1/48 Kittyhawk FJ-2 Fury

[Hawkmoon]

The North American FJ-2 and FJ-3 Fury were a series of swept-wing carrier-capable fighters for the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The FJ-2 resulted from an effort to navalise the United States Air Force's F-86 Sabre. These aircraft featured folding wings, arrestor hooks and a longer nose landing strut designed to increase angle of attack upon launch and to accommodate a larger oleo to absorb the shock of hard landings on an aircraft carrier deck.By 1951, the Navy's existing straight-wing fighters were much inferior in performance to the swept-wing Soviet MiG-15 then operating in the Korean War; the swept-wing fighters in the Navy's development pipeline, such as the Vought F7U Cutlass and Grumman F9F Cougar, were not yet ready for deployment and so as an interim measure, the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics ordered a direct development of the swept-wing F-86E Sabres, designated as the FJ-2 Fury.

The first production aircraft flew on 22 November 1952. The FJ-2 incorporated many modifications designed to allow carrier operations: The track of the main landing gear was widened by eight inches, the outer wing panels folded upward, and the windscreen/canopy was modified to give the pilot a better view during approach to the carrier. The FJ-2 also featured an all-moving "flying tail" without dihedral. The Furys armament differed from the standard F-86E-10 by having four 20-mm Colt Mk 12 cannons with 600 rounds per gun instead of the six Colt-Browning M3 .50 machine guns of the Sabre.Outwardly, the FJ-2 was hard to distinguish from an F-86, apart from navy paint and the gun muzzles of the 20 mm cannons. The engine was the General Electric J47-GE-2, a navalized version of the J47-GE-27 used in the F-86F. The naval modifications of the FJ-2 had increased weight by about 500 kg over the F-86F, but had not succeeded in delivering a fully carrier-capable fighter. As a result of a number of deficiencies identified during carrier suitability testing, it was decided to issue the majority of the production FJ-2s to the Marine Corps for land-based operations until these problems could be solved (which ultimately came to pass with the FJ-3 and subsequent FJ-4).

The kit itself comes in the standard card box with 3 grey sprues and the clear parts they also include some etch belts,instructions and finally a sheet of decals to cover the six aircraft in the paint guides. There are quite a few options for leaving gun bays hatches,dive brakes open or closed. The parts themselves are heavy on rivet and panel line detail so some careful sanding will be needed on joint lines. One thing that kitty hawk have left out are the launch rails for the ejector seat but in the Eduard etch set they provide them so some pre planning went on there you could of course just scratch build them.

The kit provides two crew figures very nicely cast in resin one being the pilot figure who is posed entering the aircraft by the foot and grab handles the other being the crew chief for that particular aircraft.

P6277969 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P6277971 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P6277974 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
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P6277986 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P6277989 by andrew purchase, on Flickr

[aur0ra145]

Looks like a fun build!

[Hawkmoon]

Thanks for looking in and your comments

[Stokesy44]

Hopefully it goes together well.

I had no idea the USN adapted the Sabre for carrier use. Makes sense given what a great fighter it was for its day.

[aur0ra145]

Hopefully it goes together well.

I had no idea the USN adapted the Sabre for carrier use. Makes sense given what a great fighter it was for its day.

We had it for a few years. Great jet! The Phantom was better in most regards. Phantastic jet the the Fury was. Phantom did some work in a little war called Vietnam. Wish I could have flown the Phantom, the stories I've heard from combat vets are astounding.

[digger303]

Hopefully it goes together well.

I had no idea the USN adapted the Sabre for carrier use. Makes sense given what a great fighter it was for its day.

We had it for a few years. Great jet! The Phantom was better in most regards. Phantastic jet the the Fury was. Phantom did some work in a little war called Vietnam. Wish I could have flown the Phantom, the stories I've heard from combat vets are astounding.

I'd be interested to hear that.

[Hawkmoon]

Thanks for looking in and your comments everyone

[Hawkmoon]

The rails have been added to the cockpit as you can see in the first picture the assembly of the ejector seat was then finished and the colored etch instrument panels added. Next the air duct to the engine was made up and added to the cockpit assembly then the main fuselage was assembled around it.

P6287993 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P6287995 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P6287997 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
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[Stokesy44]

That looks rather spiffy. Nice PE in the pit. Should be good and visible under the canopy.

Four 20 mike mikes in a nose configuration? I would not wish to be in that aircraft's sights!

[Bdiddy]

really liking the cockpit mate, great job so far

[Hawkmoon]

Thanks for looking in and your comments every one

[Hawkmoon]

The rear fuselage and wings have been assembled and added to the front fuselage. Tomorrow its adding lead shot to the nose so not to have a tail sitter getting close to paint now.

P7198021 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P7198024 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P7198026 by andrew purchase, on Flickr

[BigWall]

It's nice to have you back and posting builds! It's looking great as usual!

[digger303]

[Stokesy44]

Looking nice, such a classic shape. From the pictures it looks broader across the beam than the F86. Is that true or is it just the camera angle?

Looking forward to seeing the paint go on Sir

[Hawkmoon]

Looking nice, such a classic shape. From the pictures it looks broader across the beam than the F86. Is that true or is it just the camera angle?

Looking forward to seeing the paint go on Sir

Hi everyone thanks for looking in and your kind comments

@Stokesy I think it s the camera angle but I think the aircraft did get a little wider towards the mk3/4 versions to accomadate bigger jet engines

[Kevthemodeller]

Probably my favourite 50's jet aircraft, lovely cockpit work mate

[Hawkmoon]

Thanks for looking in and your comments Kev

[Hawkmoon]

All the major assembly is now finished so the fuselage and odds n sods were undercoated and then given a coat of Semi gloss black.

P7208028 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P7208031 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P7208032 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P7208035 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P7208037 by andrew purchase, on Flickr

[Tomcat64]

Beautiful tidy work so far - and another subject you don't see every day as well