This is
Hobbycraft’s original version of their 1/48 Sea Fury, the one without
the armament. I’ve added the Airwaves etched brass set (their
first in this scale, and I think I bought it just after it came out),
Aeroclub prop blades, and Almark decals. All the As, then.
Plus a number of mistakes that I couldn’t be bothered to correct, like
aligning the retraction jacks fore-aft instead of up-down (although I
suspect I may not be the first person to do that). Can anyone spot
the upside-down decal and the burr on the end of the prop blade? No
prizes, though, for spotting the misaligned ID stripes on the port wing.
I’m blaming a heavy sea and a cack-handed rating.
Click on
images below to see larger images
I still don’t
like PE much. Most of it’s invisible in a black cockpit with a
coal-chute for an entrance, and it’s all bent and poking out at the
wrong angle. And with a one-piece canopy, which I lack the skill to
open, there doesn’t seem to be much point. The one good idea I had
was to glue the instrument decals onto the back of the PE instrument panel
while they were still attached to the backing paper. A fairly good
compromise between strength and convenience.
The prop
blades were nice - and they only cost me a pound each! I fixed them
to the spinner by eye so at least one is slightly off and the pitch is
almost certainly wrong. But they all lie in the same plane, and the
leading edges all point the same way (which, as a bonus, is the right
way); and if you park the prop just right, the duff angles magically
disappear.
The decals
were nice too, but it was galling to see far too late just how translucent
they were. I’ve seen speculation that Almark’s decals are 1/48
while the kit is 1/50, but I think the real problem may be that the ID
stripes are just a bit too long. Still, better that than too short,
eh. Everything else seems to be about right.
The only
other detailing is the pitot head and the whip aerial, both in fine
florist’s wire, to replace the kit parts (which scaled up to about two
inches across).
The paintwork is all
Humbrol, all brushed on. Weathering is diluted Tamiya Smoke (the
world’s greatest modelling invention), Citadel ink, 3B pencil for the
panel lines, and chalk pastels. Plus Johnson’s Klear (Future),
matt varnish, and hairspray to keep the pastels on without darkening the
finish too much. So, if nothing else, my Sea Fury smells nice.
Seán
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