nimrod54

I have glued the cockpit sub-assembly into the fuselage and this has been put aside to set up. by John L, on Flickr Some of you may remember at the start of this project that I said I also had the Hasegawa/Hales boxing of the F9F-2 Panther which I had started some time ago, however this had gone well beyond the 25% rule to be included but I would like to try and get this finished too. To that end this will make the odd appearance as this build progresses but will not be included in the gallery when completed, here is its debut showing. by John L, on Flickr Cheers. John

Built from the Airfix kit for the Scandinavian GB back in 2020. I rescribed the panel lines and dropped the flaps, scratch building the structure to cover the resulting gap. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr

I have painted up the seat and scratched a handle for the top from a small section of brass tube and wire. Once everything had dried I added the seatbelt decals before fixing it into the cockpit, that sub assembly is now ready to be glued into fuselage. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr

The paint arrived during the week and I managed to get the Sky on the lower surfaces on Friday, I hope to get things masked up in readiness for the Extra Dark Sea Grey later. There is still plenty to do to try and get this over the line but it shouldn't be too far off by next weekend. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr

Another couple of photos of progress so far. I have painted up the white areas in prep for the Korean theatre bands, these areas have been masked off and more grey primer applied just to be sure that I get an even tone once I start applying the Sky to the underside and sides. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr John

I made a bit of progress on this today, cleaning up the cockpit parts, painting them up with Xtracrylics Neutral Grey and once that had time to dry I added the 3D printed instrument decals. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr I still have to complete the seat and that will have belts from the same set with the final decal in the set being fixed to the port sidewall, I'll do that once I have glued the cockpit sub assembly in position. John

Not yet Pete, I have ordered a set of 3D decals for the cockpit and they should arrive tomorrow. I am trying to finish a 1/48 Sea Fury but I have to pick up some paint for the upper surfaces, so to fill the time I am painting details on a Union Cavalry set of figures from Masterbox's ACW range - it's a bit of a dress rehearsal for the Not in my Comfort Zone group build later in the year. John

I am liking the two Astro-nuts.

Maybe your memory is not as bad as you think Pete, this link to Beatties Review from 1967/8 gives their Manchester address as 28 Corporation Street, just up from Victoria, so if you had been misdirected you may well have come across it as you rushed across town. This link shows the store as I remember it Beatties - Spring Gardens, again if you were heading across to Piccadilly you would probably have travelled along Market Street passing Spring Gardens along the way. Thanks for this pleasant journey down memory lane while I wait for some bits to arrive. John

It may have been at one time Pete, but when I was going into Beatties back in the mid - late 70's their store was in Spring Gardens which is just off Market Street. I think that it may be a Tesco Express now - other supermarkets are available. John

Woohoo! I guess it's time to SCRAMBLE... this should be good, and I can see that there is still scope to break out the pink primer for Red's cape.

I bought most of my Hornby-Minitrix N gauge locos (sadly, all packed away in the loft now) from their Manchester branch. Another favourite haunt was The Model Shop on Deansgate which became ModelZone and closed a good few years ago. John

Thanks for the info Pete, I will pop across to your build to check things out. John P.S. I have read through your build this morning (20.02.23) Pete, very informative and a lovely end result.

With my Kuta 2022 build heading towards it's conclusion and having quite a lull before the start of the first GB that I had signed up to, I thought that I would jump in with this old Hasegawa/Hales kit. I also have the same manufacturers F9F-2 Panther which is way beyond the 25% rule but you may get to see it lurking in the background as this build progresses. by John L, on Flickr Here are spues A and B, by John L, on Flickr Sprue C, the clear parts and a shiny coated decal sheet, so not too many parts. by John L, on Flickr It will probably be a week or two before I get down to this at full pace but it should give me time to see what other decals are about, Cheers John

I have completed the rescribing work, added the undercarriage, tailhook and fuel pump blisters to the underside and the blisters to the wing roots. I realise that adding the undercarriage now will leave me with a tricky masking job later but I thought that it would be better to get those parts glued in place making it easier for me when it comes to the priming stage - the resin spinner has been pushed into the nose in preparation for that stage too by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr There are a few small jobs to sort before priming though. It was a late decision to do something with the wing nav lights and I have removed the grey plastic from the area, replacing that with sections of clear sprue. I have reshaped and polished the port light but still have to tackle the starboard side. I also have a set of Master turned brass parts for the pitot and cannon barrel muzzles which will mean some adjustments to the kit parts to get them to fit. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Almost ready for the painting now. Cheers. John

It will great to see another Egg-cellent model from Little H. Enjoy the build

There's not too much change from my earlier post on the face of it, but the wings have been glued on, all of the joints have been filled where needed, sanded and polished, and the engine, rudder and port aileron have been fixed in place, I have also attached the blisters to the underside of the wing. There's a small amount of rescribing to do and I still have to sort out the root blisters and parts like the tailhook and tailplanes have to be attached. The Flightpath set comes with parts for the RATOG pack and includes the bracketry for its attachment to the underside, I am trying to ascertain if the attachment points would be fitted regardless of the pack being carried or not, any advice would be greatly appreciated. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr John.

