1/48 Airfix Sea Fury - R.Francis

[N4521U]

I thought I had already started a thread, but alas, I am Old.
This is one of a few AC Russ Francis owned and another I want to build.
I had planned on doing it for "Stormy Weather" eh, so here it is in "S2F".
I do realize it does not conform to Aussie rules! I am building it as it is.
I think it is out of the U.S. now but has kept the same look. I have custom decals!

So first two shots, the kit, and an aerial taken with Russ at the controls.
A side bar, Russ was trained in Bob Loves P-51, "Bernie's Bo" at Livermore (LVK) airport
before flying the Fury. Bob was an ace in Korea flying a Sabre. He also flew Mustangs
at Reno. One aircraft was marked Bardahl Special, #8. It may have been his own Mustang.

So I have started. The prop, I juts like
to see something done right off the get go!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Nice one Bill, nice kit as well.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Good stuff.

 

[N4521U]

Today some time this a.m. paint.
First Zinc, I know not the proper color!!!! Then Alum, with black undercoat!
Pics of R.F. plane looked like silver undercarriage! Cockpit is assembled and ready to go in.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Moving swiftly old bean!

 

[fubar57]

Good stuff Bill. No idea about innards colours

 

[Crimea_River]

Making good headway.

 

[mjfur]

Bob Love/Russ Francis P-51D, P-51 Mustang Survivors - MustangsMustangs.com
Fury, Hawker Fury/Sea Fury Registry - A Warbirds Resource Group Site

RIP Russ Francis, Oct, 2023

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — Former NFL tight end Russ Francis, a three-time Pro Bowl selection with the New England Patriots who won a Super Bowl with the 1984 San Francisco 49ers, was killed along with another aviation enthusiast when their small plane crashed after takeoff from an upstate New York airport, authorities said Monday.

Francis, 70, and Richard McSpadden, 63, had just departed from the Lake Placid Airport shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday in a single-engine Cessna 177 when the plane encountered trouble. The New York State Police said the aircraft crashed into an embankment at the corner of the airport.

Francis was president of Lake Placid Airways, which runs charter and scenic flights. A longtime flying enthusiast, he had been a pilot for nearly 50 years and had run a charter service in Hawaii, according to the airline's website. McSpadden was a senior vice president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and was known as an aviation safety expert. The organization said his career included a stint as commander of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds.

 

[N4521U]

Good stuff Bill. No idea about innards colours

Most all BLACK AS!

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far Bill!

 

[N4521U]

Bob Love/Russ Francis P-51D, P-51 Mustang Survivors - MustangsMustangs.com
Fury, Hawker Fury/Sea Fury Registry - A Warbirds Resource Group Site

RIP Russ Francis, Oct, 2023

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — Former NFL tight end Russ Francis, a three-time Pro Bowl selection with the New England Patriots who won a Super Bowl with the 1984 San Francisco 49ers, was killed along with another aviation enthusiast when their small plane crashed after takeoff from an upstate New York airport, authorities said Monday.

Francis, 70, and Richard McSpadden, 63, had just departed from the Lake Placid Airport shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday in a single-engine Cessna 177 when the plane encountered trouble. The New York State Police said the aircraft crashed into an embankment at the corner of the airport.

Francis was president of Lake Placid Airways, which runs charter and scenic flights. A longtime flying enthusiast, he had been a pilot for nearly 50 years and had run a charter service in Hawaii, according to the airline's website. McSpadden was a senior vice president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and was known as an aviation safety expert. The organization said his career included a stint as commander of the U.S. Air Force Thunde

I had met Bob Love, just didn't know it at the time. A friend took me out to the airport, we sat in front of Bob's Mustang and watched planes land and take off. Little did I know 12 years later I would be doing art work, T shirt printing and end up friends with Russ, the owner of that Mustang. Bob passed away some time before, cleaning that Mustang in his hangar there at LVK, Livermore airport. I asked Russ long before he did retire, what he planned on doing after football. He was not happy I asked, they never think of retirement! I knew he he had run a flight school. He was helicopter qualified as well. He was a soft spoken big fella. He got a kick outta graggin me into his planes and flippin me around the sky. He had a 400hp, 4 aileron Stearman, black and bad. I got to control it a time or two, I was taking flight lessons at the time. We did stuff in the Mustang would make most people, and the feds shiver. Tagged along to airshows with him and met some great people. Bob Hoover was one, an SR71 pilot who couldn't answer a lot of questions!!!!! I was at Reno the year Hoover taxied into a pick up truck waving to the crowd. Just wasn't looking where he was going. They labeled his Rockwell the "Hoover Matic"................................ sorry lost in thought.

