Hawker Sea Fury References

[Mr Creosote]

Howdy all: I'm flogging on a Hobbycraft Sea Fury and this looks to be a good candidate for trying out two techinques I want to develop,namely "stressed skin" and "riveting". I need to know is what is the reference [book] I need to purchase that shows the rivet patterns?

RD

[Edgar Brooks]

"Spotlight No.1 The Hawker Sea Fury," in Scale Models October 1983 would be my weapon of choice, since it has drawings by Peter Cooke, and he photographed, and measured, the real thing at Yeovilton during the 1970s. The drawings are probably still available from My Hobby Store www.myhobbystore.com., since they took over the existing stock of Nexus/MAP drawings. Incidentally Peter went to great lengths to explain that the Sea Fury rivets were filled, and sanded smooth, before painting.

Edgar

[thierry laurent]

Hi!

 

Edgar is right regarding the plans quality. I based a large part of my analysis of the Hobbycraft kit on such plans and the mentioned article. However, they do not give you the rivet lines... The only source I know that give a rather correct view of them is the recent book from Dalrymple & Verdun (Buttler, Tony, Sea Fury in British, Australian, Canadian & Dutch Service, Dalrymple & Verdun, 2008). There are some multiple views drawn by Richard Caruana that show such rivet lines as well as various pictures that show the stressed skin effect (generally present on the tail and part of the rear fuselage).

 

I do not know any other correct scale plan that gives a rather comprehensive view of the panel lines (and I've most interesting books and mags dedicated to the Sea Fury). Issue 191 of the French magazine replic is also highly recommended (excellent walkaround pics).

 

HTH

[Hubert Boillot]

I concur with Thierry that the plans have no rivet lines indications, and with Edgar that the Sea Fury was a very clean airframe with not so many rivets visible on the skin...but not so in the insides (wheel wells for instance)

 

The oct. 83 issue is one of the very few issues of SMI I kept (because of the Sea Fury plans .... ). If you want a scan of these plans, just PM me...

 

Hubert.

[Mr Creosote]

OK. It sounds like I will pass on the riveting but may do some subtle "skin stressing".

Thanks for all the replies. I do apprieciate it. And.

I will look through my stack of modelling magazines as there is a decent chance I have that Scale Models issue. Or:

You know,I'm going to invent a device probably that will run off electrical power that has the ability to store information you put into it. Just think of it,we could,if it had a keyboard just like a typewriter,list our magazines and their contents in some sort of organized fashion.

RD

[mrp]

Here are a few shots I took of the Sea Fury in the Canada Avaition Museum. I was looking for a shot that shows the rivets are present and can be seen. This particular airframe was taken directly from from RCN service and has not been touched since then, this being the issue with most other Sea Furies which have been repainted .

As an aside, the Sea Fury T20 is very heavily riveted around the second rear cockpit. There are a number of restored Sea Furies T20 with a single seat , the rivet pattern gives away the origin of the aircraft.

 

MRP

 

 

 

 

[ssculptor]

Well, OK, but just as long as you don't expect me to start counting the rivets...!

 

However, if you want stressed skin effects look to the last models of the naval Seafire 47s as used in Korea.

For those building a Fury I strongly suggest you read the book, Furies and Fireflies over Korea: The Story of the Men of the Fleet Air Arm, RAF and Commonwealth who Defended South Korea, 1950-1953 by Graham Thomas, published by Grub Street, London in 2004.

 

Beside being a good read, there is mention of how at the beginning of the Korean War the British aircraft carrier H.M.S. Triumph was carrying Mk.2 Fireflies and Spifire Mk. 47 Seafires. The Seafires had to carry dropable fuel tanks, by the way. The problem with the Seafire 47 was that it distorted because of the hard landings necessary on the carrier's deck. The author states that, "As operations mounted, more Seafires became unserviceable through the wrinkling of their metal skin caused by hard deck landings." Also, the diary of 800 Squadron (Spitfire 47) noted that, "The engineers dropped a bolt from the blue this afternoon when they wrote off four more of our aircraft they considered unsafe."

 

So, if one wants to show skin wrinkling the Seafire 47 in 1950 Korean War markings would be an ideal model. Assuming one can kit-bash a 47 out of the Matchbox 22/24 kit and if one can get photos showing the stressed panels of the 47s.

 

The book has a number of photos of Furies and Fireflies on carrier decks during the Korean War, too. I really cannot imagine starting a Fury, or Firefly (now available as a vacuform by our LSP member Tigger) without first reading this book. Great inspiration!

 

Enjoy.

[Mr Creosote]

I'll check that book out. I'm always on the look out for a good read. I had also read that once the shooting started the FAA folks resolved the Seafire wrinkling problem by ignoring it. A 32nd scale FR47 sounds very tempting as does the Firefly. I have not flogged a vac in some time now. I guess I might have to drop Tigger a PM.

RD

 

 

Well, OK, but just as long as you don't expect me to start counting the rivets...!

 

However, if you want stressed skin effects look to the last models of the naval Seafire 47s as used in Korea.

For those building a Fury I strongly suggest you read the book, Furies and Fireflies over Korea: The Story of the Men of the Fleet Air Arm, RAF and Commonwealth who Defended South Korea, 1950-1953 by Graham Thomas, published by Grub Street, London in 2004.

 

Beside being a good read, there is mention of how at the beginning of the Korean War the British aircraft carrier H.M.S. Triumph was carrying Mk.2 Fireflies and Spifire Mk. 47 Seafires. The Seafires had to carry dropable fuel tanks, by the way. The problem with the Seafire 47 was that it distorted because of the hard landings necessary on the carrier's deck. The author states that, "As operations mounted, more Seafires became unserviceable through the wrinkling of their metal skin caused by hard deck landings." Also, the diary of 800 Squadron (Spitfire 47) noted that, "The engineers dropped a bolt from the blue this afternoon when they wrote off four more of our aircraft they considered unsafe."

 

So, if one wants to show skin wrinkling the Seafire 47 in 1950 Korean War markings would be an ideal model. Assuming one can kit-bash a 47 out of the Matchbox 22/24 kit and if one can get photos showing the stressed panels of the 47s.

 

The book has a number of photos of Furies and Fireflies on carrier decks during the Korean War, too. I really cannot imagine starting a Fury, or Firefly (now available as a vacuform by our LSP member Tigger) without first reading this book. Great inspiration!

 

Enjoy.