F154 Hawker Sea Fury fighter *** FINISHED! ***

[Ventora3300]

On 20/08/2019 at 21:49, Johnson said:

FROG were quite ambitious in their design with separate rudder, ailerons and elevators - although it's hard to see why as they can only be joined in one position. 

 

It can be done! I tried to position the control surfaces into a climbing bank to starboard (or was it port?) on my in flight version of the Sea Fury X  and used normal cement on the attaching pins, plus maybe a little on scraped back inner edges, then gently squeezed the rudder, elevator halves and ailerons into semi-deflected positions when the cement had half set. The locating pins were no doubt a loose fit or came out of the holes slightly. First time I'd tried it so happy enough with the results. Enjoying this build greatly. All the best. Mike.

[Ventora3300]

On 20/08/2019 at 21:49, Johnson said:

More work than I expected, or remembered. I got the fuselage halves together yesterday and the join needs a day or two to harden. Plenty of other things to do while it sets.

 

 

Sorry to mention but how about that pain of a big gap behind the pilot's seat? A piece of very flexible sheet (or photo paper in my case) could be shaped and pulled into position with a staple hooked through, with gobs of glue on the edges of course! Looks nice under the canopy. All the best, Mike.

[Johnson]

4 hours ago, Grey Beema said:

I would guess your Sea Fury pilot would be attired in a similar fashion to these Seafire pilots

Many thanks @Grey Beema. That looks about right, as I would have guessed. The colour of the pilots overalls is hard to define, a sort of blue/grey I think.

 

The graphic of 'Hoagy' Carmichael in 'Allied Aces of the Korean War' has him wearing a light blue overall.

 

The picture you posted looks like original colour photo, possibly taken on Kodachrome. (So many pics I've seen, and some on BM, look 'colourised').

 

Cheers,

[Johnson]

1 hour ago, Ventora3300 said:

how about that pain of a big gap behind the pilot's seat?

Thanks for your very kind comments Mike! I'm really enjoying the build, but it's taking longer than I'd have guessed. The fuselage should be continuous up to the back of the seat/armour plate. I added some plasticard late last night and it will need filler as well, I'll post some more pics later. The control surfaces will be in a neutral position as I'm intending to model the plane taking off.

[Johnson]

The FROG Sea Fury is a pretty accurate model, going by the plans I have. It captures the lines of the plane very well. But there are some areas that aren't quite right.

 

The oil cooler radiator on the inner wing on the port side is too deep and too wide, leaving no room for the carb intake next to the fuselage which is also missing from the starboard side. The other obvious deficiency that to my mind spoils the model's lines is the lack of fairing between the rear of the wings and the fuselage. Putting these right however requires some plastic surgery and a lot of filler.

 

 

 

And there's the hole in the fuselage behind the pilot. I could also mention the thickness of the wing's trailing edges and the ailerons, but one has to stop somewhere! Time to get sanding. 

 

Cheers,

 

[Jinxman]

Blimey - and I thought the scribing meant it was ready for some primer! 

It looks great, and can't wait to see the results of the sanding.

[bigbadbadge]

Some very nice mods there great work and scribing looking good.

Keep up the good work

All the best

Chris

[Andre B]

Marvellous work done. It's gona end up in an fantastic Sea Fury!

 

Why get an Trumpeter kit when a lot of things can be achived with that little Frog kit with some work?

 

Now I have to get another Frog Sea Fury!

 

Cheers / André

[Johnson]

5 minutes ago, Andre B said:

Marvellous work done. It's gona end up in an fantastic Sea Fury!

 

Why get an Trumpeter kit when a lot of things can be achived with that little Frog kit with some work?

 

Now I have to get another Frog Sea Fury!

 

Cheers / André

Thanks André, you're very kind.

 

I do have a Trumpeter kit somewhere in the stash, I cannot even remember what it's like, I must get it out and compare it to the FROG kit.

 

Cheers,

[Andre B]

1 hour ago, Johnson said:

Thanks André, you're very kind.

 

I do have a Trumpeter kit somewhere in the stash, I cannot even remember what it's like, I must get it out and compare it to the FROG kit.

 

Cheers,

 

I followed a build topic of the Trumpeter Sea Fury at IPMS Göteborg here in Sweden a year ago. It looked rather nice. Sadly, most of the pictures i that topic where gone when Photobucket changed policy. But there are some topics here att BM too...

