A Recent Build Of Mine...

[Madoc]

Folks,

Yeah, I know, it's yet another US Navy Sea Fury ' but this one is special!

I think most of us here are already familiar with the Hawker Sea Fury's service with the US Navy. This, the result of some very sharp negotiating by the British government in the immediate years after WWII.  After all, the Brits had the most advanced jet engines in the world at the time and that was technology the US wanted and the US had a lot of cash on hand and that was something that the Brits dearly needed.  So, a deal was struck for that technology transfer and as part of that deal the US agreed to lease several squadrons worth of British aircraft.

That's how the newly formed US Air Force got its two squadrons of Gloster Meteors and that's how the US Navy got its three squadrons of Sea Furies. Indeed, all this pretty well known and so to is the fact that the US Navy's Flight Demonstration Team  - the Blue Angels - made use of the Sea Fury in the late 40's.

What's not as well known, and is what this model represents, is that for a very brief time the Sea Fury was actually flying in the Number One spot on the Blue Angels team. This, as opposed to just the two 'Opposing Solos' aircraft that most of us are familiar with. But in 1949 a US Navy Hawker Sea Fury was not only transferred from VF-91 and given its 'Blue Angels Blue' paintjob but it was also given the livery of Lt. Cmdr. R.E. "Dusty" Rhodes personal mount as the Blue Angels Officer-in-Charge/ Flight Leader. This event took place in January of 1949 when the Blues were working up for that year's performance season. Unfortunately, the use of the Sea Fury as the flight leader's aircraft did not last long. In fact, it lasted but five days!

In the years since some have claimed that it was nationalistic prejudice on the part of the US Navy which pushed the British plane out of the number one slot. While there was no small amount of grumbling in some quarters about the Navy buying so many foreign aircraft when there were plenty of excellent American designs at hand, this belief about the switch is at odds with the fact that the USN had been the one to propose using the Sea Fury for the Blue Angels in the first place.

The actual reason for the switch is that the Sea Fury was a different aircraft than the Bearcats which the rest of the Blues were using. This meant its handling was different. It had a different acceleration, turn rate, climb rate, and so on. These differences were simply too great for the type of precision formation flying required in the number one slot. The differences were not so great as to keep the aircraft type off the team when it was assigned the Opposing Solos positions though and that's where the Sea Fury was quickly shifted to as the Blues picked up a second Hawker machine to match it.

I discovered this bit of US Naval Aviation trivia when going through the copy of Squadron's 'The Hawker Sea Fury in US Navy Service' off of eBay. Long out of print, this reference book is an absolute gem. And it was within its pages that I first saw one of the color profiles draw up by Squadron's long time artist, Jennings Heilig. This particular one was of that Sea Fury wearing its Number One livery and that immediately caught my eye.



Some more research followed and I found myself simply having to make this bird! Luckily, I was also able to find an old, and also out of print, Superscale decal sheet (F3L-2 Sea Furies, F8F Bearcats: Blue Angels '46-49, F8F-2D Drone Controller, Beetle Bomb. # 72-642 ) that included the decals for just this aircraft as well as a nicely detailed painting and marking guide. With all that at hand I then settled on using a Pioneer Models Hawker Sea Fury kit as the recipient of all this attention.

The PM kit is an exercise in simplicity and that suited the needs of this project. The focus of this build was to be the paintjob and markings so, as long as the model kit looked the part of a Hawker Sea Fury then it'd do and the PM kit does indeed look like a Sea Fury. About the only problem I had with it was its propeller and spinner. That big five bladed Rotol prop is one of the Sea Fury's most defining features. The moulding on it was actually crisper than the Special Hobby Sea Fury, which I also had at hand. The problem was that holes for the prop in the spinner were so deep that when the prop was placed in the spinner you could see through those holes and out the other side. What made this more difficult was that while those holes were too deep they were also just barely to narrow and I thought I was going to snap the blades off each time I put the prop in the spinner to check the fit. Some bits of thick plastic card eventually solved the see-through problem and kept the prop looking fine. I also chose to substitute the Special Hobby vac formed canopy for the overly thick PM one.

