Done @p.2 +++ 1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II of RAF 43 Sq., Henlow, late 1938

[Dizzyfugu]

Here's the inspirational benchmark, for those who are not too familiar with the H. P. Heyford:

[Dizzyfugu]

Updates from the bench: the finished aircraft (with open cockpit and higher windscreen)...


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II of the RAF 43 Squadron; Hendon, late 1938 (Whif/Matchbox kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


...and the basic painting in a very standard RAF '38/39 livery:


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II of the RAF 43 Squadron; Hendon, late 1938 (Whif/Matchbox kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II of the RAF 43 Squadron; Hendon, late 1938 (Whif/Matchbox kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[Knightflyer]

Well that was looking good.....now it's starting to look VERY good 

Inspirational as always 

[PR19_Kit]

Very Munich period methinks.

[TallEng]

Looking very good
Kind of reminds me of the Avia B-534, only better looking
(I must admit I was looking forward to full colour markings on silver dope and a polished metal cowling)
But the Munich period scheme will also look good.
And yet another edit: one wonders if one could Furyise a H.P. Heyford?

Regards
Keith

[Dizzyfugu]

Thank you. Yes, the livery is quite conservative - but I find that the Munich Crisis outfit, with toned down markings and Type B roundels everywhere has a certain charm, and the overall layout of the aircraft is weird enough that a dull livery should work well. The black and white wings look cool, too. Silver with bright squadron markings would have been the alternative, but, meh...

[NARSES2]

Thank you. Yes, the livery is quite conservative - but I find that the Munich Crisis outfit, with toned down markings and Type B roundels everywhere has a certain charm,

I agree totally Dizzy 

[Dizzyfugu]

Daily update, with a black ink wash, some post-shading/dry-brushing and decals (puzzled together from the scrap box and aftermarket sheets, e.g. for the code letters):


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II of the RAF 43 Squadron; Hendon, late 1938 (Whif/Matchbox kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II of the RAF 43 Squadron; Hendon, late 1938 (Whif/Matchbox kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II of the RAF 43 Squadron; Hendon, late 1938 (Whif/Matchbox kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II of the RAF 43 Squadron; Hendon, late 1938 (Whif/Matchbox kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II of the RAF 43 Squadron; Hendon, late 1938 (Whif/Matchbox kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Some more dry-brushing with light grey will follow and light soot stains around the exhaust stubs, then matt varnish, and finally some rigging - but by far not as excessice as on the TR.2. 

[NARSES2]

Certainly looks the part 

[Dizzyfugu]

Got the model finished yesterday, beauty pics to follow soon.

[Dizzyfugu]

Here we finally are: a 1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938.


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr



Some background:
The Hawker Furore was an evolutionary development of the successful Fury fighter. Like the Fury, the Furore was powered the liquid-cooled Rolls-Royce F.XI V-12 engine (later known as the Rolls-Royce Kestrel), which was also used by Hawker's new light bomber, the Hawker Hart. The new fighter prototype first flew at Brooklands, Surrey, in March 1932, about a year after the Hawker Fury biplane had entered RAF service, and, in parallel, Hawker's chief designer Sidney Camm also designed a monoplane version of the Fury, but it was held back since Rolls Royce was developing a new, more powerful engine at that time.

The Furore was a single-engine biplane and featured a modern all metal structure single bay wings and the Kestrel engine was enclosed by a smooth, streamlined cowling. But even though the new aircraft used many components from the Fury, it had a totally different look: The Furore had a novel configuration for a fighter, with the fuselage attached to the upper wing — somewhat like the 1914-designed German Gotha G.I bomber and the contemporary Handley Page Heyford heavy bomber. The lower wing was connected with to the fuselage through the landing gear struts, a pair of small pylons and by single struts between the outer wing sections. The fixed, spatted landing gear was integrated into the lower wing's leading edge, and instead of the Fury's tail skid the Furore was outfitted with a small wheel, which was spatted, too.


