1/48 Kittyhawk FJ-2 Fury
Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2020 2:03 pm
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
P6277976 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P6277977 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P6277980 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P6277982 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P6277983 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P6277985 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P6277986 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
P6277989 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
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 FlickrP6277971 by andrew purchase, on FlickrP6277974 by andrew purchase, on FlickrP6277976 by andrew purchase, on FlickrP6277977 by andrew purchase, on FlickrP6277980 by andrew purchase, on FlickrP6277982 by andrew purchase, on FlickrP6277983 by andrew purchase, on FlickrP6277985 by andrew purchase, on FlickrP6277986 by andrew purchase, on FlickrP6277989 by andrew purchase, on Flickr
Thanks for looking in and your comments 
