FZ6 Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I was hoping to get my Vampire finished for the Huddersfield show but didn't manage it as I didn't get enough modelling time and decided I didn't want to rush it in the end. I took some pics on my phone so thought I would do a retrospective work in progress thread showing the stage I'm currently at with my Vampire. The kit is lovely and I've really enjoyed putting it together so far and think I will be buying more. The kit certainly generated a lot of interest when I displayed it at Huddersfield and plenty of kits were being purchased. I'm going to do the No.5 Training school option. First job was to paint the interior black. I painted it in Humbrol 33 matt black and lightened it with some 67 tank grey to give a bit of shading. As you can see from the pic below you get full length intakes and an engine face. I only quickly assembled and painted this as nothing can be seen when the fuselage halves are joined. Here is the cockpit dry fitted in the fuselage. Fit was excellent. I glued the intakes on at this stage. I also decided to break from the instructions and assemble the rest of the aircraft ready for fitting the fuselage once the cockpit was painted to save time. Due to the intakes sticking out and the undercut in the wing to Fuselage join for the flaps it is tricky to get them together but you can do it with a bit of twisting. I wouldn't recommend this method as I had some allignment issues doing it this way and ended up with a gap in the lower wing. Next time I will follow the instructions. Please note the main landing gear must be fitted to the boom before joining the wing due to the actuators and they wont fit once the wing is together. here are a couple of shots of the painted cockpit. I found the detail to be accurate and very little needs adding. I'm unsure about the bulge in the floor for the nose wheel going the full width of the cockpit floor but as it's black in there I don't think it's too distracting. I cut the glass off the gunsights and will replace it with clear sheet later in the build. The instrument panel decal is nicely done and is acceptable in this scale although an eduard panel would look nice in there. The only detail I'll ad will be to the ejection seats. This is the stage I'm currently at. The plane is assembled and the plastic has been polished and the Vampire has received a coat of Alclad grey primer followed by a coat of white primer for the orange areas. I have a couple of imperfections I need to sand out before more paint is applied. I will also then add the very fine balance weights to the tail along with a new pitot tube and the small underside aerial I managed to break off. I also cut off the splitter plates on the intake as they were a little on the thick side and will add some more from thin plastic strip. I'll update the build when I've done a bit more and hope people will find this work in progress useful. Cheers, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FZ6 Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 I just thought I'd add a shot of the Airfix Vampire next to it's 1:48 Classic Airframes Vampire I have got to a similar stage. The Classic Airframes kit was a lot more work and not as enjoyable. I really must get the enthusiasm to finish this one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Badger Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Only just seen this after Martin's T11 Vampire thread had my lusting after another 1/72 kit.... You wait for one vampire and suddenly along come two at the same time! Nice job so far.... definately got me thinking about getting one of these myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Looking great so far - will be following with much interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edge Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Makes me want to make a start on mine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Nicely done ! Thanks for heads up un the undercarriage legs, I was going to try and fit them later in the build. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan B Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Makes me want to make a start on mine! Me too, I must resist though as I have too many unfinished models in the queue already. Duncan B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k5054nz Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Excellent to see such a detailed work thread! We don't get the kit until next month here in NZ so it's great to have threads like this as a form of research. Did you use any filler/putty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 The comparison shot of the CA 1:48 Vampire and the Airfix 1:72 version is interesting. Is it just the parallax of the shot, or do the booms look to be the same thickness on both? When you look at proportions, the CA booms seem thinner relative to the fuselage than on the Airfix kit. Cheers, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thx6667 Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 The comparison shot of the CA 1:48 Vampire and the Airfix 1:72 version is interesting. Is it just the parallax of the shot, or do the booms look to be the same thickness on both? When you look at proportions, the CA booms seem thinner relative to the fuselage than on the Airfix kit. Cheers, Bill Yeah I was wondering about that, I'm sure its just a photo distortion but the proportions of the CA kit look... well, comic by comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Yeah I was wondering about that, I'm sure its just a photo distortion but the proportions of the CA kit look... well, comic by comparison. Spindly was the word that came to mind for me. Cheers, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FZ6 Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 Thanks for the comments guys. I should have another update soon. Excellent to see such a detailed work thread! We don't get the kit until next month here in NZ so it's great to have threads