1:72 Aki Products Hawker Sea Fury FB.11

[Rabbit Leader]

8 minutes ago, NAVY870 said:

Its a later service mod after a second oleo section was added to the main gear to eat up the higher landing forces

Thanks Steve,

So was this mod not incorporated on RAN Sea Furies?

Do the Airfix kits' oleo's need to be modified as all?

 

Apologies for the diversion away from Bill's excellent build, however this has now got me scratch'n my head a bit?

 

Cheers.. Dave

[NAVY870]

4 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Thanks Steve,

So was this mod not incorporated on RAN Sea Furies?

Do the Airfix kits' oleo's need to be modified as all?

 

Apologies for the diversion away from Bill's excellent build, however this has now got me scratch'n my head a bit?

 

Cheers.. Dave

Ours were never modded, probably because ours never flew at the higher AUW's the Pommie ones did.

The Airfix kit just needs the bulges shaved off, the legs are fine.

[Rabbit Leader]

Always appreciate the quick feedback Steve @NAVY870.

Many thanks.. Dave 

[Navy Bird]

Thanks everyone! My quick tests with decal solvent turned out OK, so I think we're quite close to adding the transfers. First, though, I need to add the walkways. I know that the following photo is of a restored warbird, but does this give me the general size and shape of the walkways? @NAVY870

 

 

Also, I think this also gives me a good idea of where the upper wing roundels go. The only period photos I have of WH589 that show the upper wing roundels are these (and you've got to look closely):

 

Look just above the rudder of 114:

 

And just above the cowling near the exhausts on the aircraft in the rear:

 

The second photo also shows the large NAVY under the starboard wing. Xtradecal give you no plan views of WH589, and it's the only one of the schemes on that sheet to not do so. They also have one of the decal designations wrong, and would have you put the kangaroo facing aft on the port side (although the drawing is correct). Nit-picking I know, but come on, it's not that hard to check these things.

 

Another dumb question from the Sea Fury challenged Yank - I've added the guns, even though they might not have been in this display aircraft. Even so, I'd like to have the guns visible on the finished model just to add some interest. Are the panels that cover the gun bays hinged? Perhaps on the rear edge? If so, I would most likely pose them open that way. If not, I'll have to pile them up in some armourer's toolbox.

 

Thanks mates, sooner or later we'll get this baby finished.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Rabbit Leader]

Strange about the Xtradecal 1:72 decal placement guide as WH589’s upper and lower views are shown on their 1/48 sheet. I’d still rather trust a photograph, however I’ve included a photo below to help show what Xtradecal say. There’s also the black walkway strips which appear to be quite close to the photograph above. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

Edit - there’s also this link to the Ronin Graphics set of RAN Sea Fury decals - http://www.hyperscale.com/2018/reviews/decals/roninrds152reviewrh_1.htm

 

 

[Navy Bird]

1 hour ago, Rabbit Leader said:

I’d still rather trust a photograph, however I’ve included a photo below to help show what Xtradecal say.

 

Thanks so much - and I agree completely, trust a photograph. For example, if you look at the last photo I included in post #129, and compare to the Xtradecal 1:48 instruction sheet, you'll see that they have the large "NAVY" on the wrong side of the bottom of the wing. It should be under the starboard wing, and they have it under the port wing.  

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. I will use the size and shape of the wing walkways as Xtradecal shows it, rather than on the restored warbird, as it matches other drawings I've found just now, such as the instructions for the new Airfix kit, other decal sheets, etc. Haven't found anything that looks like the warbird. Well, other than the warbird.

[CJP]

This is another photo found on the internet of WH589 at Bankstown in shabby state but I think is probably how she arrived from Nowra on disposal - you can just make out the walkways & upper wing roundels which look to be larger (36"?) than the fuselage ones (30") but it may be the angle - you can just make out the top of the upper wing  roundel peaking over the canopy in my post 77

 

 

CJP

Edited March 13, 2019 by CJP
text

[Rabbit Leader]

2 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

..... you'll see that they have the large "NAVY" on the wrong side of the bottom of the wing. It should be under the starboard wing, and they have it under the port wing.  

Ha!! I didnt even notice that Bill!

What's that saying about 'more eyes'? - thanks for pointing this out.

