Hawker Sea Fury - Australian Navy

[alanbeeb]

My first completed model in nearly 3 months is the Airfix 1/48 Sea Fury FB.11.   I went with the Australian Navy scheme as I like uniform colour schemes to keep it simple and a nice big blue plane appealed.   Its a really good kit IMO, all went together very straightforward, no real problems with the construction apart from the seam line along the nose kept re-appearing, and the canopy is less than perfect fit though I could have done more about that.   There is a tiny crack in the front windshield and I've written to Airfix asking if they can supply a replacement.... fingers crossed.  

 

The one complaint from me is that there is no pilot figure supplied so I had to spring him from the Spitfire XIV in the stash, and he's probably got the wrong helmet for the post-war Australian Navy. Its perplexing because Airfix do give a very simple & good wheels-up option for this kit if you want to build in-flight - so why no pilot?! 

 

Primed and pre-shaded with Vallejo black and white primers, the blue is Humbrol 15 Gloss Navy Blue as per the Airfix instructions.   I washed/filtered it with some very dilute dark grey, and also brushed on some dark brown pigment trailing from the engine exhausts... but the wash and that pigment seemed to disappear when I applied the final satin varnish coat.  But its still slightly apparent so happy with that.

 

I cranked up the compressor to max for the airbrush to make the prop spin for some of the photos - that was quite fun, and used very high ISO to get a grainy effect for some of the B&W ones.   Hope you like it!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 20 by alanbeeb

[wellsprop]

Beautiful 😊

[fubar57]

Really nice. I love the break-up of the camo colour

[RossFMJ]

Lovely finished model, lovely photos . I've not seen the moving prop thing before, looks great, as do the B&Ws 

[kelly9mm]

Very elegant, I like it.

 

Cheers,

Marcin

[NAVY870]

That looks very good.

[georgeusa]

I really like your wheels up display of this aircraft and the way you finished the monotone color scheme is highly effective.  Thanks for sharing this great build.

[bigbadbadge]

Great work on this ,  looks fantastic and the photos and B&W photos are awesome. 

Chris

[alanbeeb]

34 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Great work on this ,  looks fantastic and the photos and B&W photos are awesome. 

Chris

Many Thanks - yes the B&W seems to add an air of authenticity.  So here's a couple more:

 

 

 

 

 

[Bigturbofan]

Very nicely done, it is a very pretty scheme in blue. I love the idea with the prop and airbrush 😀

[kapam]

That looks fantastic!  The in-flight pose is awesome (great idea to use the compressor to make the prop go around)!

The all-over blue finish looks superb.

The RAN Sea Fury doesn't get as much recognition as other RAN and RAAF types; yet it really is a most beautiful aircraft.

[Mycapt65]

On 8/20/2025 at 3:47 PM, alanbeeb said:

I cranked up the compressor to max for the airbrush to make the prop spin for some of the photos - that was quite fun, and used very high ISO to get a grainy effect for some of the B&W ones.   Hope you like it!  

 

Ha! I love that! I thought you motorized it. Your solution is Infinitely easier than my assumption. Kudos. That's one really good looking aircraft model. Well done!

[Pete in Lincs]

Big blue and beautiful. Love it. 

Has the Airfix figure sculptor retired?

Or are the Pilots on strike? We need to know!

[alanbeeb]

Thanks for the kind words folks.

The airfix prop bearing definitely helps....it's solid without any wobble or looseness, yet still spins freely enough.   

 

However there is a blob of blu-tak in the stand base making sure it doesn't blow away!

[Crown Rn7]

Nice job especially with the cowling.

[nickc]

Nice build. I'm dithering over doing a Canadian Navy  Sea Fury, but keep hearing the engine cowling on this kit is a bit of 'mare. How bad in reality is it?

[alanbeeb]

14 hours ago, nickc said:

Nice build. I'm dithering over doing a Canadian Navy  Sea Fury, but keep hearing the engine cowling on this kit is a bit of 'mare. How bad in reality is it?

 

I didn't do anything with the cowling other than glue it together, put the engine bits inside (barely visible behind propellor) and glued it to the fuselage.   Its a wee bit ragged at the joins in the central section but these thing would have been getting opened and slammed shut again before and after every flight so maybe they were a bit ragged in real life too.    

 

By comparison, the one-piece cowling on the Hobbyboss Grumman Bearcat I'm building at present barely fits onto the fuselage.  

Edited September 7 by alanbeeb