Airfix Sea Fury or Trumpeter Sea Fury

[Carlosee1974]

Arrggggggghhhhhhhhh.

 

I’ve been looking forward to building this for ages....but I’m noticing that some bits don’t fit..I’m struggling with the nose sections, which ever way I glue is there is a gap.

 

im thinking of buying the trumpeter version..has anyone else had this issue?

 

 

 

 

[Rob G]

If you want a Sea Fury, stick with Airfix.

 

If you want something that one day aspires to be a Sea Fury, waste your money (and time) on Trumpeter's caricature.

 

If you really can't get the Airfix cowling to fit (I believe that it is quite tricky), this may help

 

https://aerocraftmodels.bigcartel.com/product/sea-fury-cowling-2

[Linus]

10 hours ago, Carlosee1974 said:

Arrggggggghhhhhhhhh.

 

I’ve been looking forward to building this for ages....but I’m noticing that some bits don’t fit..I’m struggling with the nose sections, which ever way I glue is there is a gap.

 

im thinking of buying the trumpeter version..has anyone else had this issue?

 

 

 

 

I agree with Rob G, otherwise you can see Barracuda Model that has a new nose for the Airfix kit, but not Trumpeter!

[Rob G]

I should add that I have two of Ali's cowlings, and they're excellent quality (as are his add-ons for Airfix's new F-4 Phantom).

 

Now to find the time to actually use them...

[Baldy]

I would definitely stick with Airfix - it gives a much better result than the Trumpeter kit. I abandoned my Trumpeter effort because it was too much work to make it look convincing.

 

I found that the cowlings were a little tricky but I was able to get them together OK and rescribed the details for latches etc. There are also a couple of resin replacements available now to help.

 

I found the most annoying parts of the Airfix kit were the inconsistent representation of panel lines and rivets. There are a bunch of raised rivets on the tail section for some reason - looking at pictures, there are no more raised rivets here than anywhere else on the airframe. I just sanded them off. Also the raised panels on the top of the nose section are a figment - I sanded them off and rescribed.

 

Overall I thought the Airfix kit was pretty good so stick at it - and good luck

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

 

 

[Carlosee1974]

Guys thanks for this, I was watching a trumpeter 1/48 Sea Fury but I’ll let it go. 

 

I bought two Airfix SFs, one to practice with and the other to spend some time and effort on. Quick question, has anyone used the photo etched sets from Eduard on the Airfix Sea Fury?

[Rob G]

One more thing (I'm old and forgetful...) Airfix neglected to put a gunsight into their kit, Aerocraft Models can sell you a very nice one, find it at the same site as the cowlings.

[Tony C]

Trumpeter Sea Fury wings and Hobbycraft fuselage is another option (hope I've got that the right way round?), seem to remember that Brett Green built a 'Frankenfury' from the two kits!

[Rob G]

That way works too, but I'm not a fan of encouraging poor workmanship by buying badly researched models. Trumpeter CAN do superb work, their kits fit together very well, sadly so much of their output is let down by sloppy execution.

 

Of course Airfix need to lift their game as well, witness the short shot issues, but at least they get the shapes right!

[Plasto]

I’m building the Airfix Sea Fury ATM.  It’s ok and things are progressing. I’m not looking forward to the cowl which seems to be a known issue. While a correction ‘set’ will sort that out and there are a few out there. Arguably given the issue with the cowl is poor execution of the tooling or poor design. It’s hard to laud one Manufacturer for accuracy with poor fit while disparaging another for accuracy with good fit. 

 

Neither is perfect.

 

Some folk will want to build stuff that is as close as it possible with and injection plastic kit set to an accurate shape. Some want to build a kit that has good fit.

 

Some will want to have a good build experience OOB some won’t mind adding to the experience and cost with correction sets and other AM.

 

Accuracy ( which can mean different thing to different people) may not be the primary driver for some modellers but it is for others. 

 

As long as you enjoy the process it’s really all good.

 

Personally I wish the Airfix cowl parts were better. As they spoil an otherwise nice kit.

[NAVY870]

The Trumpeter kit looks like a Sea Fury if you have a few adult beverages, place the kit at the far end of a railway station platform

and squint at it on a dark moonless night.

The Airfix kit has a few annoying omissions (gun sight and compass pedestal) but overall its very nice and had impeccable research in its

design.

I would recommend Ali's cowling (which again had some dam fine research) and if you feel like splurging some coin the

Barracuda studio's upgrades are cracking stuff (no doubt assisted by their sterling research)

[Baldy]

16 hours ago, Carlosee1974 said:

Guys thanks for this, I was watching a trumpeter 1/48 Sea Fury but I’ll let it go. 

 

I bought two Airfix SFs, one to practice with and the other to spend some time and effort on. Quick question, has anyone used the photo etched sets from Eduard on the Airfix Sea Fury?

I used the Zoom set on mine - mainly because I got one really cheap. It does add some nice detail but not much is really visible. I refuse to fall for the latest Eduard trick to make the seatbelts separate so you have to buy yet another product. I made my own.

[Truro Model Builder]

A friend of mine is just completing an Airfix Sea Fury, excellently painted in Royal Australian Navy blue. He tells me it fitted perfectly and didn't have any problems with the cowling.

[Daedalus72]

I recently built the Airfix Sea Fury and it was generally good but let down by the poor moulding in places and the annoying fit of the cowling, which I replaced with the Aerocraft item, which is a worthwhile buy.

If you wanted to go the whole hog, Barracuda do a resin cockpit,wheel bay,mainwheels engine cowling and brass u/c legs.

That said,the kit itself looks good when built and is way ahead of the Hobbycraft item (not built the Trumpeter)