North American P-86B (or a F2J-1 -- depending who gets it)

[NARSES2]

It's surprisingly large Robert. I always thought of the Fury as a 'small jet' but it towers over the Twin Mustang.

Looking VERY good nonetheless.

My thoughts exactly

[kitnut617]

Thanks Todd, Chris.

I wonder if the different ""sit"" of the two aircraft in my pic makes one look bigger than the other. What I mean is the F-82 is a tail-dragger, while the FJ-1 is on it's nose gear.  The photo I posted earlier in the thread (reply #22) which shows real F-82's and FJ-1's being built together gives a better comparison.

[kitnut617]

It's surprisingly large Robert. I always thought of the Fury as a 'small jet' but it towers over the Twin Mustang.

My thoughts exactly

I used to have the same impression with the Martin Baker MB5, until I made my model of it. I was surprised to find it was as large as a Tempest and wondered if the model was out of scale.  Re-checking my references found that it was a large aircraft --- about 1 1/3 times bigger than a P-51D which many compare it to.

[NARSES2]

First time I built an MB5 I had exactly the same feeling mate. I never realised it was so large

[kitnut617]

Kit's comment about it's size got me wondering because seeing the two in the flesh they don't seem very far apart.

Here's a pic of the top view, I've raised the tail of the F-82 so the wing is horizontal to the surface. It can clearly be seen that the wing span on my project is wider even though the wing parts of the two are the same length.  The F-82 though is a bit longer.



Here's a pic comparing the outer wing of the F-82 with an FJ-1 wing (sans the root leading edge extension)



But this pic is quite interesting, once the F-82 tail is raised, there's not very much difference with the height to the top of the canopies, the tails though are a different kettle of fish ---



The nose gear on my project is what comes out of the box, and fixed to the wheel bay as it shows in the instructions. Although there's something wrong with the FJ-1 kit in how it shows where the wheel bay gets put inside the fuselage.  I didn't bother changing it though, but where the nose gear is attached at the front of the wheel bay, is pretty much where it would be. It can't go any higher in the bay because the air intake is just above the bay roof there.

My main gear legs are actually the F-82 legs, they are the same length as the FJ-1 legs and even look almost the same when I compare the two. But what I've used needs to be shortened a bit so eventually the fin height will be a little less that what is shown here.

[PR19_Kit]

But the Fury is one FAT little thing compared to the almost svelte P-82. 

[kitnut617]

I think you're right, that's what gives it the 'huge' look Kit ---- at the beginning I was thinking of using two F-86A fuselages but then decided to go the FJ-1 route because it went into production.

Anyway, I've made the rear end a bit closer to the surface by moving the main gear up into the bay by a couple of mm's.  I used the F-82 u/c legs because they can except a bigger diameter wheel, which considering the weight this thing would be at, it needs them. 

And the first round of PSR started this afternoon.

[Tophe]

Marvelous pictures, even before completion!

[Captain Canada]

Glad to hear the PSR has started Robert ! This thing is gonna be wicked !

[kitnut617]

Thanks Tophe, Todd ---

Second round of PSR started, and I now have all the outer wings glued on.  Just need to let the whole thing dry properly before I handle it again --

[kitnut617]

Got both canopies cut out and they fit quite well, glued the pilot figure's arm on too.



And here's the pylons with the missile rails I made up, and I cut the flap track grooves into the flaps.



And then started adding some ribs and the flap tracks, still got the outer wing ones to glue on.



Hopefully by the end of today I'll get a coat of paint onto it ----

[kitnut617]

Well I started to rush the build and the results is now showing it, so I've decided to stop and sort it out later as I'm not going to be able to finish it in time (there's too much to do anyway apart from now having to fix the really crappy finish) .

But this is where I am at the moment, and now I'll just complete it at my leisure.

[kitnut617]

I know the GB is over but I'll keep updating the thread here.

The Siga FJ-1 kit is not a very nice kit to build, I've found that each side of the kit parts are different to each other.  What I mean is starting at the fuselage center line where the two fuselage halves join and moving out to the wingtips, they're completely different. You'd expect it would be symmetrical but there's nothing symmetrical about it.

Case in point was when I was drilling out the gun ports, I used what is moulded in as a starting point but to my dismay, I found the gun ports on one fuselage half were higher than on the other half.  I had to re-fill all the ports and start again. One fuselage I had to cut out the ports altogether and glue in styrene card because it got too messed up.  Then after I had got some paint on the wings it looked like the airfoil was upside down. So after straightening it out and sanding down the parts, most of the red I had carefully masked up and then paint had to be removed.

Not a happy camper I can assure you ---

Anyway, got things fixed and started to re-paint it. So here's a few pics of where it's at.  The slats & flaps on the outer wings are not glued in yet, just positioned there so I could see the result.











Sorry about the last pic though, not very good.

The decals I'm using will be for 410 Sqn. and they had a red/white triangle pattern nose band.  The sheet I'm using is really for an F-86 but the FJ-1 has a deeper fuselage at the front than the F-86 does. So the decal isn't quite long enough. I've written to CanMilAir to see if I can get some extras that have a couple more triangles added to the length.

Here you can see what I mean, I'll move the back edge of the decal so it lines up with the front edge of the rectangular panel you can see here and then the top end of the decal will line up with the top edge of the same panel, then I'll redo the anti-glare panel to bring it down to where the decal will start.

[NARSES2]

Really coming on well mate

[kitnut617]

Thanks Chris ---

NMF is really difficult to get a good finish, especially if you're using a 'hairy stick'.  Any silver colour will glaringly show up any crack, gouges, using too course sand-paper etc. The result I've got so far is after numerous coats of paint applied thinly, then wet sanding it. In the end it produces a nice smooth surface finish.  I'm using Humbrol 27001 for the most part, 27002 for all the moving surfaces (ailerons, elevators, rudders and the flaps) and the two large drop tanks and everything else that's not black on the pod. Because I want a really shiny look to the top sides of the slats I'm going to use H191.  Anti-glare is H33 while the radome is H85. Cockpit interior is mainly H64 with H33 and H85 highlights (I haven't read what the seat colours are yet).  The Tasman FJ-1 replacement canopies are very clear and will show the cockpit detail very well so I'll have to pay special attention to how it gets painted.

Reading my copy of  RCAF - Aircraft Finish and Markings 1947-1968, it says the red was used only on home operated aircraft and is shade RED 9-2. There isn't a direct copy in any of the paint ranges for this shade but the decal company I get my decals from suggests ModelMaster Guard's Red on a white primer (reason you see the white in the photos above)

Hopefully it will turn out how I want it in the end.