 

1 hour ago, CJP said:

.... which look to be larger (36"?) than the fuselage ones (30") but it may be the angle

That's another interesting suggestion. The 1/48 Xtradecal sheet includes six roundels all of which are of similar size (possibly 30 inches). These are just the blue / white circles with options for the (FAA) red dot or (RAN) Kangaroo, as applicable. Both of the Airfix 1/48 Sea Fury decal sheets include larger upper wing roundels, so you maybe onto something here CJP.

 

Cheers and I'm sure all his great Sea Fury stuff is helpful to Bill and many others... Dave

[Wlad]

I discovered this build much too late. Wonderful kit and fantastic work @Navy Bird, with interesting discoveries regarding the blue RAN scheme.

 

I became a Sea Fury fanatic after seeing one at an airshow in 1979. Could not get my hands on any kit until the Hobbycraft 1/48 one came about (1988 or so). For those who would like to model a RCN Sea Fury, they did not have the landing gear modification which necessitated the bulge on the gear door, and a good approximation of the greys are Tamiya XF-24 Dark Grey over XF-19 Sky Grey. Interestingly enough the RCN colour is called Sky, even though it's grey, and this caused some confusion at Hawker.

 

Cheers,

Wlad

Edited March 14, 2019 by Wlad
Clarification

[NAVY870]

9 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

Thanks everyone! My quick tests with decal solvent turned out OK, so I think we're quite close to adding the transfers. First, though, I need to add the walkways. I know that the following photo is of a restored warbird, but does this give me the general size and shape of the walkways? @NAVY870

 

 

Also, I think this also gives me a good idea of where the upper wing roundels go. The only period photos I have of WH589 that show the upper wing roundels are these (and you've got to look closely):

 

Look just above the rudder of 114:

 

And just above the cowling near the exhausts on the aircraft in the rear:

 

The second photo also shows the large NAVY under the starboard wing. Xtradecal give you no plan views of WH589, and it's the only one of the schemes on that sheet to not do so. They also have one of the decal designations wrong, and would have you put the kangaroo facing aft on the port side (although the drawing is correct). Nit-picking I know, but come on, it's not that hard to check these things.

 

Another dumb question from the Sea Fury challenged Yank - I've added the guns, even though they might not have been in this display aircraft. Even so, I'd like to have the guns visible on the finished model just to add some interest. Are the panels that cover the gun bays hinged? Perhaps on the rear edge? If so, I would most likely pose them open that way. If not, I'll have to pile them up in some armourer's toolbox.

 

Thanks mates, sooner or later we'll get this baby finished.

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

 

 

Put the ammo covers on the toolbox

[RidgeRunner]

On 12 March 2019 at 7:47 PM, Navy Bird said:

 

Oops, I picked the Aussie one. Sorry - how about a build a Dutch Buffalo sometime?

 

 

The sample on the left was Mr. Paint, that on the right was Hataka.

 

**

I opted for Mr. Paint, this being the first time I've ever used the stuff on a model. Being an acrylic lacquer, I figured it would have some "bite", but I first cleaned the fuselage with isopropyl alcohol, and then did a 2,000 grit sanding followed by another wipe down with the alcohol. The Aki resin is exceptionally smooth, and I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't have any paint lifting later on when some masking was necessary.

 

As I mentioned before, Mr. Paint's airbrush-ready lacquer has about the same viscosity as water. I suspect most modellers don't dilute their paint this much, but I've always been one who thinks that thinner is your friend. You can't open up your airbrush and just blast away. Some patience and respect for the viscosity is essential. I found it took about 6-8 coats for solid, opaque coverage with nice colour depth. That sounds like a lot, but these were applied in rapid succession due to the paint drying very quickly. No need to wait between coats - by the time you get back to where you started, the paint is sufficiently dry for the next coat.

 

Some advice, based on my statistical sample of one. Due to the viscosity, I sprayed at 15 psi (1 bar) and held the airbrush about 2 inches away from the surface. This was for the broad application of the colour. I used my workhorse Paasche H single action, external mix, siphon feed, old technology, had already been superseded by newer models when Nero was Caesar, airbrush with a 0.6mm needle. Yikes! However, by closing the air-cap down on the needle so only 4-5 molecules of paint were released per second, I could hold the brush right up close to the surface and make some incredibly fine lines without the airbrush clogging or the paint pooling, "spider-webbing," or running on the model. I was quite impressed with this, so I tried spraying some tests with my other two airbrushes - a Paasche Talon and Harder & Steenbeck Infinity. I was even more impressed with these. It was fun holding the airbrush in position and watching the colour appear like magic. The pigment must be incredibly fine.

