This is another one of my ongoing projects. I've always liked the look of this aircraft, I think it looks better than the F-86 Sabre (although they are only related by the company being different aircraft). The HobbyBoss kit has a number of issues, most of which can be addressed with a bit of elbow grease. Probably the worst is the "Banana curve" at the base and slightly forward of the vertical stabilizer. The lower air brakes are too low on the fuselage, and the fuselage scoops for the engine are too tall and too wide at the aft end. There are others which I will look at as I get to them.

I've addressed the banana curve by adding a piece of plasticard in the curve and then blending it in. I sanded off the lower air brakes and will replace those a bit later in the correct position. I fixed the scoops by sanding them down for height a bit, and making cuts from the aft end in each of the bends, then regluing the plastic. The removed material from the saw blade is enough to change the shape of the scoops at the aft end.

I removed the wing tips as I will be building this with the wings folded. Interestingly enough, the upper and lower cut lines are offset and there is no way the wing could fold without interference if they were real. Fortunately, I noticed this and was able to correct this with the help of some good reference photos. However, the kit only supplies a rib for the wing and nothing for the tip (and the detail is not correct anyway), so that will have to be dealt with as well.

The surface details will be embellished with riveting and restored as needed once I make all the corrections.

I found some figures and a tow tractor and the plan is to mount this on a carrier deck base. I think it will look pretty cool when it's done.

Great choice for a model, Carl (@clipper). I have always like F-86s, which extends over to the Navy version, too. I have this kit floating around somewhere in the garage, but I figure I will get to it someday. In the meantime, I can build vicariously with your build.

Tom (@tcinla), that is what I gathered as I researched the aircraft.

I'm taking a break from the Hudson today (or at least this morning) and catching up on some of the detail work on the FJ-4B Fury. I had decided I wanted to try and make the surface detail more accurate and include riveting and missing fastener details. That can be a tedious task if done in a continuous session, so I set aside time to work specific sections on the model. I've done the vertical stabilizer and now I am working on the dorsal spine.

The Hobby Boss kit has most of the panel lines and most are relatively correct in their location. There are a few spurious panel lanies and some panels are molded as riveted when on the actual aircraft, they are screwed or latched access panels.

Trying to track these down using photos and whatever other sources of info I can find, as well as trying to eliminate incorrect detail is why I am doing this in sections. The photos are often difficult to see details on and it takes correlating different images as well as other sources at times to know if something needs to change. I also will occasionally accept the detail as molded.

So I'll just keep plugging away on this kit and timeshare my building with the Hudson build.

Excellent work, Carl @clipper

While I wait for the paint to complete my F-4 Lightning project, I have returned to working on the Fury. At this point I've mostly updated the exterior surface detail on the fuselage. Wings still need the treatment. I also spent some time evaluating the Aires cockpit set for this model and decided that the slight improvement in detail was not worth the headache of trying to get the Aires cockpit detached from the resin, sanded to fit, and working nicely with all the various internal parts of the kit.

Instead, I am going to use the instrument panel and the forward center console from the Aires kit as well as the PE seat belts. I had an aftermarket Martin Baker ejection seat for the Fury, but it doesn't match the reference photos I have , so that is going in the spare parts bin. The Aires ejection seat is hardly an improvement over the HobbyBoss seat. The Aires forward combing does look to be an improvement so I will use that as well.

I don't have much in the way of photos yet, but here is the exterior of the fuselage..

Thanks John (@johnb).

Nice work get all of the corrections done, Carl (@clipper). It will be fun seeing all of these corrections integrated in the kit as you go.