Seafury help

[SuKhoi_Fitter]

Does anyone still make a 1/72 Seafury? Only I'm struggling to find any kits of the fury. I think PM stopped producing their kit🤔? Any help in trying to find a Fury would be much appreciated 

[JohnT]

Trumpeter and Airfix?  There are models available on E-bay.  Other sites may also offer kits as they say ! 

 

PS also spotted Frog second hand ones and Special Hobby too

 

No idea which is the best to choose from but help will be along in a minute.  I can say I bought the Frog one as a kid so very old moulding!  I'd guess Airfix or Trumpeter and suspect Airfix is the best bet of the two given poor old Trumpy usually gets a bashing for the FAA aircraft shapes.

 

PS  spotted a PM one cheapish on Evil bay too

[Truro Model Builder]

The Airfix kit was a reboxing of the PM kit, which was very basic and needed some refinement but could be made into a reasonable model. Reminded me of Matchbox kits.

[SuKhoi_Fitter]

Thanks guys!!!! Much appreciated!😆

[Whofan]

Hannants are showing a 1/72 sea fury by trumpeter for £21.99.

 

In my experience, airfix and frog 1/72 sea fury kits are fairly common at traders like Collectakit, kits for cash, etc. at shows. For a lot less than £21!

[SuKhoi_Fitter]

12 minutes ago, Whofan said:

Hannants are showing a 1/72 sea fury by trumpeter for £21.99.

 

In my experience, airfix and frog 1/72 sea fury kits are fairly common at traders like Collectakit, kits for cash, etc. at shows. For a lot less than £21!

I was going to say, I often see seafury kits at duxfords kit stalls on show days

[Giorgio N]

IMHO no 1/72 Sea Fury kit is really good and all have inaccuracies of some kind, apart maybe from one.... Based on this, my choice would probably be the Trumpeter kit that at least is a modern and well moulded kit, although fit can be challenging. Unfortunately it is also the most expensive and in my part of the world I can get the recent and very good 1/48 Airfix kit for the same price and even a couple € less..

The Special Hobby kit would be my second choice but it's an older short run kit, with all the issues that this involves in terms of fit and mould finesse- The kit features a number of resin details, IMHO none really special. This is another kit that is hard to find for cheap and I believe it's OOP.. Easier to find are usually the two-seat variants, IIRC they also include the single seater fuselage but I have to check.

The PM/Pioneer 2/Airfix kit can still be found easily enough, PM must have made milions of these. It's cheap and it shows. If you just want a 1/72 Sea Fury, search around and you'll sure find one. Will not break the bank but it will take a lot of work to bring this kit up to the level of a modern kit.

The Frog kit falls in the same cathegory, from certain points of view may even be better than the PM kit as the ones I saw were better moulded. Don't know if it's been reissued by any of the various Eastern European brands apart from NOVO, this could make this kit more easily available today.

Then there's the possibly only accurate kit of the type in this scale, the old High Planes kit. This is a very old style short run kit for very dedicated modellers, it's said to be accurate but I've not been able to see one in person. Having other Hi Planes kits of the era in the stash I'm pretty sure it would require careful preparation of all parts before attempting assembly, something that people may or not like. In any case this is also a very difficult kit to find today so I mention more for completeness sake than else.

 

[Giorgio N]

Forgot to mention one kit: the fantastic Aki kit! An all resin kit made in Japan, very well done and very expensive. That one was the very best 1/72 kit of the Sea Fury but it's impossible to find today

[bentwaters81tfw]

I have a FROG issue going spare if you get desperate.

[SuKhoi_Fitter]

Again guys thanks!! I'll dig around for that pm kit as it seems one of the most recommended. 

8 minutes ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

I have a FROG issue going spare if you get desperate.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind 

[Rob G]

An Australia-based chap on ebay has the PM listed, but postage may be a killer. Apart from that, try KingKit- I've dealt with them a number of times and haven't had any complaints, and they do keep a fairly wide variety.

[SuKhoi_Fitter]

48 minutes ago, Rob G said:

An Australia-based chap on ebay has the PM listed, but postage may be a killer. Apart from that, try KingKit- I've dealt with them a number of times and haven't had any complaints, and they do keep a fairly wide variety.

Will do thanks again 

[fatalbert]

King kit has loads of Sea Furies at the moment,Frog,PM ,Special Hobby.

[Giorgio N]

The PM kit may have been the most recommended but it's also the crudest. Its best point is the propeller that is better than all others...better, not good.

