put on the decals which were superb, some of the best Iv worked with and no silvering even on the large underside ones.

top wing added today, went on ok with just minimal footering.

rigging next.

[Robert Stuart]

I don't know when they introduced anodised aluminium cowls on British aircraft - to my eye, this looks right for a silver Gladiator, and may be correct for the much earlier Fury.

[delta7]

Finished

 

I enjoyed this old kit. First bit of scratch building, first spraying metal colour and the decals were excellent, only thing that really let it down was the radiator, I was dissapointed I couldnt get the vanes right but never mind, more pics in gallery

 

[MarkSH]

A very nice result, great work.

[Colin W]

Excellent piece of work which deserves a few more pictures. You mentioned PE rigging locators but hard to see on the finished article. How did they work.?

Great to see 3 biplanes in the gallery. 

Colin