A Cuban Sea Fury.

[tank152]

Hi all,

This is my first wip I've done for a long time. Has a few on here know I've spent the last 10-15 years caring for both parents so time for modelling and posting pics up has been hard to come by. Unfortunately my Mum passed away suddenly and totally unexpected last August, something I'm still having trouble coming to terms with. Dad has not long passed away, after developing Pneumonia whilst in hospital, 6 months after Mum went. To say those 6 months have been very trying time is a under statement! I will say modelling has been a great help in getting me through the dark times, not forgetting looking in on here of coarse. Anyway enough of the waffle and onto the build!

As soon as Airfix announced they were releasing a Sea Fury I knew I was going to have to build one, originally I was going to build it as a Iraqi one as I remember the one based at Duxford in those colours being taken by the scruff of the neck and flung round the sky, however as one is already being built on here I didn't want to bore folk with yet another so I've decided to do mine as a Cuban one see here,

 

   http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235034521-cuban-sea-furies/

First job was to sort out some known problems with the kit whilst I waited for my replacement starboard fuselage half.

So cowl first up the engine cowl

Nice gap!

Ali hadn't released his resin cowl when i'd started my kit.

So I filled the gaps up on both sides of the cowl with CA/talc. Using what i'd found out after looking in on Ali's site I re scribed the joint line in the correct position using this scriber and tape.

Got to say that scriber is the best I've used to date.

Then using my verlinden scribing template I redid the latches on the cowl.

Just got to tidy things up a bit now.

Also on my kit the port wing fold was short shot so instead of waiting for Airfix to send out yet another replacement part I decided to fix the problem myself.

Used plasticard for the said fault.

The end result. 

    

 Will most likely require a bit more fettling after a coat of primer.

Can anyone explain to me why my pics are so big and how to shrink them down please.

Cheers,

Tim.                                                                                                                                                                   

[tank152]

I'll be using Eduard's interior p/e for this build which includes a nice p/e seat.

This was soldered up and a cushion made from green stuff.

Obviously far more detailed to the kit one!

Tim.

[Biggles87]

Looking good so far.

 

John

 

PS. My condolences on the loss of both your parents in such a short time.

Edited March 12, 2018 by Biggles87

[Diggers11]

Great work so far Tim.

 

Very strange about the position of the upper/lower cowl join line. Airfix seem to have used the cowl centre line instead which is odd as the image they posted of their LIDAR scan months ago in their workbench blog shows it clearly higher up, matching Ali's Resin replacement and the scale drawings produced by John Levy. Proof maybe that interpreting LIDAR scans is not any more fool proof than interpreting 3 view drawings. After all the LIDAR is just used as a guide.

 

That Japanese carving tape looks interesting. I have been using the Tamiya curved tape to guide my scribing with mixed results.

 

Mark.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Sorry to hear about your loss. 😢

[tank152]

15 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Looking good so far.

 

John

 

PS. My condolences on the loss of both your parents in such a short time.

Thank you John, much appreciate.

7 hours ago, Diggers11 said:

Great work so far Tim.

 

Very strange about the position of the upper/lower cowl join line. Airfix seem to have used the cowl centre line instead which is odd as the image they posted of their LIDAR scan months ago in their workbench blog shows it clearly higher up, matching Ali's Resin replacement and the scale drawings produced by John Levy. Proof maybe that interpreting LIDAR scans is not any more fool proof than interpreting 3 view drawings. After all the LIDAR is just used as a guide.

 

That Japanese carving tape looks interesting. I have been using the Tamiya curved tape to guide my scribing with mixed results.

 

Mark.

Cheers Mark, this is where I got the tape from; https://www.umpretail.com/collections/building/products/hiq-parts-scribing-guide-tape-bundle-3mm-6mm

as you can see from the pic you get a fair bit on a roll, its thinner that Dymo Tape as well so conforms to curved surfaces better. I got the scriber from the same place. Drawings/LIDAR are only as good as the person/s interpreting them/it

6 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Sorry to hear about your loss. 😢

Thanks Cffu!

 

 

I've got to say overall the fit of this kit very good as I found out when I'd taped things together for a dry fit.

 

 The engine unit fit is particularly impressive.

However,

Had a little gap here!

With a little sanding and test fitting the multi part wings all fit with no problems.

With all that taken care of I moved on to the cockpit, after removing all the raised details I fixed on all the non painted p/e out of the Eduard set, this includes a cockpit floor which conveniently covers up a ejector pin mark which is right in the middle of the cockpit tub floor!

I used various a couple of black shades from the Mr Paint range and one from Mr Color for the cockpit and fuselage insides, these where MrP Tyre Rubber, MrP WWI Night Camouflage and Lastly Mr Color Cowling Color, none of which are pure blacks. These where applied over Alclad Dark Aluminium and were chipped afterwards in the appropriate places. When all that was done I fixed on all the pre painted p/e.

A walkaround of the cockpit!

 

Earth shade Oil Paint was used on the floor.

 

 

 

 

Apologies if I've got the colour of the knobs the wrong colour!

 

Tim.

[Howard Moon]

Great to see you have put this up on here Kurt!

 

The pit looks superb in my opinion and well done with the cowl. Those Holly scribers are great aren’t they, although I still can’t use mine properly. Look forward to the next installment. Did Alec come back to you about the masks?

 

All the best

 

Howard

[tank152]

29 minutes ago, Howard Moon said:

Great to see you have put this up on here Kurt!

 

The pit looks superb in my opinion and well done with the cowl. Those Holly scribers are great aren’t they, although I still can’t use mine properly. Look forward to the next installment. Did Alec come back to you about the masks?