 

[N4521U]

BTW, Vic mentioned it's a nice kit, and he was right!
Fits and details are realy nice. Some surfaces need a
bit of adjustment but not to musch, slight is more like it.
So yesterday and this morning............
Got the fuselage together and wing bottom center.

Then came the Tail Hook, checked photos, this will be a little tricky.
Also noticed no.......... raised rivets like on the kit!!! I'll be taking these
down! I have the closed door on the tail wheel for painting as the
tail wheel housing is painted inside. I wonder? Is this a version of the
Sea Fury, no hook, no folding wings?????

 

[Wurger]

I wonder? Is this a version of the
Sea Fury, no hook, no folding wings?????
View attachment 791420

As memo serves the first prototype of the Sea Fury didn't have the foldable wings only. But she had the tail hook. The F-AZXL kite is a Sea Fury FB.MK 11 of the former Iraqi Air Force which was imported into the USA in the mid 70'. Reconfigured as FB.10 and restored to fly, returned to the air in the late 80' with the USA registration N21SF. Following a forced landing the Fury was modified, fitted with the Curtiss Wright R3350 engine and a second seat. So she is a modified kite hence the different shape of the rudder at the bottom, the lack of the hook and unfolded wings. However it can be noticed that she already had the rudder bottom modified still having the single-seat cockpit in 80'. Also the markings were slightly different. See the pics below ..

the image source: Aerial Visuals - Airframe Dossier - Hawker Sea Fury FB.10, s/n 250 IQAF, c/n 37514, c/r F-AZXL

 

[N4521U]

As memo serves the first prototype of the Sea Fury didn't have the foldable wings only. But she had the tail hook. The F-AZXL kite is a Sea Fury FB.MK 11 of the former Iraqi Air Force which was imported into the USA in the mid 70'. Reconfigured as FB.10 and restored to fly, returned to the air in the late 80' with the USA registration N21SF. Following a forced landing the Fury was modified, fitted with the Curtiss Wright R3350 engine and a second seat. So she is a modified kite hence the different shape of the rudder at the bottom, the lack of the hook and unfolded wings. However it can be noticed that she already had the rudder bottom modified still having the single-seat cockpit in 80'. Also the markings were slightly different. See the pics below ..

View attachment 791421
View attachment 791422
the image source: Aerial Visuals - Airframe Dossier - Hawker Sea Fury FB.10, s/n 250 IQAF, c/n 37514, c/r F-AZXL

And those are the markings I have had made!
Thanks for all that information Wojtek!

 

[Wurger]

My pleasure.

 

[Wurger]

BTW ... actually she is not the ex-RAN/FAA aircraft but is marked as such.

 

[N4521U]

BTW ... actually she is not the ex-RAN/FAA aircraft but is marked as such.

That..................... I did know. However it is as Russ owned and flew it.

 

[Wurger]

That..................... I did know. However it is as Russ owned and flew it.

Oh .. OK then.

 

[Wurger]

Bill .. I have found that the Iraq placed an order for 30 single-seat Hawker Fury 1's and 4 two-seat Hawker Fury Trainers in December 1946. These were the non-navalised single-seaters and delivered during 1947–48 with another 25 FB.11 taken on strength during 1951–53. The 25 planes were the15 new built and 10 ex-Royal Navy aircraft that had their naval gear removed. The Iraqis acquired a total of 55 single-seaters and five two-seaters. It means that's the reason for the lack of the tail hook and the different shape of the rudders etc ...

the pic source: Hawker Sea Fury in Iraqi Service - Destination's Journey