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Bay of Pigs...1/48 Hawker Sea Fury FB.II, Fuerza Aerea Revolucionaria


Reini78

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Can't wait to see the start...it will be surely another gem :clap2:

BTW - the FAR Sea Furies were painted the same way as their T-33s : "dark green" overall with "grass green" splotches on the upper surfaces (but without light blue). 

The "dark green" on the Sea Furies is in fact the "cuban olive", as already used on their F-47 Thunderbolts, i.e FS 34079 with a olive green nuance...

Greetings

Diego

Edited by Diego
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2 hours ago, Diego said:

Can't wait to see the start...it will be surely another gem :clap2:

BTW - the FAR Sea Furies were painted the same way as their T-33s : "dark green" overall with "grass green" splotches on the upper surfaces (but without light blue). 

The "dark green" on the Sea Furies is in fact the "cuban olive", as already used on their F-47 Thunderbolts, i.e FS 34079 with a olive green nuance...

Greetings

Diego

When the Mig is finished my dad will start this project, to say in a few days.

 

Already looked after the colour codes on your decal sheet 😉

FS34079 and interior green is in our paint supply 🙂

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more cockpit progress

48794631062_c98b316be0_b.jpgDSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

 

added a selfmade headrest cushion, the kit has none

48794131558_9a527fdb63_b.jpgDSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

 

 

I´ve read that the central cowl in the initial release kit was too small so there was a step to the nose ring....seems Airfix has fixed this in their second Sea Fury kit. All cowl parts have the same diameter.

48794492101_45c9bde412_b.jpgDSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

 

Have also the replacement/correction resin part from Barracuda Studios...don´t know which one to use yet, maybe this one because it´s molded more nicely.

48794130783_bfff808728_b.jpgDSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

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On 13/09/2019 at 12:28, Diego said:

The "dark green" on the Sea Furies is in fact the "cuban olive", as already used on their F-47 Thunderbolts, i.e FS 34079 with a olive green nuance...

 

and your reasoning for this is?  I say this as this has been discussed before.

 

On 13/09/2019 at 15:26, Reini78 said:

 

 

Already looked after the colour codes on your decal sheet 😉

FS34079 and interior green is in our paint supply 🙂

 

we don't really know on the colour.  

thread here has all the pics I have ever seen of the Cuban planes

Quote

A thought,   export Sea Fury's were usually camouflaged and marked by Hawker's before export,   hence all the photos of various foreign marked planes at Langley (I presume)

 

I've not seen a Cuban marked plane,  perhaps later events  made them 'an embarrasment'   and the pics were  not published?

But given they were supplied direct by Hawker's,   this seems probable.

If so,  then a standard  British colour  is likely,  and since the general consensus is green or grenny  brown,   RAF  Dark Green seems to fit the bill.

This  plane in this picture

FAR_Sea-Fury01.jpg&key=8b128fa1edcfd83bc

Hmmm,  lets see what out there

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hawker_Sea_Fury_operators#_Cuba

  

Quote

Cuba received 15 ex-FAA Sea Fury FB.11s and two Sea Fury T.20s in 1958. Aircraft were assembled in 1959 and fought against the CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961

 

OK,so  they are not in FAA colours,  so have been reconditioned,  and likely painted by Hawkers to a supplied spec.  The above looks to be an example.

 

 

 

I'd not trust Blackbird decals that much,  the owner got the hump when I made comments on a Hurricane sheet, but their 'research' was doing them schemes off some profiles in a book, not the actual photos.  

 

Anyway, your model,  no one can prove you are wrong to right (unless you can see if any original paint is on one left in Cuba) 

 

HTH

T

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1 hour ago, Thom216 said:

Something I'll have to keep in mind, as I have the early boxing as well as the second.

Don´t know if all kits of the first boxing had that problem though.

Here you have some info in Britmodeller´s Rumourmonger forum

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235011991-the-sea-fury-rumour-thread-2/page/7/

 

 

 

54 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

 

and your reasoning for this is?  I say this as this has been discussed before.