 

All the best

 

Howard

Cheers "H"

Yes they fit nicely in your hand and I find you can get a better feel for what you are scribing with them as opposed to other scribers. 

Still waiting for word on the masks.

 

[k5054nz]

There's some great work going on here, but the floor of the cockpit is brilliant! I love your chipping/weathering work in there!

 

Also, the more of these I see built the more I think I'll need to invest in a replacement cowl...

[Biggles87]

3 hours ago, k5054nz said:

There's some great work going on here, but the floor of the cockpit is brilliant! I love your chipping/weathering work in there!

 

 

That goes for me too.

 

John

[Kahunaminor]

Great to see you back on the workbench Tim. Sterling effort as per usual and my condolences on your losses. 

 

Regards,

[tank152]

8 hours ago, k5054nz said:

There's some great work going on here, but the floor of the cockpit is brilliant! I love your chipping/weathering work in there!

 

Also, the more of these I see built the more I think I'll need to invest in a replacement cowl...

Thanks for commenting. I forgot to say there was a layer of AK Chipping fluid between the aluminium and paint. Also the belts are the steel ones from Eduard and are so much better I find than their older ones.

I'll certainly be investing in one of Ali's resin cowls when I build another one.

5 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

 

That goes for me too.

 

John

Cheers John, thanks for looking in again.

4 hours ago, Kahunaminor said:

Great to see you back on the workbench Tim. Sterling effort as per usual and my condolences on your losses. 

 

Regards,

Hi Kent, thank you for your kind words. Its great to have some time again for some serious modelling.

 

[Diggers11]

16 hours ago, tank152 said:

Cheers Mark, this is where I got the tape from; https://www.umpretail.com/collections/building/products/hiq-parts-scribing-guide-tape-bundle-3mm-6mm

as you can see from the pic you get a fair bit on a roll, its thinner that Dymo Tape as well so conforms to curved surfaces better. I got the scriber from the same place. Drawings/LIDAR are only as good as the person/s interpreting them/it

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the heads up on the scribing tape. I never managed to come across Dymo Tape, so this sounds ideal.

 

That cockpit looks great. Most kits seem to have that gap between the rear edge of the wing and fuselage.

 

Mark.

[tank152]

Cheers Mark, the gap closed up a fair bit anyway when everything was glued. I'd rather have a gap there than along the upper wing fuselage joint anyway.

 

Tim.

[Martian]

That's a very convincing looking cockpit.

 

Martian

[tank152]

On 13/03/2018 at 21:04, Martian Hale said:

That's a very convincing looking cockpit.

 

Martian

Cheers Martian,

I appreciate your comment.

 

Not much exciting to report since my last instalment just a few pics of the kit built up.

 

 

I re-scribed the hatches on the upper nose that were lost through sanding also added the navigation lights.

 

Fixed on the last of the p/e

 

Just got to have a rummage for a gun sight and we'll soon be ready for a splash of paint.

 

Tim.

[tank152]

Thought it was about time I got some colour on!!

After spraying some primer on the wing folds etc to check if any need tidying up I then primed the wells and the upper deck behind the cockpit. The folds require a little fettling.

Then did the wheel wells.

 

Right or wrong i've chosen Hawker yellow, or closer to the point, my guess at the colour! For this I used MrP Zinc Chromate with a slug of Tamira Buff thrown in.

Then did the prop and spinner.

Followed by the area behind the seat as that will be covered by the canopy when I fully spray the kit.

For the main colour i'll be using RAF Dark Green, again MrP.

 

 

Paints used so far.

 

After a rummage in the spares box I found an appropriate gun site left over from a Brassin Spitfire cockpit which i'll be using.

Tim.

[Ilan]

Great wort until now!

[tank152]

Cheers IIan, are you still building much? 

Thanks for taking a look in.

Tim. 

[tank152]

Spent most of yesterday afternoon faffing around fitting the gunsight. After i'd fit it I couldn't get the windscreen on as it fouled it due to the rake. I ended up having to carefully prise the sight off and re fix it, i've had to compromise in it's position to get everything to fit. 

The sight is out of a Brassin Spitfire MkIX cockpit set and looks about right, to me anyway.

As you can see, it sits to low, if i'd have had it at the correct  it would have been directly over the stick and would have looked enver worse.

Everyone is now madked up so hopefully I'll get her coloured in today.

Tim. 

[Ilan]

12 hours ago, tank152 said:

Cheers IIan, are you still building much? 

Thanks for taking a look in.

Tim. 

Unfortunately not much as I would love to. Life is full of other things to do.

 

[Bedders]

This looks lovely. Great cockpit and really nice to se the airframe taking shape.

 

Justin

[Blitz23]

That cockpit looks fantastic, great job so far!

[amos brierley]

Hello,  am glad to be following this subject, Cuban colour conundrums aside, I`m wondering if you`ve given any thought to the arrestor hook?????????? I`m looking at the Xtradecal set with the overall Dk Green option....... Known is the fact that the Cuban A/C did not have the arrestor hook, but, was this just a case of removing the hook? Or, as I was looking at recently, it was a case of : a new longer rudder and the bulge at the rudder post being removed and the tail skin being re-instated as flush. I recently thought it was the latter as period photo`s don't really show the tail area, but, looking at the restored A/C seems to show the arrestor hook bump and cut away rudder. The preserved A/C in overall Dk Green under a sun shelter looks fantastic.  Thanx  

[janneman36]

Nice job you are doing on this Sea Fury, following this with interrest ..

 

 

Cheers, Jan