Jump to content

Vampire FB.9 - RAF College 1960


Recommended Posts

Vampire FB.9 WR264 / 29

RAF College, Cranwell, 1960

I came across this colourful Vampire when researching Vampire T.11 schemes. It seems that the RAF College used Vampire 5s and 9s during the late 50s and 60s as well as T.11s. I really liked this combination of camo with PRU Blue undersides along with dayglo and the RAFC blue stripe. The earlier yellow T-bands scheme on camo was also used prior to dayglo coming in.

This is the older-than-the-world Frog kit in 1/72 so it's fairly tiny, but as far as I can see the kit is nicely accurate in outline despite being a bit heavy in the detail department as most of these early Frog kits were. I changed the main gear for an Aeroclub white metal set designed for their Venom FB series, and put on an Aeroclub canopy. Most of the fine-raised-lines surface detail went with the extensive filling and rubbing down so some was replaced with a bit of scribing - I didn't over do this as it was never going to be a super-detailed competition winner. Decals were mainly good old Modeldecal. The dayglo was produced by airbrushed coats of white, then gloss orange (Humbrol), then a couple of coats of Humbrol flourescent Fire Orange. The orange undercoat gives the dayglo much better depth than trying to put it straight on top of white.

The conversion from FB5 to FB9 was a simple matter of extending the fairing in front of the air intake on the starboard side only. This housed an air conditioning unit.

I think the device in front of the roundel on the boom is a carrier for a smoke cannister or something like that. Does anybody have any other ideas what it might be?

Chris

VampireFB9002.jpg

VampireFB9RAFC005.jpg

VampireFB9RAFC007.jpg

VampireFB9RAFC006.jpg

VampireFB9RAFC003.jpg

VampireFB9RAFC002.jpg

Edited by CT Modeller
  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is a really fine job of replicating a particular airframe. It has always been my favorite form of modeling, but unfortunately the time expended in researching the original severely curtails the actual cutting and painting of plastic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...