Hawker Sea Fury T.61
“Bagdad Trainer Fury” Iraqi Two Seat Trainer

Special Hobby, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

 Special Hobby's 1/72 scale Sea Fury Trainer will be available online from Squadron.com
 

When I first purchased the original Special Hobby Sea Fury I was so thrilled to finally have a good model of this aircraft that I didn't really notice its faults. After looking at it for a while I became somewhat disillusioned by the lack of detail in the cockpit. Not that you would be able to see much of it once built but that’s just me. I like to know its there. There was no side-wall detail and the seat was moulded into the tub.

I did, however, appreciate the fact that there was no PE involved, one of my pet dislikes.

This new offering from Special Hobby, the Sea Fury T.61 two seater “Bagdad Trainer Fury”, solves the problem of the lack of detail in the cockpit but it now includes PE but that will impress a lot of people. The other criticisms of the original, as far as I was concerned, were a lack of undercarriage actuators, fairly prominent in the 1 to 1 scale model and vac-formed canopies although most people wouldn't consider that a fault.

So, what do you get for your “hard earned”.

Well, the first thing you will notice is that you get two complete fuselages, in fact it's the original kit with an extra sprue for the two seater plus extra resin and PE. The extra resin includes side-wall detail and separate seats.

Yes, you can build either the two seater or the original. What you can't build from this kit is British Two Seater which had a different canopy configuration but I've no doubt that Special Hobby will produce that later.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

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Another difference between the two models is the two seater had longer tail-planes and these are supplied on the new sprue along with two instrument panel backing plates. So, to summarize, here is a list of all the extra parts:

1. Two seat fuselages halves
2. Longer tail-planes
3. Two instrument panel backing plates
4. Insert to go between the two cockpits on the fuselage top
5. Two place cockpit tub with no seats and deeper than before
6. Two seats with no belts moulded on
7. Rudder pedals, joystick and compasses for both cockpits
8. Four side-walls, two for each pit
9. Two PE instrument panels plus film
10. Seat belts for two seats.

These extra parts are as well as all the parts for the single seater except for a canopy and you can make that out of the front windscreen and rear sliding canopy.

The decals, by Aviprint, are as we've come to expect from this company, of the very highest standard but they only give markings for two aircraft, one from Iraq and another Pakistani, both two seaters.

Special Hobby supplies both the Fury and Sea Fury rudders separate from the fin. In the instructions, they tell you not to use the Sea Fury one but then later tell you to fit the hook. I don't think you can fit the hook if you've used the Fury rudder and I'm not sure which rudder the Iraqi and Pakistani aircraft used. More research required?

The above nitpicks notwithstanding, this kit is definitely an improvement on the original and its probably the best we're going to get for a long time.

Highly Recommended.

Thanks to MPM/Special Hobby for the review sample.

Review Text Copyright © 2006 by Glen Porter
Images Copyright © 2006 by Brett Green
Page Created 07 July, 2006
Last updated 06 July, 2006

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