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Sword FJ-2 Fury


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Wing fold. Been wondering how to do the hinges for a while, and I knew I'd probably be unable get them exactly scale, but wanted to do the best I could. So the concept was to make a tool out of an old razor saw blade, cut it into three and then put them back-to-back so that I had a razor saw, followed by a spacer of the same thickness as the saw blade; and finally a similarly-thick piece to act as a depth guide. So by sandwiching four pieces of 40-thou plastic card together I could potentially make a few 'hinges' so that I'd have a lot spare if required. 

 

So you do the first cut anywhere across the end of the card stack and that one is the only one you need to worry about the depth of. Once that's done, you use that newly-cut slot as the guide slot, and every other saw cut will be the same spacing and the same depth as the first. Here's a schematic and a shot of the tool (which I cut and trimmed using an angle grinder because the razor saw material is *** hard!). The only other things to remember is that the guide and spacer have no teeth, or you will just keep sawing!

 

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And this is how the plastic looked after cutting and then trimmed for attaching:

 

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Then glued in position, flush with the upper wing surface:

 

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I will probably reduce the 'teeth' in length a bit, but that's the hard bit done. Time to offer up outer wings:

 

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And finally I said I'd post a 'before' and 'after' of the wing sections and here it is. Quite a lot of work to do, and whereas I mainly thinned the mating surfaces of the centre wings, I intend to sand the outer surfaces of the outer wings. Same effect of course:

 

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Edited by Sabrejet
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Very nice.  You are making me tired just watching all the work you have done.  I will have to build my stamina before I start mine.

 

Thanks for the WIP.


Arrin

Edited by holtaa
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Drop tanks. Generally they are OK apart from two things: the fins are a bit indistinct in shape and the drop tank itself is symmetrical in profile whereas it should sweep upwards at the rear, with the top profile almost a straight line. The latter is easy to correct with a gentle bending of both halves and then a fair bit of tape applied while the glue sets.

 

So these are the old an new fins:

 

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Then glued in place:

 

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And finally after a coat of Mr Surfacer. Not so obvious is the upswept rear of the modified kit droptank parts.

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And finally on with the windscreen: the copper wire is the canopy seal, which goes around the periphery of the cockpit and adds a bit of interest once it's stuck in place:

 

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And finally a smidge of filler to blend it all in. I hadn't realised how I'd managed to get Milliput pretty much everywhere! It's no longer plastered on the gun troughs and elsewhere, thankfully.

 

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Looking pretty darned good! The canopy seal is a great touch, one of those things I'd never think to add. And I'd like to echo everyone else's praise for the wingfold parts and the tutorial: I really enjoy it when talented folk on here share their tips and tricks with everyone. It's great to add things to one's toolbox and learn how to improve.

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Time to fill some gaps. Speed brakes. I started with some thin plastic card and traced the outline of the brake wells, then cut them out. By 'thin' I mean the thinnest plastic card you can get. Must measure it but I think it's 15 thou - sound about right?

 

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So after a quick fit check I wound them lengthwise around a steel rod, taped them tightly around the curvature and then poured boiling water on them (parental guidance required :)). This will give them a curvature which will be permanent, rather than trying to bend them into a shape that won't hold.

 

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So post-water boarding they look a bit tatty but that's fine for now. You can also manipulate them a bit so it's not the end of the world if the curvature is too much.

 

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I've made a number of speed brake panels over the years and I like to construct them much like the real thing, with two beams leading from the hinge points aft: this gives a sturdy base to attach the interior detail and also means you can easily pare down the thickness of the hinges.

 

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Starting to look a bit more like it, with the FJ-2-specific interior panel added:

 

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And then finally a look on the aircraft - seems about right. Another enjoyable evening spent on this kit, which I really do recommend. OK it's had a few shortcomings so far but it's a good base for whatever you want to do with it.

 

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Edited by Sabrejet
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1 hour ago, Courageous said:

Another good tutorial on speed brake manufacture SJ. 

As a matter of interest SJ, do you know in what position the slats, brakes and undercarriage doors were left in when the aircraft was parked up?

Slats closed or partially open, gear doors closed, speed brakes open. Bound to be permutations but that seems to be the common config.

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Landing gear strut attachments on the Sword kit consist of shallow dimples for the mains and a small hole for the nose: neither looked liked they'd survive long, so I've drilled each leg for a 1mm brass tube, and glued short lengths into drilled holes at each location.

 

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Then I thought I'd slot the big bits together and I can confirm it is definitely a nose-sitter, without even a hint of tail dragging. So nose weights stated previously look good.

 

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I've also finally settled on a colour scheme too - which means I have to make a couple of changes. More later...

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Hell SJ !

Very good job on your Fury !

I started a Combo FJ-3 Esci 1/48 and a F-86 E from Hase !

Will restart the project !

I really like NMF fury but most of the guys will call her a Sabre ! Soooo !

Whatever you did great ! congratulations !:yes:

Sincerely.

CC

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Damn, SJ- you be jammin'! Looks a lot more like a Fujimi or Hasegawa kit now than a Sword- the wing fold hinge assemblies are inspired; I would think the same technique could be used for F-18's, too! Outstanding workmanship across the board and I really like how you detailed the speedbrakes. You are a steely-eyed modeler, sir!

Mike

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So to those changes I mentioned. Initially I was going to do a 'mid' FJ-2 in the colour scheme of one of the Marines units. Then when I took the outer wings off I thought it might be different to do an 'early' version in dark gloss blue with the barrier guard, windshield wiper etc, so that's where I was going.

 

Except that I've now decided to go with a 'late' FJ-2 and that means no barrier guard under the fwd fuselage (now filled in after I'd carved it out and boxed it (see earlier post)) and no windshield wiper. It also means adding the wing leading-edge barrier engagement devices, which though featured on Sword's FJ-3, are on the extended-chord, cambered wing so no chance of a swap. However they are not too difficult to install from plastic card.. On the outer wings I also filled the drop tank pylon mounting hole (circled), which obviously shouldn't be outboard of the wing fold. Finally I made a brass tube pitot to replace the kit version, which is OK but not too robust:

 

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Unfortunately the 'late' FJ-2 I want to model also has the splitter rudder, so that had to be taken out (WHY did I glue that in so well??) and that's where I did raid the FJ-3 kit, though I now wish I'd modified the original rudder with it on the model. 

 

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Then I put the hinges on permanently and also filled the wing cavity:

 

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Then another trial fit before going to whatever the next bit is!

 

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Sorry it's taking so long - I'd probably have finished if I'd just gone OOB!

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