Hawker Fury I

[DogfighterZen]

Influenced by the discussion on one of The Wooksta's threads on this forum, i decided to bite the bullet and start a project i've had in mind for a few years now.
After realizing that i had the kit and parts needed to facilitate the conversion of the PM 1/72 Sea Fury FB.11 into the original Fury I design with the Napier Sabre engine, i dug into the stash to find the kits.
The KP Tempest II kit has two sets of Sabre engine cowlings for the later Tempest versions but i want to build it as the Tempest II so i won't be needing the Sabre engine cowlings and, after a closer inspection, i found that one of them would be the closest to the real thing, i just had to remove the ugly chin radiator and make the corrections needed.
I really like the look of the Fury with the Sabre so, to clear all doubts, i had to cut plastic and this is the result...

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It'll take some effort but i really want to build it so, no turning back now...

[perttime]

So, it will have something like a Tempest Mk. I prototype nose?

[DogfighterZen]

Nope, like the real Fury had.

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[The Wooksta!]

I'm going to wade in here and say that already it's wrong.  I made exactly the same mistake.  Let's take a look at what the real prototype looked like.

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The engine is too far back.  The back of the exhausts should be roughly in line with the front of the leading edge radiators.  I think the problem comes from the fact that we've both used the firewall on the Centaurus airframe as a datum when the Sabre one was different.  As a result, it's at least a good 5mm too far back.  Plus the Tempest cowling is a Sabre V, whereas LA610 had a Sabre VII which might have been longer.

These may help.
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The RAF were only interested in the Sabre Fury, the Navy was to get the Centaurus, and even then, they only wanted it as a Typhoon fighter bomber replacement and not an actual fighter.  If it couldn't carry rockets or bombs, they had no interest.  According to the Tony Buttler article in an old Aviation Enthusiast I have somewhere.

Put it on hold for a few weeks, as I have some resin bits and a vac canopy that could be useful - the plug around the cockpit, leading edge radiators and the lower engine cowling.  The latter parts are for a Tempest I conversion but with some tinkering they're ideal here.  If I don't have them in the bits box, I can always dig out the moulds and cast a set of two, so you could do a production Tempest I as a contrast.  I think I know where they are...

[The Wooksta!]

And these photos may also be helpful.

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[DogfighterZen]

Lee, thank you so much! What a great set of images, they'll be very useful indeed! 
Just a bit ago i was testing the wings on it and noticed the length issue. I'd already chosen the cowling from the KP kit that has the exhausts more towards the front end but it isn't enough, that's for sure.
I did cut the Sea fury almost 2mm further forward of the panel line that i believe is where the firewall is located so i'd need to move it forward somewhere around 3/4 mm.

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Put it on hold for a few weeks, as I have some resin bits and a vac canopy that could be useful - the plug around the cockpit, leading edge radiators and the lower engine cowling.  The latter parts are for a Tempest I conversion but with some tinkering they're ideal here.  If I don't have them in the bits box, I can always dig out the moulds and cast a set of two, so you could do a production Tempest I as a contrast.  I think I know where they are...

   Lee, i'm lost for words... That would obviously save me a lot of work and the idea of building the Tempest I is also very tempting so what can i say, you twist a guy's arm... offer accepted, mate!!    

[NARSES2]

Looking forward to this. Always thought it was a good looking aircraft 

[The Wooksta!]

And here's one we made earlier.

Getting it quite wrong indeed.  I know a lot more now about 2TAF. So those markings wouldn't be quite so off.

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You can see how short it is.  I didn't when I was building it.

[DogfighterZen]

Looking forward to this. Always thought it was a good looking aircraft 

It sure is, quite a powerful yet, good looking machine. That's why i decided i'd try to build one someday since i first saw it but that was quite a while ago. I'd forgotten about it until i read Lee's blog post.

Lee, i can see what you mean, does look a bit short compared to the real one... But that looks good anyway.

[su27rules]

    

[Gondor]

I started one of these as well, I was following an article in a magazine which used the engine from an early Mustang, I may well dig it out sometime to see how far I got.

Gondor