Hawker Fury Mk.I

[Paul A H]

Hawker Fury Mk.I

1:72 Revell

Designed by the man behind some of Hawker’s greatest aircraft including the Hurricane, Typhoon and Hunter, Sir Sydney Camm’s Fury was Hawker’s last biplane fighter. It entered service with the Royal Air Force in May 1931 and remained in front line service until 1939. Around 275 examples were produced and the aircraft saw service around the world, including with the Norwegian, Iranian, Portuguese, South African and Spanish air forces.

Revell’s Fury is a re-issue of an old Matchbox kit which will no doubt be familiar to many of you. The kit’s 30 parts are spread across two sprues of grey plastic and one very small clear sprue which holds the windscreen (so small I didn’t notice it at first and omitted to photograph it). The quality of the mouldings is par for the course for the age of the kit; it has some really nice, delicate details such as the ribbed fabric effect on the wings and fuselage and fine, raised panel lines and rivets around the engine and cockpit. A little flash is present here and there, but nothing too serious. The only real problems are the numerous ejector pin marks on the underside of the wings, which will require careful cleaning up. This particular release is part of Revell’s Model-Set range, so it includes three pots of acrylic paint (Aluminium, Silver and Yellow) as well as a tube of Contacta adhesive and a neat double-ended paint brush.

As you might have guessed from the small number of parts that make up this kit, it is a relatively simple affair. The cockpit is comprised of a simple floor and seat. The surface of the floor looks a little rough – as if the mould has been damaged – but very little will be seen through the small cockpit aperture in any case. A decal is provided for the instrument panel, but curiously there is no control column. The wings and tail surfaces should be fairly simple to assemble as the struts have been cleverly designed in single-piece ‘N’ shapes to make alignment easier. Nevertheless a little care will have to be taken with these parts and with the undercarriage in order to ensure everything lines up nicely. A small diagram is provided to help you rig the model once everything has been stuck together.

Just one decal scheme is provided, for a Fury Mk.I of No. 43 Squadron, RAF Tangmere 1932. As is always the case with modern Revell kits, the decals are nicely printed and should look the part once in place. It would have been nice if Revell had provided a second option though.

Conclusion

Overall this is a nice little kit. Although it is rather basic in some areas, it is surprisingly refined in others. Overlooking the slight grumble about the single marking option provided, it can be thoroughly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[AnonymousAA72]

Its strange to see the plastic in one colour rather than the lurid red and yellow (or was it grey and blue?) of The old Matchbox kit. But this is a superb little kit and the decals look nice....but I'd suggest that is 1 Sqn, not 43 Sqn Paul!!!

Edited July 3, 2011 by Bill Clark

[Paul A H]

Its strange to see the plastic in one colour rather than the lurid red and yellow (or was it grey and blue?) of The old Matchbox kit. But this is a superb little kit and the decals look nice....but I'd suggest that is 1 Sqn, not 43 Sqn Paul!!!

Thanks Bill, you are absolutely right. In that case I have two minor grumbles about this kit. Firstly it only includes marking options for one aircraft, and secondly the instructions state that they are for a 43 Squadron machine whereas in fact they are for a 1 Squadron aircraft!

[Obi-Jiff Kenobi]

Nice review Paul, and it's a lovely little kit.

My only quibbles concerns the decals & paint scheme; according to my research, the fin and upper fuselage depicted as yellow on the kit should be roundel blue. I stress that this is my interpretation of black and white photos, but I'd definitely say blue rather than yellow. Also, on the upper wing squadron markings, where the outer ends of the red rectangle meet the roundels, the short part of the rectangle is shown as straight on the inside, but curved on the outside (to match the roundel). All the photos I've seen show both the inside and outside edges of this red section to be curved to match the roundel. This is easily corrected (if it bothers you at all), and the fin/upper fuselage colour is just a matter of changing one paint for another, so it's certainly nothing to put you off the kit.

Its strange to see the plastic in one colour rather than the lurid red and yellow (or was it grey and blue?) of The old Matchbox kit.

I remember the one I built in the late seventies as being pale blue and a sort of cream/grey.

[Smiffy]

I remember the one I built in the late seventies as being pale blue and a sort of cream/grey.

Yeah, that's how I remember the one I built as a nipper, too.

Will have to pick one of these up, for nostalgia.