Hawker Sea Fury FB.11

Aki Products, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

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Aki's 1/72 scale Blackburn Firebrand, reviewed and built recently on HyperScale, disproved the universal limited-run model axiom: "Significant cleanup and constant test fitting is essential to ensure a good result. Experience is required". It is a beautifully detailed yet precise and easy to build all-resin kit.

Aki Products' 1/72 scale Hawker Sea Fury is clearly cast from the same mould (figuratively speaking).

Aki's 1/72 scale Sea Fury comprises 87 parts in cream coloured resin; 15 parts in clear resin; three parts in black vinyl; one poly cap; markings for two aircraft. This Japanese product looks very different from most limited run resin kits. For a start, the parts are attached to fine resin runners which look very much like conventional plastic kit sprues. There is also an amazing amount of detail cast on to individual parts.

Another major leap forward is the provision of large locating plugs (they are too big to be called pins). There plugs work very well, ensuring perfect alignment for the fuselage halves and the wing parts. The other major component, the one-piece horizontal tail surfaces, slot into a positive recess in the empennage.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Very little conventional cleanup is required. Just snip the parts off the one or two fine connection points and tidy up any residue with a hobby knife or a sanding stick. Some of the parts do suffer from light flash, but this can easily be eliminated with a sharp blade or even a small stiff brush.

Surface detail is exquisite. Panel lines and selected rivets are perfectly consistent and crisply engraved. Control surface hinge lines are appropriately emphasised, as are various raised lumps and bumps. Trailing edges of all flying surfaces are razor sharp.

The flaps are supplied separately and the fine brass hinge is amazingly cast in place on the upper wing half, creating fully workable individual flap sectiond with an absolute minimum of fuss. Structural detail inside the flaps is just gorgeous too.

The wheel wells are cast on the underside of the top wing halves. These are fully boxed in and feature full structural detail.

Wing gun and ammunition tray detail is also supplied, with separate gun fairings supplied. Detail is also excellent in this area, yet comprising a minimum of parts.

The cockpit looks deceptively simple on the sprues, but its full detail will be revealed under a coat of paint.

Another highlight of the kit is the gorgeous Bristol Centaurus engine. This is made up of just six parts, but they deliver an authentic miniature of this complex powerplant. Some of the construction looks a little scary, such as the two delicate manifold parts hugging the cylinders, but the parts literally clip into place. In the photo below, the parts are not even glued together - just fantastic.

Not surprisingly, the kit provides separate engine cowlings so that the engine may be displayed. The engine cowls are supplied in clear resin so you could close the cowls and still admire your engine if you are that way inclined. Interestingly, the landing gear is also supplied in clear resin.

Separate canopies are provided for open and closed configurations. The clear resin is a little cloudy on the sprues, but will sparkle after a bath in Future floor polish.

Markings are supplied for Sea Furies in FAA and Iraqi service. Registration and colour saturation are excellent.

Instructions are supplied on one piece of A3, folded paper. The three construction steps are well illustrated and quite straightforward despite the scarcity of English text. A full colour marking guide contains callouts for all the decal numbers.

We modellers live in fortunate times to be presented with such a great choice of niche subjects.

The price we usually pay for these niche subjects in limited run kits is extra effort in preparation, alignment and assembly. Most of this heartache has been eliminated by Aki's clever engineering and incredible casting in their Firebrand kit. In this case, the price we pay is actually the price. At USD$80.00 for a 1/72 scale kit, it is certainly not cheap. Even so, value is in the eye (or perhaps the wallet) of the beholder, and this remarkable level of detail and innovative engineering could easily justify the price tag.

The Firebrand was sheer joy to build, and I do not see any reason that the Sea Fury will be any less impressive.

This 1/72 scale Sea Fury FB.11 maintains and even exceeds Aki's high-water mark for beautifully detailed resins kit that may be built by modellers with only moderate experience. This is easily the best small-scale Sea Fury available, and is also one of the best 1/72 scale kit that I have ever seen, period.

Highly Recommended.

Review sample kindly supplied by DMC Models

Review Text Copyright © 2007 by Brett Green
Page Created 11 September, 2007
Last updated 24 December, 2007

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