 

 

we don't really know on the colour.  

thread here has all the pics I have ever seen of the Cuban planes

 

 

 

I'd not trust Blackbird decals that much,  the owner got the hump when I made comments on a Hurricane sheet, but their 'research' was doing them schemes off some profiles in a book, not the actual photos.  

 

Anyway, your model,  no one can prove you are wrong to right (unless you can see if any original paint is on one left in Cuba) 

 

HTH

T

Thanks, I already know that discussion thread.

Will stick to the dark and light green camo, doing it in the pattern shown on the well known, most probably, only two pics of a Cuban Fury during the conflict. No markings, only gonna apply the Blackbird sheet decals for the Cuban flag on the rudder.

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22 minutes ago, Reini78 said:

Don´t know if all kits of the first boxing had that problem though.

Here you have some info in Britmodeller´s Rumourmonger forum

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235011991-the-sea-fury-rumour-thread-2/page/7/

Thanks! Now I need to open both boxes and do a sight test.

 

On a side note, I bought an Airfix B-25H kit from a non local LHS recently. Great box art. Neat new decals for an NMF scheme. And a model that looks like it was molded in the sixties...:angry:

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On 9/25/2019 at 11:21 PM, Reini78 said:

Don´t know if all kits of the first boxing had that problem though.

Here you have some info in Britmodeller´s Rumourmonger forum

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235011991-the-sea-fury-rumour-thread-2/page/7/

 

 

 

Thanks, I already know that discussion thread.

Will stick to the dark and light green camo, doing it in the pattern shown on the well known, most probably, only two pics of a Cuban Fury during the conflict. No markings, only gonna apply the Blackbird sheet decals for the Cuban flag on the rudder.

Indeed, this is a really wise decision, Reini :speak_cool:

Even the serials of the displayed Sea Furies are subject to discussion.

In the FAEC, they were originally serialled 500, 505, 510, 515... It seems the FAR reserialled the surviving examples, the new serials being FAR 41, 42 etc., as seen on FAR 42  during a "pre Girón" display:

spacer.png

 

On April 17th, Capt. Enrique Carreras Rolas, flying Sea Fury "FAR (5)41", sunk the Brigada 2506 transport ship "USS Houston" using rockets. On April 19th, Carreras shot down a FAL B-26 flying the same Sea Fury, and, later the same day, he was credited with another B-26, this time shot down when flying a T-33A.

In the very good book " Playa Girón -the Cuban exiles' invasion in the Bay of Pigs 1961" by Santiago Rivas, published by Helion last year , there is a shot of this Sea Fury wearing the mottled camo with a small "41" on the landing gear door in yellow or white. Otherwise no serials are visible on the fuselage of the camouflaged birds, but it seems that one of the Sea Furies flew during the Girón battle in dark green overall, with only the Cuban colors on the rudder... therefore the serials 541 and 542 could be again museum inventions...

 

Re. Cuban colors:

We know, the Cuban Sea Furies were painted in a dark green color called "Cuban Olive", similar to the previously used F-47s...

On April 15, after the first bombings effected by the B-26s of the FAL ( Fuerza Aerea de Liberación ) , FAR operational aircraft (i.e the 3 remaining T-33s, the Sea Furies, and at least one B-26) have been hastily camouflaged in individual mottled patterns using available paints and dispersed. Please take into consideration that the Sea Furies were already painted in dark green, but the T-33s were previously in NMF.

From the memories of Gen. Enrique Carreras Rolas, we know that his T-33 "iba pintado en verde hierba  (grass green) y verde oscuro (dark green) por arriba y azul celeste (pale sky blue) por debajo".

