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Hawker Fury Airfix 1/48


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Hi Chaps,

I have been a bit spoiled for choice for this GB as the subject is so wide and there are so many potentials.

After building a Hunter (for the BM10 GB) and a Hurricane (Hawker GB) I've decided to continue the theme and do the Fury. I see JB is already making a Fury and there is an excellent build by Tomoshenko elsewhere on BM so this has inspired me to build a biplane.

I have refrained from starting before today but I confess to having had the parts out and starting to clean off the mass of flash and misaligned mould lines. Someone said in the Hawker GB that its best to get an old boxing of this kit rather than a new one. I agree. The wings also suffer from ejector pin marks which I have started to fill.

 

IMG_0692

 

Because the interior is so rubbish I plan to use the one from the Classic Airframes Hurricane in the stash and modify the Fury to suit. I've not decided on a scheme yet but will probably go for the RAF museum example.

 

Colin

 

 

Edited by Colin W
Credit Tomoshenko
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Nice choice Colin

8 hours ago, Colin W said:

I have refrained from starting before today but I confess to having had the parts out and starting to clean off the mass of flash and misaligned mould lines

That's fine - it doesn't count toward your 25% ;) .  I'll be interested to see how you fit the Hurricane 'pit into the Fury

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Well a quiet Easter Sunday spent working on this little project.

The interior frame for the Hurricane didn't quite fit so I built it anyway and spent a happy hour with the Dremmel grinding out the fuselage sides. The rear frame had to go but unfortunately the plastic is really soft so it took a chunk of the fuselage with it, hence the filler. The instrument panel looks to be from a Hart rather than a Fury so this has to go as well .

The quality of the kit seat (right) vs the Classic Airframes seat (Left) shows how rubbish the interior was.

 

IMG_0695

 

Colin

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Got one in the stash and have recently managed to get hold of the Model Alliance Wings of Silver Pt.1 decal sheet, which has Fury Mk.I's and Mk.II's so I'll be watching :thumbsup:

 

Like you, I plan on 'upgrading' the cockpit and have thought about showing the engine but think that may be a step to far...

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I think the kit engine is a none starter, if you can excuse the pun.

A resin engine and severe panel thinning is ok but you would loose the graceful lines of the nose so why bother? 

I had a look at the after market decals but the schemes are pretty much all the same so I plan on printing my own. 

Regards Colin 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Chaps.

A bit of a break there for me as I have been traveling with work for 2 weeks. I did manage a bit more before I went away.

The cockpit interior structure is assembled from the CA Hurricane and I made the new instrument panel and printed several copies of the instruments as decals ready to be applied.

The kit instrument panel is top left and the new panel is to its right. Clearly Airfix were looking at a Hart/demon when they deigned the interior. The Fury's panel has the cut out either side for the machine guns. The fuselage sides look a bit rough yet so will benefit from another tidy up.

 

IMG_0698

 

Colin

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Well I managed to paint up the cockpit interior. The main structure here is the Classic Airframe Hurricane interior with additional details based on a cutaway found on the net. Instrument panel is plasticard and the dials etc home made as a decal and stuck to the panel. Machine gun butts either side of the panel are glued to the fuselage sides. The seat is dressed with a set of seat belts found in the the parts bin.

 

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I spent ages cleaning off the flash but the silver paint shows there's heaps left. Most of this cant be seen so time to move on...

 

Colin

 

 

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Well I've gone a long way this weekend but not taken many pictures. Once the cockpit was in I joined the fuselage and popped the lower wing on then the carbane struts and the top of the nose. I dremmelled out the moulded machine guns but could have left them as one of the better parts of the kit. I needed quite a bit of bog on the joins and ejector pin marks so this was done yesterday and sanded up today. I also sanded back the fabric effect on the wings and fuselage as it was well over done. Ive added a bit of card to the top of the tail as there is a step under the fin. The small holes for the rigging are also drilled as are the scoops either side of the nose. Next step is the undercarriage and then I'll have to pick a scheme. I'm toying with a Munich Crisis Green and Brown over black and white just to be different?