 

Now for the other side of the coin. Again due to the viscosity, even after 6-8 coats the paint layer on the model has negligible thickness. This is great news for those who like to do panel line washes, and find that other paints fill in the lines so that the wash won't hold. I don't think you'll have that problem with this paint. But this also means that surface preparation is just as important as it is with metallic finishes like Alclad or Mr. Metal Color. Every little scratch, scuff, and dust particle will show up when the paint is dry. It won't hide anything.

 

So much for that. After the Oxford Blue was applied, I used Alclad for the metal panel behind the exhausts, and Tamiya Aluminum for the wheel hubs (the inboard half of each main wheel is not yet on). Some pix:

 

 

 

And I posed the flaps down for a couple of shots (remember, these are hinged - unlike your modeller who is quite unhinged):

 

 

 

One question that I forgot to ask involves the lips that the engine cowling panels rest against - should these be Hawker yellow primer as I've done, or should they be Oxford Blue?

 

I discovered after painting that the kit includes two tail wheels, and I of course used the wrong one. Easy to switch, and the one that is now in place matches all of my photos. I wonder what the other one is for? Did the Sea Fury have two different tail wheel designs?

 

The paint is probably glossy enough for decals without having to add a gloss clear coat. I will do some tests first to make sure that decal solvents play nicely with Mr. Paint. Tally ho!   

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. I suspect these two display aircraft had their guns removed, especially if they were an aerobatic team. Too late about that now!

Beautiful, skillful work mate

 

Martin

[Navy Bird]

18 hours ago, CJP said:

...upper wing roundels which look to be larger (36"?) than the fuselage ones (30")...

 

The roundels on the Xtradecal sheet scale up to 30.5" for the fuselage and 35.5" for the wings. Probably close enough, I guess, assuming that 30" and 36" are what they should be. But they have some furry red critter inside them...  

 

12 hours ago, NAVY870 said:

Put the ammo covers on the toolbox

 

Arghh, now I need to find a 1:72 scale kit of a toolbox.       Thanks!

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. Of course, after the recent wing walkway discussion, I discovered that the Aki decal sheet includes them. So I figured, why not give them a try? They look rather thick, and are incredibly shiny, but they released right away, responded to solvent, and laid down nicely. And the white areas of the Xtradecal transfers are nicely opaque, too. Sweet.

[Brandy]

Lovely work!

To others....please, PLEASE don't quote a whole post unless you're specifically replying to a part of it, and even then edit it! If you're reading these posts on your phone it's a pain in the rear to have to constantly scroll through the same post over and over for just two lines at the end!

 

Rant over, thanks!

 

Ian

[Rabbit Leader]

Just found these two decal profiles Bill. The white numerals under the port wing are interesting, I’ve not come across these before on either the real aircraft or warbird schemes. @NAVY870, you found those STI drawings yet?? 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Hi Bill

Wow, she's a real beauty, looking absolutely stunning in the beautiful blue scheme. 

Great work fella.

All the best

Chris

[Hook]

On 3/12/2019 at 8:47 PM, Navy Bird said:

Oops, I picked the Aussie one. Sorry - how about a build a Dutch Buffalo sometime?

 

Well.... I'll let you off this time.   

 

Nice progress!

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[NAVY870]

4 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

@NAVY870, you found those STI drawings yet?? 

Nope but I'm pretty sure they wont be at "RNAS Nowarra"

[Navy Bird]

On 16/03/2019 at 01:30, Rabbit Leader said:

The white numerals under the port wing are interesting, I’ve not come across these before on either the real aircraft or warbird schemes. @NAVY870, you found those STI drawings yet??

 

They don't appear on any of the period photos that I've found as of today, nor on any photos of the modern warbirds painted in these schemes. Which I find a bit odd, as Fundekals normally does well in their research - for example, they correctly noted the different letter style for "NW" between the two aircraft. I can only surmise that they have some reference for the numerals on the underside of the wing. But what?

 

In any event, my transfers are on, and there are no numerals under the wing.  

