Just arrived on my porch: Kitty Hawk 1/48 FJ-2 Fury
Big announcement: Kitty Hawk is no longer S-h-itty Hawk here at Le Chateau du Chat.
I took the plunge last week and picked up a new FJ-2 kit ($50 included delivery from Shenzen China), since the computer views I had seen looked better than previous kits and I am a Fury fan who has long wished to have an accurate one to completely fill out my Sabre collection, which will now be complete (totally complete with an FJ-3).
Opening the box, the kit lived up to my hopes. Looking it over, the only single nit I can come up with is that the rudder and elevators have the ribs of the FJ-3. Five minutes with Mr. Surfacer and a sanding stick will solve that easily.
The kit is the first Sabre with the dropped slats, and they're done well. Could someone please please please do an OOB F-86A and E with these?
The cockpit could be more detailed, but what is there is OK, with decal instrument panels. The resin guys have an opportunity here.
I couldn't restrain myself and cut the two parts of the left upper wing off and test-fitted them. It's not going to be a problem to assemble it wing up or down.
Decals are nice, and cover all five Marine squadrons that flew the airplane. It's NMF-only, since they were produced overpainted with the clear anti-corrosion paint, which turned out to be not so good. It's certainly possible to do the airplane in gull grey/white in its final service, which I think might solve the control surface problem since they could have been re-equipped with FJ-3 controls by then - I'm not that much of a Fury experte to know that for sure. (Update: looking at photos, it appears that late-career FJ-2s do have the ribbed rudder and elevators)
Overall: this is definitely Kitty Hawk's best yet. We'll find out if it's made of plastic that responds to Tamiya Extra-Thin (the fact the Cougar was made of something that didn't was its major problem). As of this point, I can conclude: Buy. In. Confidence. Coming from a professional Kitty Hawk basher, that's good news indeed.
I'l take some pix later today.
UPDATE: the plastic responds to Tamiya Extra-Thin. I'm likely going to do a WIP on this one.
Tom, thanks for the quickie review. I’ve been interested in this kit, and the review is going to help me go broke. 🙂
I'm getting close to "Let me up! I've had enough!"
Just over the past six months or so: Eduard P-51D, Airfix Spitfire XIV, AMG Hawker Demon, Freedom Models Hawk III (going to be a BF2C-1), ICM B-26 Invader, ICM He-111, Kitty Hawk FJ-2, Modelsvit XP-55, Tamiya P-38F/G, H-K B-17G... and each one "definitive."
Yes, indeed - the hobby is dying! (/snark)
Yes sir. I agree. My bench time is more limited than yours and I will need about 225 years to finish my stash at my current rate. That being said, with all the new "definitive" kits coming out I will have to cull the stash if I want to keep purchasing the greatest of the latest.
If the hobby was dying I don't think we'd have to wait for backorders to get filled. 🙂 Checking daily in November for a known December delivery is lunacy, but I find myself doing that very thing. 🙂
LOL
I've been waiting on KH's Furies for some time! Thanks for the heads up, I just put my order in. Hopefully the FJ-3 won't be far behind!
Always liked the look of this aircraft. I could never bring myself to purchase the Grand Phoenix versions. Looking forward to the W.I.P
WIP in progress! It's so easy if you blink you;ll miss it George!
You're lucky you missed out. I kinda wish I didn't buy and build the Grand Phoenix Fury. It was as terrible as advertised. It is one of those kits that can break a modeler's sanity if they aren't prepared.
However, I am now a member of the Grand Phoenix Fury Completed Build Club. It's not a very big club from what I understand.
Glad to hear that it's not a Sh*tty Hawk kit. So I've been mostly disappointed with reading the feedback on the Kitty Hawk kits.
If only they could redo the Cougar and Banshee.