The kit's assembly went smoothly and the paintjob became the next focus. Here again I ran into problems with my Aztec POS airbrush and actually hand painted the first coat on the model. I sanded that smooth with some very fine grit sandpaper and then used my trusty old Badger external mix airbrush to put down the remaining coat and gloss. The Superscale decals, despite being some decades old, went down without issue and soon enough I had myself my very own US Navy Blue Angels Flight Leader Hawker Sea Fury.



And it turned out to be just soon enough at that as I then had to pack everything up and move from the house I'd been living in for nine years to another place. I managed to take but a single 'proof of done-ness' photo of the completed model before wrapping it up and boxing it away. Packed away is where it sat for over a year before the right combination of clear sunny skies, time available, and fully charged batteries came together for me to get the 'beauty shots' this handsome plane deserves. But, over Memorial Day of '07 that all did come together and here it all is. Something unique, something simple enough, and something done in but a month.




I've more details as to the model's build on my site.

Madoc

[devil505]

Absolutely stunning!!! :salute:    

[Eddie M.]

OUTSTANDING!! Looks great. B)  :salute:
  Eddie

[Brian da Basher]

100% Bravo Zulu!
:salute:
Brian da Basher

[Sisko]

Nice one Madoc.

Great gloss finish!!  

[Bryan H.]

Whoa!  That looks so natural; you'ld almost swear the 'Blue Angels' flew the Sea Fury.  Great work!  

Bryan

[BlackOps]

Madoc, I would have never guessed you brush painted that if I didn't check out the build on your site.

I'd say it came out very well indeed!    

[Madoc]

Folks,

Thanks for the compliments!  I appreciate that.

I'm rather surprised at how well the handpainting came out as well.  Just shows what you can achieve with good quality paint, a simple paint job, time and sanding between coats.  That being said, I much prefer using an airbrush to get such results!

I tried to make the bird seem as "real" as possible in that write-up and in its livery.  I think it came out pretty well.  No, not a contest winner but something which would cause some double takes.

Madoc

[Captain Canada]

Nice one !

What issues do you have with the Aztec ? It's the first AB I've ever used, and am starting to wonder if it's the brush that sucks arse rather than myself.....

 

[Madoc]

CC,

What issues do I have with my Aztec airbrush?

Simple; everything!

The thing put out next to no paint unless I'm mashing the trigger down hard.  Then it'd spit paint out, not spray it.  Cleaning it was always a mess and no matter how much I tried, I never seemed to get all of the paint out of the brush and its housing.

Late last year I bit the bullet and plunked down the change to buy a REAL dual action airbrush.  It's an Iwata knock off and my god, what a difference!  With this the paint always come out in a smooth and controllable fashion.  I don't have to mash the trigger down at all and cleaning the thing is a breeze as it fully disassembles quite easily.

Mind you, I bought the Aztec on eBay and the seller insisted the airbrush as "hardly" used and was well kept.  I suspect he was being _less_ that truthful in each statement.  Even so, I've heard plenty of other folks bemoaning the quality of the tool as well so I suspect it's not just me.  Since I purchased a _real_ airbrush I now see what a vast difference it makes.  As such, the extra paint nozzles I bought for the Aztec in hopes that they'd make it better are now going into my spare parts bin as they look just the thing for futuristic laser guns.

Best of luck with your Aztec experience!

Madoc

[traceyrb]

That's one gorgeous plane, Madoc!    

Looks just like the one in the picture!  Although I know it's not suppose to look real.
After all this is the What If Modlers Forum!!

All of you guys are just amazing!      

Your so creative and imaginative!      

I love looking at your planes!  

All of you take care and have a great weekend!!    

Tracey (BDB's girlfriend)

[ysi_maniac]

Very good modelling
       

[kitbasher]

Just proves that, whatever you do to one, a Sea Fury will always look stunnng.

[Madoc]

KB,

Just proves that, whatever you do to one, a Sea Fury will always look stunnng.

Yup.  Hard to argue with that!

Madoc