Colin

 

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IMG_0999

 

 

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Thanks for the comments, always welcome.

Progress today sees the undercarriage on and the card used to build up the tail. Probably the best solution would have been to assemble the fin and tail plane first then add to the fuselage. I missed this as the flash was so thick I didn't realise there was a hole through the tail plane!

I modified the kit parts for the Undercarriage braces as per the picture below. On top is the toy like kit part. The one below is modified to fit to the axle.

 

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As above but with fin and tail skid.

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Front view. You can spot a vintage Airfix kit as its got more Bog on it than the last 4 models added together. I see the top cowl doesn't fit either side and lots of flash still evident!

IMG_1003

 

Colin

 

 

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Hi

I have a plan so cunning you can pin a tail on it and call it a weasel. (Other animals available). The plan is to flatten out some brass tube and insert into the ports. This looked easier than sorting out the kit parts. I put a liner inside the engine bay to blank off the exhaust holes and have something to glue to.

Let's see how it works. 

Colin 

 

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Well after 2 coats of white and 6 coats of yellow we are starting to look like the final scheme .

 

IMG_1005

 

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I bought this very snazzy professional looking rigging line at a model shop in Singapore. Its 0.083mm diameter. I only usually work to the nearest 5mm so suspect this will be a challenge.

 

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Its a bit thin!

And very stretchy!

 

Depending how it goes there might be another Fury post or a Puma one next!

 

Colin

Edited by Colin W
Picture restoration
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Link to first picture now repaired.

 

I had a go at rigging with the elastic thread but not a success. It is too soft to feed into the locating holes, spins itself together very quickly and is almost impossible to see. I decided to go back to good old fishing hook tie. The tail is now done and most of the main plane wires are in so I'll pop the top on tonight.

 

 

IMG_1014

 

Colin

 

 

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Well it took more than a night but the top is now on.

 

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I also started to do the exhaust pipes. The plan was to flatten some brass 1 mm tube but it was too tough to flatten. I decided to drill out some 1mm plastic rod using the jig below.

 

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This worked reasonably well so I tried again with the brass tube, drilling out the center and then flattening the thinner walls. Here is the first side done using the plastic.

 

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And the other side using the brass.

 

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How Tomo did this in 1/72 beats me! The brass ones are better but the plastic are more even in shape. I'll keep tidying them up then finish the rigging.

 

Colin

 

 

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To ensure consistent brass exhaust, maybe you can use a metal rod with its diamater the same as the smaller dimension of the final elliosoid shape? Then stick it into the brass tube and squeeze. Should help to first anneal the brass and use the hardest metal rod you have (a drill bit maybe) so you don’t end up flattening the rod.

Edited by Torbjorn
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Thanks Softscience.

The plastic is 1mm diameter rod and the brass is 1mm tube, both drilled out with a 0.7mm drill bit. I have now replaced the 2 front brass ones with more plastic.

 

The holes in the upper wing have been filled and smoothed so a quick coat of Mr Surfacer to give an even base for more yellow.

 

IMG_1027

 

Decals now printed, rigging painted metallic grey and the radiator to fit.

 

Colin

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While painting up the wings again I had a go at the radiator. I tried a similar method to Tomoshenko but used a thick Al foil cut into strips on one end and a solid sheet glued inside the vent on the other. Cuts were made using a curved scalpel blade on a hard plastic acrylic tile.

Front view before fitting

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In place in the duct

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I'll tidy it up a bit once its in place.

 

Colin 

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Well Im happy with the radiator so I stuck it on and here we are. Along with the decals for the serials printed in the usual manner. I had a few issues with the font as its not the RAF font. The Fury at Hendon uses the RAF font but period pictures seem to be different so I used Agency FB which looks closest.

 

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I also added the door and a few other bits including the tail plane actuating lines

IMG_1029

 

Stickers on over the weekend!

Colin

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