Hawker Fury build

[Bananabomber]

Having seen Jamie’s lovely example fly last summer my latest build is a Hawker Fury from the Flair mini classics kit - approx 1/14th scale giving a wingspan of 26 inches. As you can see most of the airframe is complete, I’m just working on the undercarriage wires which are a bit of geometry challenge as there are no templates on the plan to work out the wire bending from. Originally intended for rubber power the build is very light. I am going electric on a 2s set up, 12amp esc from 4 Max. I have elected to plank and will glass the front of the fuselage which will then give a solid enough base to cover with flitemetal simulating the lovely stainless cowl found on many of the Hawker biplanes of the 1930’s - Fury, Hart, Hind and Nimrod etc. The fus is a lovely shape - you can really see the origins of the Hurricane which was to follow. The rest of the airframe covering will either be good old tissue and dope or maybe solartex if it can be applied and shrunk without warping - we’ll see. Other mods include moveable control surfaces - to include ailerons. Hope to have it ready for April release!

[Ian]

Beautiful! The Hawker bi-planes of that time are some of the best looking planes ever built. I sometimes think it's a shame to cover up a stringered fuselage like that. Solartex would probably be far too heavy for such a small model, Litespan perhaps? Otherwise tissue & dope as you say. Camera is ready

[Bananabomber]

Thanks Ian, your Hart (or is it a Hind ? - I can never remember) was part of the inspiration too. I think you’re right about the Solartex - I haven’t heard of Litespan so I’ll do a bit of Googling! Failing that it’ll be dope - I’ve got some of the water based stuff from Deluxe Materials so hoping it won’t be so messy/smelly a job as it used to be.

Quick update - the undercarriage wires are now done - the bending was done by trial and (several) errors. The axle is joined to the main legs using fuse wire and solder. The rear legs are joined the same way except with epoxy instead of solder. I will make them look more scale by adding balsa detail to the leg wires.

Next job will be mounting some aileron servos.

[Mike P]

That looks like a bit of a fiddle but is coming together nicely. Looking forward to the test flight and getting back to flying.

[Bananabomber]

Yep, very fiddly! A bit more progress on the fus today - the cockpit has been added and some additional framework to support the under fus radiator housing (which I am going to use to hold the esc as it will get some good airflow for cooling in that location). Work on the aileron servo installation has been delayed as the 9g servos I had ‘in stock’ did not fit in the slim wing so I have some micro linear servos on order which should do the trick.

NB the weird stripes on the fus are filler pre sanding - I need a very smooth finish before glass cloth goes on (with Poly -C) so I have a nice base for the Flitemetal (I’m actually going to use aluminium tape).

[Mike P]

Not long now and you will be flying.

[Bananabomber]

So the aluminium tape is now on - not perfect by any means. Worried about the weight, I elected not to glass beforehand which turned out to be a mistake. The poly c finish I used instead lifted as I had to continually reposition the tape to get all the wrinkles out of it, leaving a less than smooth finish to say the least. Once the panel lines are weathered on it’ll do - lesson learned.
The wheel components are ready for assembly, as is the spinner and radiator. The wheel hubs and spinner shape are quite distinctive for the Fury.
The wing servos are also in, I managed to squeeze in some micro 4g Hong Kong jobs which seem quite happy at the 5.5v the BEC is providing.
Today I completed adding some scale detail to the undercarriage wires and also fitted a tail wheel, not present on the original 30’s aircraft but a feature on a recent restoration.
Next job is to join and then cover the top wing.

[Mike P]

Looks good in the photo, I am pretty sure the real planes were not that perfect.

[Ian]

That looks pretty good, it's almost impossible to get that stuff on without wrinkles. It's why I don't let people look too closely at the Hart

[Bananabomber]

The rear of the fus is now covered with tissue. I used traditional shrinking dope in the end as I will be able to apply acrylic paint straight on after a light sanding. Quite pleased with result - drum tight with two coats of a 50% dope/thinner mix. I have also covered the lower main wings and rear flying surfaces with tissue. The pieces are quite fragile and to avoid them warping I have jigged and pinned them during the water shrinking phase. Picture shows them drying - fingers crossed they dry and shrink ok - all looks a bit saggy at the moment.