Building the Hobby Boss 1/48 FJ-4 Fury
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Overview
The new Hobby Boss kit of the FJ-4 Fury was one that I was waiting
for, the only other in 1/48 scale are the Matchbox, Collect-Aire, and
Grand Phoenix kits. The Matchbox is a very old kit and it would take a
lot of work just to fill in all the lines on the kit. As for the Collect-Aire
kit, it is an all resin kit and at $100 it is a little out of my range.
And then the Grand Phoenix kit, it is all plastic with resin parts that
have some fit problems from what I have seen on the other discussion groups.
With my first look of the Hobby Boss kit I thought it just might be the
kit we have been looking for. But then I saw the hump on the fuselage
and they overdid it. I could see that to get it right I would have to
make some templates to keep it the same for each side. For this first
one, though, I just wanted to get quickly. I will attempt that correction
on my next version of this kit. I will let you know how it turns out.
The Build
 To
start off with the cockpit tub, I used the kit parts and added some stuff
to it for a better look. I hear that AMS will have a resin tub out soon.
It would certainly help to make a better looking cockpit (AMS is also
releasing a new lengthened burner section for the FJ-4 that will give
you the right length in the fuselage). I moved the instrument panel aft
a little to make it look like the pictures in my reference books (Detail
in Scale and the Naval Fighter books on the Fury). The kit comes with
a very basic panel with no details and no decal for it either. I cut some
decals from F-4 instruments and used those. I hope that the AMS cockpit
tub kit will take care of that.
 For
the fuselage, I drilled out the gun ports and added some better-looking
gun tubes. I used surgical tubing for this. Next I glued a piece of .010
plastic to the back of the intake. This is a very easy way to make an
intake cover. I cut out a window for the approach lights in the bottom
of the intake and made red, green and amber lights and a clear piece of
plastic for the cover. Do not forget to add some weight in the nose before
you glue it together (you can pack it around the tub).
 I
also made some new vortex generators out of .010 plastic. The ones in
the kit are a little to thick. I then made some new air scoops as the
ones that came in the kit are too wide and the shape is little off. I
made mine out of some Evergreen channel (3/16” or .188). I found
that it would just slide into the opening for the air scoop. I added a
piece of .040 to the back of the channel and rounded it off. This created
a more realistic air scoop. I also made a new rudder. The kit is okay,
but it can be improved upon. I made one out of .010 plastic and added
some stiffeners (also out of .010) and it looks a whole lot better. I
glued the dive brakes closed and used some plastic on the inside of the
fuselage hole to keep it flush with the fuselage.
 Next
is the wing. The only thing that I did was to close up the gear doors
on the fuselage and wing. In most pictures I have seen, they are usually
closed. If you have the nose gear door down you will have to cut a notch
out of door. Check your pictures and you will see what it should look
like. The kit has a square door. You must take care when you put the wing
together. You want to make sure that bottom of the wing will fit up into
the fuselage. It is a little tricky get it fitted; if you don’t
get the fit tight to the fuselage you will have a gap, requiring some
putty. This is the only thing that I found that did take some care in
getting it to fit correctly.
 Next
I gave the model a coat of Mr. Surfacer 1000 and did a wet sand. I then
painted some white where I was going to use the Dayglow. I use Acryl Fluorescent
Red (it looks like the orange color that I remember seeing on the aircraft
at the time). There is a book out that has some very good color pictures
of Dayglo Navy and Air Force aircraft of the 60-70s. It is called High
–Viz by Osprey. Unfortunately, it is out of print but if you have
a chance to look at one you will find some very interesting color schemes
for the Navy and Air Force aircraft. You have to start off with some light
coats of the day glow at first, just to see how it will look; the Day-Glo
is a hard color to make it look right. It would fade in a very short period
of time if it was out in the sun for any length of time. So just take
your time and stop when it looks right. I then masked it off and painted
the Light Gull Gray. I masked off the antiglare panel and painted it black.
The wing walk was painted with some dark gray. Then I put on a coat of
Future for the decals.
 The
unit that I wanted to do was from NAS Memphis. Chris did the artwork for
the markings since there are no decals available for that. I printed them
on some decal paper with a LaserJet printer. You can use the kit decals
for the star and bar and some other markings. For the intake marking,
the Fury had two types of intake danger markings. The one in the kit is
misspelled (they have in take instead of intake so you will have to find
a decal that you can cut up to do it right). The one that I wanted to
use was like the one you see on Navy F-4s. I used one from an F-14; this
had the right marking for the Fury. I just had to cut it up to make it
fit. Then a coat of Future and some weathering, followed by a coat of
flat.
 I
made a cockpit air pressure regulator and the electrical connection. They
don’t have this in the kit, but it is visible in photos where the
cockpit is open. The landing gear is the biggest problem with the kit
(bigger than the hump!). The kit is made with the struts compressed. This
does not give you the nose high look of the Furies. I cut the nose wheel
oleo strut and made a new one to a 6” scale. I also made new scissors,
and then glued it back together again. This gives the proper nose high
look.
 The
last step is adding the refueling probe. Murphy’s Law: you put it
on…you will break it off. And I did! I made a new one out of some
plastic rod that is sturdier. I cut the tip of the probe and glued it
to the rod, then glued the probe to the wing. I used some Sidewinder rails
from an F-86 kit which worked out better than the ones in the kit.
Conclusion
This is a good kit. It just needs some time and attention. I hope Hobby
Boss will continue to produce the aircraft of the 50s and 60s. I’d
like a Dash 3 Fury and some Banshees, please! |
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