like this as a form of research. Did you use any filler/putty? I did use a little bit of filler. There are a couple of minor sink marks on the top side of the wing at the trailing edge where the flaps are. I believe these have been subject to discussion in the review and are not a big problem really. I also used some to hide the joins near the tail plane and on one of the wing joins but this may have been caused due to the way I assembled it. I also had to use a little filler on the areas where the sprue gates attach to the fuselage. Probably self inflicted due to my eagerness to build the kit. One thing I want to point out is the canopy is really thin and clear and is in three parts. I must admit I pleasantly surprised by the canopy. I was expecting the kit canopy to be a little on the thick side but it's not and should be acceptable posed open without resorting to a vac formed one. You'll need to take care removing it from the sprue as the attachments are quite large. I used a fine saw to cut it from the sprue leaving a small amount of sprue attached so I could carefully file it away to avoid any stress marks or cracks caused by sprue cutters. The booms on the Classic airframes kit are a little on the thin side. There is a little distortion as it was taken on my phone and having the larger aircraft behind doesn't help. I've not enjoyed building the classic airframes kit. There has been so much filing sanding and rescribing to get it to this level. Maybe building the Airfix kit will spur me on to get this one finished off. I'll take some better comparison shots later if people are interested. It does show the market is wide open for a new tool 1:48 scale kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 It looks like a great kit - with no significant fitting problems and adequate detail for the scale (at least for a beginner). Nice job Mark. Are you planning to display it as it is or, you're going to build a base-diorama? Looking forward to see it finished. Cheers Sernak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_W Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Just added one of these to the stash. Might go for the restored silver and yellow stripes version - less stencils. Hope it turns out as good as yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thx6667 Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 (edited) Best advice with the Airfix Vampire is follow the construction sequence to the letter - most of the problems I'm seeing with other people's builds seems to be from minor deviations from the sequence. Edited February 21, 2013 by Jonathan Mock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousAA72 Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Best advice with the Airfix Vampire is follow the construction sequence to the letter - most of the problems I'm seeing with other people's builds seems to be from minor deviations from the sequence. Indeed! For example....don't fit the lower wing parts to the upper wing part before building up the booms!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FZ6 Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 It looks like a great kit - with no significant fitting problems and adequate detail for the scale (at least for a beginner). Nice job Mark. Are you planning to display it as it is or, you're going to build a base-diorama? Looking forward to see it finished. Cheers Sernak Hi Sernak, I don't think I'm going to build a diorama for this one. I will just display the aircraft on it's own this time. Best advice with the Airfix Vampire is follow the construction sequence to the letter - most of the problems I'm seeing with other people's builds seems to be from minor deviations from the sequence. I agree with this my issues have only been minor but on the next one I will follow the construction to the letter. Indeed! For example....don't fit the lower wing parts to the upper wing part before building up the booms!!!! I almost did this as well but realised before the glue dried. I've not done much since my last update but hope to add a bit of detail to the ejection seats tonight. The kit seats are ok as they are but will benefit from the addition of some straps and ejection handles. Another think to be careful of is when removing the nose landing gear leg from the sprue. The attachment point is large and is on the thin actuating arm. I managed to get mine off in one piece but have subsequently break off the actuating arm during handling. I've managed to reattach it by drilling and pinning it using 0.3mm brass rod. Not an easy task as there is not much plastic to drill into. I think I may end up strengthening the nose gear leg by removing the locating pin drilling down it and inserting some brass rod in anticipation of the nose weight on this model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 I have experience the same issue with other Airfix kits. It's really annoying and I think that it has to do with the quality of the plastic they're using - which is way too soft! When I'm experiencing similar issues such as the one you're mentioning Mark, I try to cut not the attachment point but the whole sprue. That makes it a lot easier later on to carefully remove it without damaging and/or bending it. Cheers Sernak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Aero Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 I would suggest that the grade of plastic (probably a high MFI polystyrene) Airfix are using is because of the thiness of the fine parts in the new kits. There will be a reason, not just an arbitary decision. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k5054nz Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Thanks for that FZ6. It certainly looks like a nice build, I can't wait to get my own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vampire Fan Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 How's this one coming along? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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