Background

Emhars FJ-4B Fury in 1/72nd scale was released way back in the early 1990’s and is showing its age. The kit comes with a very basic interior, and raised panel lines. The Emhar kit is the cheapest and only option around for the FJ-4B version, with Valom’s two FJ-2 releases hitting the £20 mark. Special Hobby is going to release a FJ-2 version in the future.

The sets

Four sets have been released by Pavla to upgrade the interior of this kit. The vac form canopy and ejection seat are supplied with the cockpit set but can be bought separately.
Item no - C72122, cockpit set, price £14.20
The cockpit set comes in a blister pack with a foam insert holding the 5 resin parts and the plastic vac form canopy safe and securely. A set of instructions is also supplied.
This set contains a new resin tub with moulded on side consoles, a resin one piece ejection seat, which can be bought separately ( item no S72-082, price £2.25), instrument panel, control column, instrument panel shroud, a rear cockpit shelf and a plastic vac from canopy which can also be bought separately ( item no V72-110, price £1.65).
The resin parts are crisp and well detailed, with the smaller parts held only lightly on the pour blocks. The cockpit tub and ejection seat will need a razor saw to remove the pour blocks.
The tub, as already stated, has the side consoles moulded onto the part and is very well detailed with switches and panels as raised areas.
The instrument panel has recessed and raised areas for the dials and once painted should look pretty good.
The instrument panel shroud has a moulded on HUD and replaces the blank version on the kits fuselage, which has to be removed.
The control column is fragile and is a much needed addition as the kit doesn’t have one at all.
The ejection seat is in one piece and has moulded on details, such as the harness’s, seat grab handles, and raised details for the seat sides. Compared to the kits offering this is a much needed replacement.
The rear cockpit shelf fits onto the bottom of the canopy, thus adding a little more detail to this part.
The vac from canopy is clear and blemish free. Although it has been moulded in one part, once cut out from the excess plastic the canopy is in two parts, so the canopy can be positioned open. Compared to the kits clear part this is also a must have, as Emhars plastic is so thick that nothing could be seen through it, holding the kits clear parts up to a window, you might just be able to make out it is daylight outside lol.
The instructions come on two sheets which are the size of the blister pack. The instructions are clear, easy to follow and give you internal colours for the resin parts. Any kit parts that are replaced or removed are shown along the way.

Item No U72-151, Jet Pipe, price £2.99
The resin jet pipe is a direct replacement for the kits offering. The replacement is three times longer than the kit part, a lot more refined and doesn’t suffer from the sink mark on the exhaust tail that my kit part possess. The jet pipe also has detail in the way of the exhaust fan inside the pipe.

Conclusion

Emhars kit is basic, old and can be built in hours, so if you want a challenge to get a decent model out of this kit then these sets will give you a lot more satisfaction then the kits interior. You can’t make a silk purse out of a pig’s ear, but at least the pigs ear will be fur lined, which at least is a start.

Please remember, when contacting retailers or manufacturers, to mention that you saw their products highlighted here - on AEROSCALE.