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The rationale behind the unusual layout was the desire for a free field of view for the pilot, which was, in traditional designs, obscured by the upper wing. Another factor were improved aerodynamics through less struts, e.g. for the landing gear and between the wings, and attention was paid to reduce drag wherever possible. In the end, Furore and Fury had only their outlines in common, and maintenance of both types was very similar, but structurally the two types differed considerably from each other.
The armament was augmented to four 0.303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns: a synchronized pair fired through an innovative variable pitch three blade propeller (instead of the Fury's wooden fixed-pitch two blade propeller), while two more of these weapons were integrated into the spat fairings, firing outside of the propeller arc.


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Since Rolls Royce's new engine was pending and in order to compare the Furore's potential with the conservative Fury, the Air Ministry ordered at the start of 1933 a small initial production run for 21 aircraft. These machines, designated Furore Mk. I, were delivered in the course of early 1934 and distributed evenly among No. 25 and 43 squadron, which also operated the Hawker Fury as direct benchmark. One machine was kept at Hawker for further testing and development.


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


These trials soon showed that, despite the Furore's slightly higher weight, the benefits from the aerodynamic cleaning effort outweighed this penalty. The improved firepower also spoke in favor of the Furore. However, the type's handling was less appreciable, horizontal stability had suffered and the low ground clearance of the lower wing created an unexpected ground effect, which made landing the aircraft literally difficult. Furthermore, the unusual wing position resulted in an operational drawback: even though the pilot enjoyed an almost free, hemispherical field of view from the cockpit in flight, the view for- and downwards was hampered by the relative position of the upper wings and the cockpit, which made taxiing and especially landing – on top of the venturous ground effect – hazardous.


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Despite these drawbacks, a second batch of 30 aircraft with some minor refinements (recognizable by longer spats) was ordered in late 1934 as Furore Mk. II, just a couple of weeks before Sidney Camm's Fury monoplane design eventually came to official attention when Rolls-Royce presented their famous Merlin engine. The Fury monoplane's design was then revised, according to Air Ministry specification F5/34, to become the prototype Hawker Hurricane. This highly successful type quickly replaced the RAF biplane fighters in frontline units from 1937 onwards, and from this point on, the small Furore fleet was quickly retired or used in liaison and meteorological duties 1940, when the type was retired.


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr



General characteristics:
    Crew: One
    Length: 26 ft 11 in (8.20 m)
    Wingspan: 30 ft 0 in (9.14 m)
    Height: 12 ft 3 in (3.74 m)
    Wing area: 250 ft² (23.2 m²)
    Empty weight: 2,995 lb (1,360 kg)
    Loaded weight: 3,800 lb (1,725 kg)

Powerplant:
    1× Rolls-Royce Kestrel IV V12 engine, 680 hp (506 kW)

Performance:
    Maximum speed: 245 mph at 16,500 ft (395 km/h at 5,030 m)
    Range: 270 mi (435 km)
    Service ceiling: 29,800 ft (9,100 m)
    Rate of climb: 2,650 ft/min (13.5 m/s)
    Wing loading: 14.4 lb/ft² (21.5 kg/m²)
    Power/mass: 0.179 hp/lb (0.293 kW/kg)

Armament:
    2× 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers Mk IV machine guns with 500 RPG in the upper fuselage
    2× 0.303 in Lewis machine guns with 350 PRG; one in each wheel fairing




1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Hawker Furore Mk. II, aircraft ,,NQ-J/L1485" of the Royal Air Force No. 43 Squadron "B Flight", RAF Henlow, Herfordshire (UK); November 1938 (Whif/modified Matchbox kit) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


A thorough conversion, even though almost the complete original Fury kit could be used! And the result is really ambiguous – on one side, the resulting Furore looks both plausible and very Thirties, like one of those many weird designs that were spawned during the transitional era between biplanes and  monoplanes. The build was intended to look like the missing link between the Fury and the Hurricane, and I think that I achieved that. On the other side, the "Heyford effect" takes full effect: despite being based on a sleek and elegant aircraft, and with no major additions, the "re-arranged" Furore looks quite bulky and very massive.

[Knightflyer]

That is absolutely brilliant  Another winner as always 

[PR19_Kit]

Terrific job there Thomas, I REALLY like that. 

[Old Wombat]

Funky!

[Dizzyfugu]

Thank you very much, glad you like it!