1/48 Matchbox FJ-4B Fury  

by Vince Lucente

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I know what you're thinking.  Matchbox! " Why even bother building one of those things!" you're saying to yourself.  What with the poor fit, lack of detail, terrible decals and way out of scale measurements, it's a wonder anyone EVER built one.  Well...I had this one sitting in it's box half built and I kinda' felt sorry for it....I mean, it at least deserves to be completed! Besides, it'll fill the space on my shelf until I get around to buying the Grand Phoenix kit (Honey, I know I promised, but it's ONLY one more kit). 

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I added a resin seat and a Monogram pilot to the cockpit (I seem to have lots of those guys in my spares box).  Also my first try at using a photo-etched cockpit set (Airwaves).  Results were less than spectacular...a lot less.  Hence, the closed canopy.

Model was pre-shaded with ModelMaster flat black (another first!) and painted with the standard light gull gray upper and flat white lower surfaces.  Weathering was done with pastels.  Made some big mistakes while decaling and the vertical stab markings disintegrated with the application of the setting solution, but at least it's finished.  Now my conscience is clear and I can move on to my next project (ProModeler F-15E) guilt free!

Vince

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Photos and text © by Vince Lucente