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The kit
The kit when I first
opened it I thought looked a bit easy until I read the instructions. The
kit supplied decals for 2 aircraft at first I chose to do
the RAF Korean war plane, but later decided to make it Australian.
History
The Sea Fury was the
fastest piston-engine fighter to serve with commonwealth air forces. The Sea
Fury was to replace the RN's carrier borne fighters although they were also used
as land based planes. The first Sea Furies were delivered to the RAF and
RN in mid 1947. From then they were distributed to all of the of the
commonwealth air forces. By the onset of the Korean war many of the
commonwealth air forces helped support the British and Americans in Korea.
The Sea Fury served as a ground attack aircraft giving decisive support to the
British, American and south Korean troops. Although a ground attack
aircraft it was a Sea Fury of No.802 squadron Fleet Air Arm that shot down the
first Mig 15 over Korean waters in 1952.
Instructions
The instructions
were an A4 fold out booklet with history and decal reference.
Construction
of the kit
As always you start
off with the cockpit. I painted the cockpit interior with RAF interior
green and the instrument panel black with dry brushed silver knobs and
switches. After completing the cockpit and its components I then went on
to putting the fuselage halves together. Also putting in the tail wheel,
wheel well. At the same time I constructed the wings. The wings were
a 3 part set with the wheel wells and oil cooler were added to the wing and then
glued. Once the glue had dried I then placed the rudder and tail planes to
the tail. Then game the wing to fuselage assembly. They fitted
perfectly and only a little putty was needed although I put to much on).
Then came the great clean up. The joins on the wings and fuselage left no
gaps and needed little sanding to get rid of the seams. Then came the
filling part. The only places that needed putty was the wing root and
underneath where the wing meet the fuselage, the tail planes and a little on the
nose. Once the sanding was finally finished then came the paint job.
The underside was sky as were all Sea Furies of the Australian air force.
The paint didn't cover that well the first 2 coats but then started to cover the
next coat. When I painted
the under side was completed, the topside was painted in dark sea gray. So
the whole thing was masked except the parts that needed to be painted. It
only took 2 coats to be covered. Then once the paint had dried and the
masking tape taken off the model started to look like the real thing's then
applied the decals, but I forgot to paint the exhaust stacks and the area around
was masked and then sprayed. Now came the landing gear. The
alignment was already molded into the landing gear so the only thing to worry
about was the the aligning of the 2 well struts together and the strut inline
with the wing.
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Once dry the wheel
covers and wheels were put into place. The spinner and props were all that
was left I made the spinner and to place the spinner on the model I needed 2
bits of brass tube which was cut into about 2 inches and glued to the spinner
and model so that when the spinner was put on it could slide into the
other. After the props where placed in the spinner all that was left
was to paint the canopy and engine. The engine was a simple ring with
details which I painted black and dry brushed the details silver. The
canopy was a bit tricky but after 3 goes I managed to get a nice straight lines
on the canopy. I glued the remaining parts on the model and it is now
complete with a diorama board.
Accuracy
The kit looks
alright to me.
Colour options
There was only one
colour option the one I did my model in.
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Decals
The decals I
used from the kit were a bit brittle if not handled carefully. And
the air force insignias came from another kit and slide on with ease.
The only problem was the navy decal on the under side which I broke up
in 3 pieces, but still managed to get the decal on.
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RATING
8/10
Conclusion and
Recommendation
This was an alright
kit it wasn't great quality but good none the less. This kit can be
ordered from retailers or bought from hobby shops for around $20(AUS). I
would recommend this kit for beginners and up.
Andrew
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