Giorgio N

Probably is the best option, would also allow me to replace the intakes on any future SH Vampire I may build Good idea, hadn't thought of that... Since I've yet to sort the intakes, I've decided to move a few years forward and to the North West... The history of Irish Vampires is much simpler, although of course the relations between Ireland and the UK were not simple in those years.... Ireland had remained neutral in WW2 but really, while some in the Country would have liked to side with Germany, the Irish government adopted policies that were favourable to Britain and the Allies. It was therefore with some surprise that when after the war Ireland started discussions to receive a number of new fighters, they were told by Britain that they could only get some refurbished Seafires... Ireland's original request was for Mk.IXs, the British authorities replied that no Mk.IX was available, the Irish accepted this but then noticed how the IXs were being sold to pretty much everyone else... in the end the Seafires were accepted and were later integrated by a number of two-seaters based on the IX. It was clear that Ireland was only looking at Britain for the needs of their defence as no other Country was contacted. It was therefore not a surprise that in early 1956 an order was issued for the first jet aircraft of the Irish Air Corps in the form of 3 Vampire T.55. The first arrived at the IAC new base in Baldonnel (just outside Dublin) on May 15th of that same year, followed by the remaining two in July. It is interesting to mention that in that same 1956 the first Italian Vampires started being replaced in service by the new generation of jet fghters, the F-86 Sabre. I totally forgot to take pictures of the sprues in the Airfix kit, I know this is a well known kit and most here will have one or more in the stash, still I should have taken those pictures ! So let's start with the cockpit... The Airfix cockpit is IMHO pretty nice, sure companies like Eduard offer more in their kits but I can't complain here. Apart from the instrument panel ! A panel with raised detail would have much better, the decal is not bad but really having both options would have made me much happier. More so as the flat panel contrasts with the decently detailed sidewalls. Not much to say when it comes to colour, everything is black The only touches of colour are the cushions of the seats and the leather base of the control columns. Some more spots can however be added on the sidewalls... Ok, the few small red bits are hard to see, so let's add more colour ! I've seen mentioned very often that Vampire T.11s ejection seats had blue harnesses and there are pictures around showing this detail. I don't know if the IAC T.55s used the same colour, still as these variants are identical I decided to paint my belts in blue. Belts that were made from my usual wine bottle foil... I didn't gor for a bright blue, these are seat harnesses in the end and a greyish blue is IMHO more realistic. Still at least they will add interest to the cockpit area

I'm now even more eager to lay my hands on this kit !

Good job on this model ! Like the smal improvements to the cockpit, they make a big difference to the final model. Regarding wheels, I'd go with 3.spoke for a postwar Spitfire XIX

That was quick ! Looking forward to the camouflage being painted

Glad to see this progressing, paintscheme looks good ! Many thanks to Charlie for supplying some info on the loads carried by these aircrafts !

Welcome to the GB ! Love the subject, I was hoping to get a tank or two and I'm very pleased to see one of my favourite tracked subjects here. Looking forward to this, the Centurion was a type that enjoyed quite a good export success, deserves to be represented in this GB

Looking good Martin ! Very elegant now that the engines are glued in place, does look like a more modern kit than it is. The windscreen looks good, using clearfix is probably the best solution

Glad to see this completed Tim, very nice model ! Thanks for taking part in the GB with a very interesting subject, hope you enjoyed it !

If you want a matchbox part, your only chance is to find a modeller with a wrecked phatom kit willing to donate or sell you the canopy Aeroclub had a vacform replacement many years ago, likely pretty hard to find today. You can adapt other canopies, one option would be buying a Fujimi British Phantom as these come with two set of canopies and adapt one of them to the Matchbox fuselage, something that will have the added bonus of making this area much more accurate. I've done this and it's not hard Alternatively you may try to adapt the Rob Taurus vacform canopy, never tried this before though so can't comment on how easy or not it may be

Glad to see you back working on these !

Great job once again John ! Glad to see another Spitfire in the gallery, even more one that has had a very interesting career.

Wasn't the ICM engine modeled after a restored aircraft that had a single stage Merlin variant ?

The rear pallets were simply not mounted. Often a cover was used on the rearmost Sparrow well, this is IIRC included in the new mould Hasegawa kits. One configuration that was cleared for use had two AIM-54 under the front pallets and one Sparrow in the rearmost well. I've only seen very few pictures with this configuration, don't know how common it was. No, it wasn't an interim, simply it was a configuration for those situations where the AIM-54 was not considered useful. or when use of this missile was limited by rules of engagement. Still in most cases it was preferrable to mount Sparrows under the wing and in the rearmost well, leaving the front pallets in place in case of need. There are only very few pictures showing this arrangement. The Sidewinder wing pylons on the other hand were very commonly used by units when ashore, as it was common to carry training rounds and ACMI or similar pods on these pylons. Notice how the use of AIM-54s under wing pylons has never been mentioned. These were very rarely used until the Tomcats started performing ground attack missions. At that point it became common to hang one Phoenix under the left wing pylon while the right was used for the LANTIRN pod. A Sidewinder would have been carried on the left shoulder pylon while the pallets under the fuselage carried AG ordnance

The problem with full missile loads is that you'll never find a picture of a Tomcat in operation with a full missile load as these were not generally carried, regardless of the tanks. During the many years when Tomcats were only tasked with air defence, the standard loads were relatively light because a Tomcat with full load could not be retrieved on the carrier. The famous maximum load with 6 Phoenix missiles for example would have required a few of these to be dropped in the ocean to keep the aircraft under the maximum landing weight allowed, something that with a missile as expensive as the Phoenix was not really seen well by the Navy. The typical combat load would have been the 2-2-2 configuration with 2 AIM-54 under the front fuselage pallets, 2 AIM-7 on the wing pylons and 2 AIM-9 on the shoulder pylons. During peacetime operations however the most common configuration was a 1-1-1, with 1 AIM-54 under one front fuselage pallet, 1 AIM-7 under one wing pylon and one AIM-9 on the opposite shoulder pylon. In some areas the AIM-54 was rarely carried and in this case a common load was 2 Sparrow under the wing pylons and 2 Sidewinders on the shoulder pylons. Missions that didn't require the Phoenix would have also seen a similar load With all these configurations tanks could or not be carried depending on the mission, generally these were not often used during the '70s but by mid '80s they were practically always used. The above applies to operations from carriers, when operating from land bases missiles were rarely carried unless on exercise or at the range for missile qualification. In both cases the loads were generally even lighter. Then there are the publicity shots and there are pictures of operational Tomcats with heavy loads and no tanks. After all configurations like 6 AIM-54 and 2 AIM-9 or 4 AIM-54, 2 AIM-7 and 2 AIM-9 were cleared for operatons and sometimes Tomcats were loaded this way for PR photo shoots. Pictures of these are around, with and without tanks.

Quick recap of how the GB is moving. I'd say it's going pretty well ! We're having subjects from 19 different countries from all parts of the world, some modellers have already completed their projects and some with more than one model, others are close to the finish line. In any case we are seeing a lot of interesting subjects, some that I knew about and others that were totally new to me and I bet a few others I'm glad that modellers are enjoying this GB, now I only have to speed up my two models...