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Showing results for tags 'Fury II'.
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With the Supermarine 224 finished and the Dewotine D510 at the painting stage, I think I might have time for least another entry. So I have started an Amodel Hawker Fury that I have in the stash. This is a 'short run' kit that offers the wheel spats for the Mk II and nice surface detail, but is probably a harder build than the Matchbox kit I first built in the summer of 1973 after my First Year Uni exams. The Mark II Fury was an upgrade to the original Fury bought by the RAF. It had a more powerful Kestrel engine, wheel spats and increased fuel tankage which gave it a top speed of 223 mph compared to 205 mph of the original Fury. 100 were built and production started in late 1936 and the type entered service in early 1937. It was only ever seen as a stopgap and remained with a handful of squadrons for a short period until replaced something a bit more potent. Front line units equipped with the Fury II were 25, 41, 73 and 87 Squadrons, some as interim equipment for a few months with 41 having them longest from between October 1937 and January1939 when they were replaced by Spitfires. The Amodel kit is moulded in fairly hard pale grey plastic. Most parts display noticeable mould lines but no flash and some parts like the struts are quite delicate and will require care to remove them. Surface detail is restrained with the fabric areas being muted with none of the sagging associated with some kits of fabric covered aircraft, One small clear part is provided for the windscreen and the decal sheet provides markings for two Mk I's and a Mk II. The decals are matt and some colours look a bit dubious. The only areas of shrinkage on my sample was on the spatted wheels that I wanted to use and the prop, so out has come some filler. As always seems to be the case work started on the fuselage and cockpit. Some wall detail is provided on the fuselage halves and this was added to with a few scratch-built bits like a trim wheel and map case. There is a seat, rudder pedals and a control column that is added to a floor that never existed on real thing, but some effort has been made add details of the fuselage structure on it. The instrument panel is the correct shape and the bodies of the two Vickers machine guns are there as separate parts, but the location pins for them would leave them much too far forward. Paintwork was taken from the Mushroom Model Publication on the Fury and Nimrod and is largely aluminium with the tubular fuselage frames in black. The floor was finished to march doped fabric of the bottom of the fuselage. The lower wings area butt fit and so to make the join stronger and before too much work was done on the fuselage, I drilled a couple of holes and inserted some plastic rod that fit into holes drilled in the wings. Mrs T is out at the surgery until 8.00pm giving coronavirus jabs and so the fuselage will go together. No location pins, but everything lines up nicely by the look of it