Checked King Kit, £9 for a PM Sea Fury ? At that price I'd spend the extra 5 quid and get the Special Hobby kit from the same website, although the SH canopy is something I don't really like

[rossm]

I have an Airfix (PM) kit spare but without decals. Pretty sure I have some FROG decals I could put with it. PM me if interested.

 

Also a Novo one in my "For Sale" thread: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235045308-172-grebe-gamecock-woodcock-gauntlet-etc-b-57g/

 

[SuKhoi_Fitter]

On 29/10/2018 at 22:59, fatalbert said:

King kit has loads of Sea Furies at the moment,Frog,PM ,Special Hobby.

 

23 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

The PM kit may have been the most recommended but it's also the crudest. Its best point is the propeller that is better than all others...better, not good.

Checked King Kit, £9 for a PM Sea Fury ? At that price I'd spend the extra 5 quid and get the Special Hobby kit from the same website, although the SH canopy is something I don't really like

I've just seen king kit, I'll probably get the PM or SH kit, although the resin parts put me off SH 

[Whofan]

51 minutes ago, SuKhoi_Fitter said:

 

I've just seen king kit, I'll probably get the PM or SH kit, although the resin parts put me off SH 

If it helps, I've got examples of both the Frog and Airfix sea furies, both of which look like a sea fury, which isn't to say they are completely accurate. The Frog one I think is slightly better moulded, but with a little bit of work as others have suggested- and possibly a little a/m - they build up decently. 

 

[SuKhoi_Fitter]

1 hour ago, Whofan said:

If it helps, I've got examples of both the Frog and Airfix sea furies, both of which look like a sea fury, which isn't to say they are completely accurate. The Frog one I think is slightly better moulded, but with a little bit of work as others have suggested- and possibly a little a/m - they build up decently. 

 

One reason I'd get the frog kit is because I believe it has folding wing options, and the PM, SH kits don't. I know my dad used to have a frog fury as a kid and said it was okay to built, so I'm torn between that and the PM Kit. And as long as it looks like a fury I don't mind, I just need a easy to build fury to sit on the shelf 😜

[fatalbert]

Go frog,it has a better shape to my eyes.

[Whofan]

6 hours ago, SuKhoi_Fitter said:

One reason I'd get the frog kit is because I believe it has folding wing options, and the PM, SH kits don't. I know my dad used to have a frog fury as a kid and said it was okay to built, so I'm torn between that and the PM Kit. And as long as it looks like a fury I don't mind, I just need a easy to build fury to sit on the shelf 😜

You're right about the folding wing option.

[SuKhoi_Fitter]

3 minutes ago, Whofan said:

You're right about the folding wing option.

Ahhhh now I'm torn.... oh what the hell I'll get both!!? Although I believe frogs pilots leave much to be desired.

 

 

[Whofan]

1 hour ago, SuKhoi_Fitter said:

Ahhhh now I'm torn.... oh what the hell I'll get both!!? Although I believe frogs pilots leave much to be desired.

 

 

I don't bother with pilots, to be honest.

[SuKhoi_Fitter]

58 minutes ago, Whofan said:

I don't bother with pilots, to be honest.

I do, it depends on what mood I'm in 😂 But more than likely I'll go for frog 

[Captain Condor]

On 10/29/2018 at 7:03 PM, Giorgio N said:

Forgot to mention one kit: the fantastic Aki kit! An all resin kit made in Japan, very well done and very expensive. That one was the very best 1/72 kit of the Sea Fury but it's impossible to find today

 

The Aki kit may still be available direct from Aki. I got one last year by emailing them but it is still horrendously expensive, especially when you get stung for duties and parcelforce's exorbitant charges.

[Denford]

There was a thread on this, which I now can't find, awhile back.  As I recall, Trumpeter was rated as the best, but its faults were:

- Poor propeller: Pavla now offer a replacement.  They also have a cockpit upgrade.

- The model 'sat' too high due to the overlong undercarriage legs.  In fact there is no 'true' position as it will depend on how loaded the aircraft was, so you might be OK if your model has just left the deck!  PM was, I think, judged the best, at least for length with Frog a little short (or for a heavily loaded machine).  I'd go for Frog which can often be picked up quite cheaply at shows: an amazing kit considering it was released over 50 years ago!

- Trumpeter has oversized ferry tanks: replace from Frog or even a Tempest kit - they ought to be the same.  This might go for the u/c legs too!

- The exposed faces when the wing is folded were said to bear no relation to reality.  Airwaves offer a Brass Etch, though actually for Frog.

Now if Airfix would scale down their Sea Fury.....