 

 

I have the Trumpeter Westland Wyvern and the RA-5C Vigilante. I feel they are rather nice as kits. And i would probably get the Trumpeter Sea Fury some day as well.

 

Sometimes I wonder if Trumpeter used the Frog Catalouge as base for their kits...

 

Cheers / André

Edited August 24, 2019 by Andre B

[Johnson]

Hi André,

 

Thanks for the link, I bought the 1/72 Trumpeter kit so long ago that I'd completely forgotten what it was like! In the box it's a nice looking kit, but does have a few issues such as the seam running down the middle of the canopy and the shape of the propeller blades (I have the Pavla resin prop and there's one going on my current FROG Sea Fury). But reading through the thread, the kit obviously has other problems with the poor fit and poor moulding. It would probably make a good contender for a Sea Fury with folded wings. That said, @alex_stela did a marvellous job with the Trumpeter kit back in 2016:

 

 

I have just bought the Airfix 1/48 Sea Fury, which looks yummy. A possible winter build! 

 

Cheers,

 

 

[Johnson]

Hi Folks, a bit of progress...

 

If there was going to be a prize in this GB for 'least OOB kit build'... it would probably go to @Rob S and his Avro Lincoln! But I reckon this might come second. Whether its going to have been worth it, or I'll finish the bloomin' thing by the 22nd Sept, time will tell!

 

 

 

The wheel wells are rather a bit of fantasy, they ought to have more longitudinal ribs, but better than the bare boxes they might have been. The Resin Pavla prop was a bit of a pain, the blades are held on by cryo and needed a bit of thinning down - causing them to break off the hub, even when I'd enlarged the holes in the spinner.

 

Next is go back over some of the scribing and a bit of primer to find the flaws in the filler. Then some proper paint. Better crack on!

 

Cheers,

Edited September 6, 2019 by Johnson
SNAFU

[Rabbit Leader]

That does look so good Charlie, and it'll be unrecognisable as a Frog kit once you've finally finished it!. 

Cheers.. Dave 

[Jinxman]

Lovely work, and lots of it by the looks of it.

 

Looking forward to seeing some primer on it.

[bigbadbadge]

This is going to be a stunner, great work and great extra detailing.

Keep up the good work

All the best

Chris

[Johnson]

Many thanks chaps,

 

3 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

it'll be unrecognisable as a Frog kit once you've finally finished it!

 

Hopefully it'll still be recognisable as a Sea Fury!

 

But it's so far from an OOB build that I feel as if I've deserted the spirit of the GB somewhat . I do have another cheapo FROG Sea Fury (a bit tatty - eBay purchase) that I may try to fit in if I get a move on with this one. 

 

FROG did a good job on the plane when they made the moulds back in 1964, the basic shape is excellent. And (from what I've seen on other BM builds) it's better in some respects than the much more recent Trumpeter kit (that's in my stash) and much better than the Pioneer / Airfix kit (which was so bad I sold it).

 

There is however one area that I could have done better, the wing construction and dihedral. It's about 1 degree too much. Irritating and I'm probably the only person who would have spotted it (comparison to the plans). It was the result of fixing the inner wing to the fuselage then later adding the outer (foldable) parts. The dihedral is dictated by the kink in the inner wing, so far too late to do anything about it once firmly attached! Something to bear in time next time I make it, or anyone else who wants to have fun with an old FROG!

 

Thanks for your ongoing and invaluable support. I'd better get out and cut the hedge, otherwise I won't be allowed back into my room! 

 

Cheers,

[Johnson]

Not a terribly exciting pic, but I got the primer on last night;

 

 

I don't usually bother to prime, go straight to the final gloss Xtracolor enamel paint, but as I've done quite a lot of surgery on the plastic and used a lot of filler I thought I'd better. The primer (Humbrol matt 140) didn't reveal any major flaws, but (as I thought it might) the paint has filled in some of the scribed panel lines. I've gone back over them with my scalpel and then cleaned the model with isopropyl alcohol which cleans the paint and lines without damaging it. The scalpel scribing was a method I used years ago when I brush painted and with modern recessed panel lines I haven't had to bother. I'm not sure that the lines will survive the coming layers of Xtracolor and acrylic finish - we'll see! 