Thanks Martin, the Flightpath set is designed for this kit and a great fit, I am really pleased with the way things have gone so far. John

The wing work is progressing and another session should see that finished. I have opened up the flap bays on the starboard side and the etch flaps have been assembled, the underwing light was glued in place then I checked the final fit of the added parts, making adjustments where necessary, before gluing the upper and lower halves together. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Over on the port side, I drilled out the locations for the white metal fold/support parts before fixing those to the inner wing, that was followed by a dry fit of the sub assemblies and a further check of the wing to fuselage fit. I've decided not to open the flap bays on this side in the end, my understanding is that the outer flap would have been closed with the wing folded and that the two inner sections would only be slightly open so little would be seen of any added interior detail work. I still have the etch details to add to the wing fold and there are some white metal blisters for the wing roots and undersides to finish the wing assembly work. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr John

A bit more done since the last update. The port wing parts have had the inserts for the wing fold glued in place, they need to have holes opened up for the white metal folding parts along with the addition of a few etch details. I have also removed the aileron so that I can re-attach it in the correct position for a folded wing. by John L, on Flickr On the starboard wing, I opened up the cannon and ammo bays, the etch parts have been folded and the initial test fit showed that some of the lower wing plastic would need thinning in those areas to achieve a flush fit with the upper surface. A small amount of scraping has achieved a satisfactory result, but I will fix those parts into the top wing before I glue the upper and lower sections together so that I can adjust the fit as needed. There are cannon breach parts along with ammo boxes or a couple of structural webs to fix in their respective bays once I am satisfied with the way things are set up. by John L, on Flickr More again soon. John

Yes Jean, all without a safety net and what is even more impressive is that I still have all of my fingers. John

I glued up the fuselage halves last night and this was left overnight to set up. by John L, on Flickr This morning it was time to have a look at plans for the wings and I decided that a wing folded with the opposite one extended would add some interest, this would also give me the option of opening up the cannon/ammo bays if the etch folding went OK. To that end I chose to fold the port wing, leaving the starboard side open and it was time to start the first chopping up of the bits, here is what I had at the end of my first session. by John L, on Flickr Now its time to go and bend some of the etch into shape before I start making the other cuts, that's all for now. John

Nice to hear from you Jean, we are both fine, and Black Beauty, having had her last treat of the day a couple of hours ago, is curled up and quiet for now. Hope that you and Karen are keeping well. We have had a few issues with my mums health this year but she seems to be doing OK now. Glad you like the recent completions, they were both made for the PRRRS Mega GB, the Benz 1886 Patent Motorwagen accompanied with the figures was a fun packed build to do and made a pleasant change from aircraft. The Sea Fury's fuselage has been glued up tonight, so now it's on with what I think will be the most challenging part of this build - cutting up the wings and replacing the plastic with folded etch and white metal parts. I have everything crossed for that. Take Care John

The cockpit painting and assembly is finished and the completed sub-assembly has now been fixed in place to one side of the fuselage, I still have to add a reflector glass to the gun sight but I will leave that until later in the build so that it doesn't get knocked off - I just hope that the headrest survives the next few stages, Time to close up the fuselage now though. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr As the build progresses towards wing assembly there are some big decisions to be taken regarding their configuration. Should I go with wings extended, weapons bays and flaps open, or wings folded with inner and middle flaps partially open (Flightpath's instructions suggest a scale 101.5mm), or should I go with one wing folded and the opposite side extended with that wings weapons and flaps open. Suggestions are welcome. Before I start hacking things up though, the undercarriage bay has been fitted and I also have drilled two 4.5mm holes in the lower wing half for the landing/signal lights as per the instructions. As can be seen, some marking up for removal of parts is also underway. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr John

Back in 2020 I started this 1/48 Hobby Craft boxing of the Hawker Sea Fury for the In the Navy GB. I had also planned to use a Flightpath Sea Fury set that I had bought several years before to add more details to the cockpit and other areas. Anyway time got away from me and the project stalled and has languished in a drawer since then. But having just finished this pair of builds for another Group Build, I find that I have a gap in the programme and have decided to see if I can get this one finished. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Here is a photo taken today of how I had left things back in 2020 along with a link to the previous work. by John L, on Flickr and the remaining details - only some of these will be used for this build. by John L, on Flickr Cheers for now. John