So we could assume that the dark green was the same as the one on the Sea Furies (so we can choose a color similar to RAF Dark Green or US Dark Green FS34079 - many sources are commenting that both colors are similar ) and then a "grass green"...here you only guess what color this can be, but if you have a look on the available black and white shots of the operational Sea Furies as well as of the T-33s ( shot of camouflaged 703 during the Playa Girón invasion and 711 as photographed by Soviet pilots few months later already as a gate guard, but still wearing the operational camo she wore during the 17 April battle) you will seen that, basing on the contrast, this could be for example the interior green FS 34151, as already used in FAEC times...the Cubans of course having also bought some stocks of replacement parts and paints needed to maintain their aircraft.

Assuming the colors were the same, we can now made an educated interpretation of the Sea Fury colors too.

The only difference is that light blue was not used, as the undersurfaces were already dark green and, as the time was running out, we could safely assume that the undersurfaces simply remained in dark green.

 

Unfortunately, the 2 museum examples still displayed in Cuba have been repainted again and again in fantasy schemes and can't be used as reference. Maybe one day they will be cleaned up from all the paint accumulated over the years and the original color will appear during the process. Who knows... 

 

Of course, there is surely that full color photo of FAR Sea Furies and T-33s made during the actual combat operations that still lies in somebody's drawer and will be discovered someday...hopefully :whistle:

(For example, many previously unknown shots of Luftwaffe airplanes - many in color- from private collections surfaced in recent years, so there is indeed still hope) 

 

Greetings

Diego.

 

Here a genuine camouflaged FAR B-26C...

spacer.png

...and T-33a "711" displayed shortly after the Playa Girón battle, both wearing the schemes used during the conflict:

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

 

Edited by Diego
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2 hours ago, Diego said:

Gorgeous work on the pilots'office. There seem to be 50 shades of black  in the tiny cockpit interior making it to look like a 3D photo of the real thing :wub:

Greetings

Diego

drybrushing makes nice effects 🙂

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fuselage halves closed, fit was very good

48807298732_e79ccfba4c_b.jpgDSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

 

48806805023_ff00816e3a_b.jpgDSC_0005 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

 

48807298062_bff21ca751_b.jpgDSC_0006 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

 

started with the wing work

my dad was too fast with drilling holes, but we need no tanks here

48807157076_d31b37a2d8_b.jpgDSC_0007 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

 

48806803838_ce14ea8ed3_b.jpgDSC_0008 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

 

he filled the holes with this filler from Vallejo, is kinda similar to silicon

48806803643_15aa1284ab_b.jpgDSC_0009 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

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39 minutes ago, ElectricLightAndy said:

Wow, you're dad seems to build kits at an incredible rate, and to a awesome standard and always interesting schemes! I look forward to the painting stage :)

 

Andy.

Thanks!

He´s now in his early 70ies, needs glasses and a light lense and has more or less shaky hands. He doesn´t know how long he´s still physically able to enjoy his hobby, therefore he builds and builds...😃

From time to time he builds some of the "usual suspects", but I always try to encourage him to do more non-standard schemes.

 

I look forward to it too 😄 curious how the two greens will look...

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Looking very good...:)

 

Re. Cuban Sea Furies again...

There is photographic evidence for several birds:

FAEC: (15 single seat fighter-bombers, serials 500 to 570, as well as 2 two seat trainers, serials 575 and 580, delivered) 

- FAEC 505 - the second delivered Sea Fury, seen in Aluminium Dope finish (!), with black 505 code under the  cockpit, repeated in smaller digits on the undercarriage doors in black, and big, black FAEC  markings under the left wing as well, in smaller letters, on the tail. National markings (white star & blue bars) visible  on the fuselage, and, a bit smaller, under the right wing. Obligatory Cuban flag applied on the rudder.

- FAEC 530 - the 7th Sea fury delivered - in "Cuban Olive" overall, with yellow "530" in big digits under the cockpit  (white star & blue bars national markings and Cuban flag on tail not visible on the photo but surely applied as on 505) and the code repeated in smaller yellow digits on the undercarriage doors.

- FAEC 575 or 580, one of the two seaters delivered, in overall Cuban Olive,  with white star & blue bars national markings perfectly visible on fuselage and under the right wing...serial is not visible, but there were only two of them in Cuba.

