Trumpeter's 1/72 scale
Sea Fury FB.11

by Glen Porter

Hawker Sea Fury FB.11

Trumpeter's 1/72 scale Sea Fury is available online from Squadron

Trumpeter's Sea Fury in 1/72 scale has many faults and a few good points but it is still light-years ahead of the old Frog and Pioneer kits.

The overall shape is not bad and the detail level is also quite good but the best part is nicely detailed wing folds.

Below is a summary of the faults:

•  The undercarriage legs are under scale and about 3mm too short. The wheels also look small.

•  The propeller blades are all bent just out side of the hub, are too narrow and have almost parallel sides.

•  Spinner is slightly wrong in shape (too pointed).

•  Decking behind the cockpit is flat and sloping towards the front (should be a continuation of the fuselage spine).

•  The cockpit interior bears little resemblance to the actual aircraft.

•  The windscreen's three flat surfaces are actually concave making them very hard the mask.

•  If the kit is built straight from the box, the canopy can't be modelled open.

•  Many parts, especially the wing centre section, have a small amount of flash around the edges that is hard to see but stop the parts from mating properly.

In this kit’s favour, at least it hasn't got the rivets of its 1/48 scale big brother.

Below is a list of the parts used to correct some of these faults:

•  Undercarriage legs, doors and wheels in white metal from Aeroclub.

•  Cockpit interior in resin from Pavla, which includes the rear decking and a propeller assembly (but the prop was not used).

•  Five-bladed propeller from Aeroclub designed for the old Pioneer kit but is spot-on for shape.

• Spinner from the Pioneer kit with a modification to the prop blade slots. It then fits nicely to the Trumpeter backing plate.

I painted this model in the colours of an 805 Squadron, Royal Australian Navy, aircraft operating from H.M.A.S. Sydney during the Korean War.

These aircraft were flying up to three sorties a day and were housed most of the time on the flight deck through blizzards and even a typhoon. The priority for deck and maintenance crews was to keep then flying so they were reasonably scruffy thoughout their time on the line.

I have tried to show a level of weathering that would not normally be seen on a Fleet Air Arm aircraft, which are normally kept very clean.
           

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Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2009 by Glen Porter
Page Created 20 July, 2009
Last Updated 20 July, 2009

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