 

 

 

Almost there...

 

Cheers,

Bill

[giemme]

Impressive!  I love the way the interior shows up from the open panels, a fine touch of realism!  

 

Ciao

Edited March 19, 2019 by giemme

[NAVY870]

Aircraft side numbers were never carried under the wing

The only numbers that were ever applied under the wing was the aircraft serial number.

[Rabbit Leader]

That’s just looking super impressive now it has decals on Bill. Can you tell me if the upperwing roundels are te same size as the fuselage roundels? it’s quite hard to tell from these angles. 

 

I agree about those  Fundekal underwing numerals not being shown on any photographs that are commonly available, however thought best to show these images to see if some evidence might have popped up to verify their existence. 

 

Whilst we are on this lovely subject, we know that the inside gear doors and oleo are painted Oxford Blue, but are the additional gear retraction mechanism that runs across the front of the wheel well and tail wheel strut painted blue as well? 

 

Cant wait to see her finished. It has inspired me to start my Airfix 1/48 kit and the information within this WIP has been most helpful.

 

Cheers and thanks..  Dave 

 

[CJP]

I really like the way when you apply decals it lifts & transforms the look of a model - man she's looking good

CJP

[Navy Bird]

22 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Can you tell me if the upperwing roundels are te same size as the fuselage roundels? it’s quite hard to tell from these angles. 

 

<snip>

 

Whilst we are on this lovely subject, we know that the inside gear doors and oleo are painted Oxford Blue, but are the additional gear retraction mechanism that runs across the front of the wheel well and tail wheel strut painted blue as well?

 

The wing roundels are the same size, upper and lower, on the Xtradecal sheet. Not sure if they were different in real life.

 

Good question on the additional gear retraction mechanism. They're currently blue on my model, but I can't tell from the photos if that's right or not, as they're always in the shadow. If someone knows better, I'd be happy to change it. The tail wheel strut looks blue in the photos:

 

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Navy Bird]

Another question for @NAVY870 - should I add a whip aerial to my model? I've seen many photos of Sea Furies that show a whip aerial either on the spine right behind the cockpit or on top of the tail. But I don't see any in the photo in the previous post. Easy to add, but I'm not sure if I should do it or not.

 

Here's the status of the project:

 

 

 

 

 

Gawd, I love the lines of this baby. The Sea Fury has to be the ultimate generation of radial engine fighters.  

 

The model received a coat of Floquil Flat which, despite it's name, delivers a really nice, semi-gloss egg-shell finish. I assume these aircraft were nice and shiny when fresh painted, but I've never liked the looks of super glossy hobby paint on a 1:72 scale model. It just doesn't look right to me, and I try to get what a call "scale gloss" - whatever that is. I like the combination here of Mr. Paint lacquer and the Floquil top coat (which is also a lacquer). To me, it's Goldilocks.

 

Speaking of Floquil, can I rant some more about Testors? I suspect the bean counters were the ones who decided that the entire line of Floquil and Polly Scale paints should be discontinued (along with many of the Model Master colours). Thanks to eBay, I've managed to buy a few bottles of Floquil Flat for future use, but the bandit sellers there see a sucker like me a mile away.  

 

The clear navigation lights for the wingtips didn't fit as well as the rest of the model, and they were devilishly hard to sand or shape. I finally gave up and glued them on. I believe I still need a pitot tube or some kind of sticky-out thing on the port wing, but I seem to have mislaid the part. I hope it's not in the carpet...

 

The engine access panels for the cowling, which I'll be posing open, are provided in clear resin. Interestingly, they are too wide by about 1.5mm. That's the first time that I've encountered a big boo-boo like that with this kit. Plus, one of them is twisted, and will need to take a nice dip in boiling water to see if I can get it back into shape. The one on the right is the offender.

 

 

Once I get both of these the correct width and shape, I'll have to cut them in two so I have four hinged panels (two on top, and two below). Based on photos, I'll have to add some ribbing on the back side, and have the three connectors in the open position hanging off the bottom panels. But I think it will look pretty cool.

 

She's almost there - and a very enjoyable build. Certainly the best resin kit experience I've had, although it's only the 7th resin kit I've built.  

 

Cheers,

Bill

[giemme]

She's a stunner already!

 

Ciao