Top Flite: Sea Fury

Model Airplane News, Nov 2003 by Kulesa, Stan, Davisson, Budd

TOP FLITE SEA FURY A Gold Edition kit of a classic warbird

As WW II came to a close, the Hawker Co. worked feverishly to release a new fighter-bomber-the Fury. The Royal Navy called it the "Sea Fury," and that name stuck. Although it saw minimal service in WW II, it was much used during the Korean War; in fact, a Sea Fury scored one of the first MiG "kills" during that conflict. This event merited special attention because a piston-powered airplane had shot down a nimble jet fighter.

As a military aircraft, it could carry up to 16,3-inch rockets, two 1,000-pound bombs and two 90-gallon drop tanks under the wings in addition to its four 20mm Hispano cannon. The black and white stripes on the fuselage and wings were common to all British Commonwealth carrier-borne aircraft during the Korean War.

In 1949, the Sea Fury set a speed record on a flight from London to Rome, and this triumph gave rise to its principal civilian use as a racer; in fact, eight Sea Furys competed in the 1999 Reno Air Races, and the Vr-scate, Top Flite-designed Gold Edition Sea Fury model that's the subject of this article is a replica of one of those racers.

THE KIT

The large kit box contains: two rolled blue-prints (one for the wing, stabilizer and elevator, and one for the fuselage, fin and rudder); rubber-banded stacks of balsa and plywood sheeting and strips; bagged hardware; a tissue-paper-wrapped, clear-plastic canopy; wire landing gear; assorted molded-plastic parts and a one-piece fiberglass cowl. I should note that the quality of the wood throughout this American-made kit is well above average; I didn't see any damage caused by shipping, and there wasn't any sign of warps or cracks. The die-cutting quality was excellent; all the parts were easy to identify. The 68-page instruction manual is comprehensive and includes construction details, "hot tips," facts about the Sea Fury's history, a parts list and an inventory of additional items required to complete the model. A set of miniature building plans is included in the instructions and makes a useful quick reference guide because you don't have to constantly unroll it. The photography throughout the manual is excellent.

CONSTRUCTION

Begin construction with the fin and rudder. Since they have airfoil shapes but are built on their sides over the blueprints, the main spar is cut oversize to account for its surface curvature. (Trim the excess spar but sand it later in the construction process.) Slot six, frac116-inch balsa ribs into the 1/8-inch vertical balsa spar. Sheet the frame with frac116-inch balsa, add a frac316 x 1/2-inch balsa leading edge and two-layer, Winch-thick balsa tips and rudder bases, and sand them to the airfoil shape. (Later, you'll separate the rudder from the fin with a razor saw.)

The trickiest part of rudder construction is building the counterbalance, but this is just part of the process of building a scale model. 1 used Zap's thin CA for most of the construction, but I prefer its slow-curing CA for applying the sheeting.

The stabilizer uses 10, frac332 -inch balsa ribs slotted into an 1/8-inch balsa main spar. Like the rudder/fin, the stab/elevator has an airfoil shape, and the spar is oversize. You add the solid balsa tips and leading-edge material and sand them to the airfoil shape. Build the elevator in halves that will be connected by an 1/8-inch, one-piece wire joiner (that will be added after the fin and stabilizer have been permanently mounted on the fuselage). The elevators have a gentle, swept design.

To ensure rigidity and proper alignment, use frac116 -inch balsa to sheet the top of the empennage surfaces while they're still pinned to the building board. After you've removed them, sheet the empennage bottoms.

THE WING

The one-piece wing is constructed in three sections (center panel and two outer panels); when it's complete, it will have a polyhedral shape.

Several landing-gear options are available, but you must decide on one early in the game because the construction steps are different for each. The instruction manual illustrates alternatives, including fixed gear (provided in the kit), and suggests two choices of air-operated retracts (Robart and Century Jet). I opted for the Robart 605HD 90-degree retracts, and because I fly off a grass runway, I used the short-strut option. (The long-strut option is the proper scale alternative, but it's better suited to paved runways.)

Begin the wings by making the skins out of frac332 -inch balsa sheeting; then, when you've completed the framing, you'll be ready to fully sheet the wings. Next, prepare the center section's frac332 -inch balsa ribs by epoxying several with 1/8-inch plywood doublers (to handle the stresses imposed by the landing gear). I used Zap's 5-minute epoxy for this and to attach the 3/8x 1/2-inch maple retract mounting rails to the ribs after I had installed them. Nine ribs make up the center section. The top and bottom main spars consist of two, joined, frac316 x 1/8-inch balsa and basswood strips. To ensure that the construction is square, the ribs fit neatly into slots on an 1/8-inch balsa center trailingedge spar. This center trailing-spar is oversize so that the airfoil-shape framing can be added while it's still pinned to the building surface. Like the empennage, the top half of the wing is sheeted while it's attached to the building board. After you've removed it, add fiberglass doth to the interior of the wheel-well area for strength and easy maintenance (I used 3/4-ounce Hobbico fiberglass cloth).