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

Cheers,

[bigbadbadge]

Looks flippin gorgeous Johnson. Great work hopefully the panel lines will survive okay.

Keep up the good work

All the best

Chris

[stevej60]

Shaping up well Charlie!

[Johnson]

Thanks chaps! This build has been going on for a while now, I applaud your forbearance. I'll bet Pete wondered what I was on about a few weeks ago when I said it might take a while to get round to the decals .

 

Anyway, more ridiculous detail...

 

I measured the recess where the stubs go at 7.5mm, which meant I'd need 9 stubs measuring 0.83mm - or 0.030". Easy - buy a pack of Slater's Plasikard Plastic Rodding which has 0.030" strips. But when I came to fit them, they were oval - 0.027" x 0.037" 🙄  (0/10 Slater's). Back to stretching sprue!

 

 

Blimey - looks like someone's teeth! This is not the best way (or time) to add the exhaust stubs to a FROG Sea Fury. If I'd done this when the fuselage was still in two halves on the workbench with no wings attached, it would have been so much easier.

 

 

Trimmed back. The detail (and roughness) that the camera reveals in close-up on a 1/72 model is terrifying! Hopefully it will look better with some paint.

 

Last bit of detail, the tail hook. The kit hook is too short and too simple. The Sea Fury had quite a hefty hook and it needed to be, just look at some of the deck landings (YouTube HMS Glory Korea) and you'll see why!

 

 

The hook was carved out of a bit of sprue last night after I'd cooked 😇 (while my wife played on her PS4 - luckily she's addicted to games!). I then glued it to more of the sprue I'd cooked yesterday.

 

 (I know, I really must get painting )

 

Cheers,

[bigbadbadge]

Great work on the exhausts and arrester hook. Cooking plastic, you are lucky your wife's addicted to the games.

Keep up the good work

All the best

Chris

[Johnson]

Hi Folks,

 

Despite reality getting in the way, I have managed to get some work done on the Sea Fury...

 

 

 

The sky paint went on OK. I've got quite a few pots of Xtracolor sky in the box, some going back about 30+ years. The colour of the paint has darkened very slightly since my early Sea Furies. I suppose they've been updating the formula and specs. Anyway, the panel lines survived the paint (so far), too much so in places - a bit 'Airfix' on some of the lines. I saw a post from @Rabbit Leader somewhere commenting that you can't really see the panel lines on a real Sea Fury, and he's right.

 

The other thing that's taken a lot of time are the home-made decals, essential for the Sea Fury that I'm making. With some expert guidance from @PeterB (thanks Pete!) I think I have what I need to model 105 / VR943. Lots of new techniques for me and a very steep learning curve (my head's still spinning) using Photoshop to make suitable masks. The trial sheets here are printed on Mr Decal paper using an Epson SX200 ink-jet printer and sealed with coats of Xtracrylicx satin (worked well - 3 coats airbushed worked best) and MS Liquid Decal Film (not so good).

 

 

 

Waiting for the paint to dry I scratch built the flaps which were down for a catapult take-off from HMS Glory (anyone know the flap angle for take-off?)

 

 

Next I have to get the white paint on the fuselage and wings (for the 12" B&W Korean i/d stripes).

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Cheers,

[PeterB]

Decs look fine Charlie. Being lazy I have managed to produce the "Royal Navy" actually over the serial so it is only one dec. Don't know about Photoshop but PSP lets you produce several lines of text and it is just a case of aligning them.

 

Pete

[Rob S]

On 8/29/2019 at 3:49 AM, Johnson said:

If there was going to be a prize in this GB for 'least OOB kit build'... it would probably go to @Robs and his Avro Lincoln!

 

 

Ha ha ha.  Thought for a second there there was another silly Rob building a Lincoln but knew there can't be more than one crazy Rob out there!  And nearly yet another Name to add to the list of Greg, Ray, Roy, etc.  @Romeo Alpha Yankee will get a good laugh out of this one - so close yet no Cigar!  @Rob S  

 

[Rob S]

P.S.  Love the Sea Fury by the way.  

 

Makes me want to modify yet another of the spare Shackleton Engines and Contra Props and whack it on a sawn off Sea Fury to create one of the incarnations of LA610.  

 

 

Good photo of the installation here : 

 

 

Although I must admit in later years I like the Sabre VII powered version even more ;