FAR: (5 aircraft operational in April 1961, apparently reserialled FAR 541, 542, 543...but this still needs verification - these codes appearing only on museum aircraft - photos show, if any, serials "FAR42" and "41" only)

- There are two shots from different angles of "FAR 42" made during a display before the Girón battle. The Sea Fury is overall Cuban Olive, with a yellow FAR42 in yellow under the left wing only. No national markings applied on the fuselage nor wing upper surfaces. The obligatory Cuban fin flag can not be confirmed, but was surely applied. Interestingly, the aircraft is displayed with rockets and SILVER fuel tanks. 

- Finally, two aircraft with the disruptive camouflage applied on April 15th, 1961. One of them having the lighter colors applied more like streaks, the other one slightly more like splotches.

 

According to Rafael del Pino, 3 Sea Furies took part in the Girón battle, one of them, FAR 42, was shot down by AAA during the fighting. 

Interestingly, in Santiago Rivas book, all T- 33 operations are described using their individual codes (703, 709, 711), but , as Sea Furies are concerned, only the pilots are mentioned, like "...on that mission, Del Pino flew T-33 "711" and Bourzac one of the Sea Furies...". This would confirm the theory that serials were not applied on the camouflaged birds.

There is however a single shot showing the camouflaged Sea Fury "41" with the code applied in white (or yellow?) in small digits (around 30 cm tall in 1:1) on the undercarriage door. The bird is armed with rockets, but without warheads installed, and with a guy looking like an instructor in front of it, so this is surely a "post Girón" photo...Please note that both Sea Furies and T-33 were retired already during May 1961, when the first MiG-15 arrived to Cuba, so they camouflages were still "fresh".

Interestingly, on (both) camouflaged Sea Furies it seems that the splotches of the lighter color appear also on the undercarriage doors, as well as on the underside of the wings (or maybe only on the leading edges of the under surfaces of these?)

 

Greetings

Diego

 

 

Edited by Diego
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Found out, that the Blackbird decals for the red triangles of the Cuban flag on the rudder are some mm too long, therefore gonna paint the complete rudder markings. For the white star on the triangles my dad will use decals from a Superscale sheet for 1/48 US WW2 vehicle markings.

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Yeh, that Barracuda resin bit certainly makes the difference, I think. Very nice build; always enjoy your threads, Reini.

Cheers,

 

Unc2

 

PS: Incidentally; it's not important, but there should be a gender agreement in Spanish between the noun Fuerza Aérea and the adjective Revolucionaria. Both the noun and adjective are female in Spanish. :wink: 

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this is the Microscale/Superscale sheet my dad is gonna use for the white star

48836438777_fbb5d848ed_b.jpgDSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

 

and one of these for the missing gunsight

48835892178_5f9948f28d_b.jpgDSC_0005 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

 

My dad has removed the rudder again to make it easier to paint. Sanded down the strong surface detail a bit so that the masking tapes will stick better and make no blurred edges

white paint already applied

48836436237_b03e3e9f68_b.jpgDSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

 

elevators added

48836436057_e4173b4286_b.jpgDSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

 

Like experienced with the Hobby Boss Su-27 canopy, also this Airfix canopy has molded on some ejector thingies, mostly broke off already before removing the part from the sprue, broke a bit into the canopy frame area. My dad tries to fill and sand it a bit with putty or CA glue. If that doesn´t work out we still have the initial Sea Fury release kit, to try the canopy from there...

48835889763_6f38f84170_b.jpgDSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

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applied some gray paint/primer in sme areas to see if there´s still filler neccessary

48845925017_3d2692ca20_b.jpgDSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

 

As you may know, the Airfix kit provides folded and unfolded wings. In the unfolded position theres some step between outer and inner wing. Some sanding and filling, but afterwards with the camo you hopefully won´t really see it.

48845734161_6be52cb213_b.jpgDSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

 

48845371318_16f5c5e238_b.jpgDSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

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