Foxbat Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 (edited) Placeholder for my build - the Airfix Vampire T.11 with markings from the Xtradecal International Trainers sheet. Pictures to follow. A bit of background: Lebanon first ordered the Vampire in 1952 and eventually operated 16 in a variety of marks, comprising four FB.5, five FB.52 and three FB.9 single seaters plus four T.55 twin-seat trainers. They made up the first bomber squadron and served through the 60s with at least two trainers remaining active into the early 70s. It is one of these latter aircraft I'm going to build. Edited December 28, 2013 by Foxbat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxbat Posted December 28, 2013 Author Share Posted December 28, 2013 When it's done I hope it will look something like this: http://www.milavia.net/airforces/reports/lebanese-air-force/view.php?f=2 This is the kit and decals. It good a good reception when it was released and having opened the box and had a fondle I can see why; it is a thing of beauty straight from the box. Xtradecals only provide the main markings where the stencils are in English, but Airfix have gone to town there, so no worries. Are we nearly there yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomjw Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 Looking forward to seeing this develop Foxbat. Nice to see such a different scheme. Roll on the 4th. Cheers, Tom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxbat Posted December 28, 2013 Author Share Posted December 28, 2013 Cheers Tom. Turns out the Lebanon has a rich vein of British primary training types - going from Proctors to ex-RAF Harvards [1], then Chipmunks which they replaced with SA Bulldogs. The Chipmunk has a fantastic scheme, but no one makes decals for it and it's beyond my skill to make them. Andy [1] OK, not British strictly speaking, but they were Harvards rather than Texans, and we supplied them 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Hello Foxbat, Nice to see another Vampire T11 Builders. Please, what colour do you plan to use for that Lebanese L-154??. I also have that beatiful XTradecal sheet, but there is inconsistency between a colour on photo which you posted there. It seems, it is some shade of light gray. But the XTradecal instructions mention a "High speed Silver".. So where is true?? I just have my T11 in base cote sprayed and is waiting on my decision which marking do I choose :-) The consideration is mainly between Lebanese or RAN Vampire. I wish you good luck with the build. BTW, once you pass the instruction steps 9-12 with attention to keep good fitting and geometry, you will have most of work done. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Another Vampire! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxbat Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 Hello Foxbat, Nice to see another Vampire T11 Builders. Please, what colour do you plan to use for that Lebanese L-154??. I also have that beatiful XTradecal sheet, but there is inconsistency between a colour on photo which you posted there. It seems, it is some shade of light gray. But the XTradecal instructions mention a "High speed Silver".. So where is true?? David It does look grey in that picture, but see also http://www.milavia.net/airforces/reports/lebanese-air-force/view.php?f=23 and note the obvious silver wing leading edge and windscreen frame where they catch the light. There is another older picture on http://www.lebaneseairforce.info/history2.htm that shows a line of Vampires outdoors and L-154 (neasrest camera) is definitely silver on that one. L-160 is also in silver in this shot: http://milinme.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/val-07.jpg All photos I can find of single seaters show them in silver too (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hatzerim_290110_Vampire.jpg for example). On that basis, my working hypothesis is that they were delivered in standard RAF colours of the period (compare the trainer yellow bands with the Airfix box art), and the grey in the hanger shot is just down to lighting. Unless anyone can come up with anything more conclusive before I get to the painting stage, I'm sticking with silver. Which is kind of a shame because metallics are a pig to brush paint - grey would make life so much simpler Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Hello Andy, for the brush I know only Humbrol H11 or H56 suitable. Anyway "Natural Metal Finish" is not easy also for airbrush handling. I already tried to airbrush an (waten based) Agama Silver colour with quite good result. Normally I use a High quality Gunze Metalics, but its smell is actually against a 1 months baby at home. Well acc. another photos, it really seems that silver colour is OK. But regarding the photo of L154 in hangar, comparing with Fouga´s green-gray camouflage, I believe it is really gray. I suspect, the plane was repainted (?) Look also on the weathering (chipping) under the rear canopy window and at the nose. I just found this photo bellow : Definititely it is some kind of Aluminium - silver RAF delivery colour . The photo in hangar could be from another later time period (??). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Being that the forward cockpit area of the Vampire is wood, there's exactly no chance of a sliver Vampire being "natural metal". They were all painted in the RAF's "High Speed Silver" which is pretty much silver lacquer. As it weathered, it took on a slightly grey tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxbat Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 Thank you for the extra picture David, that sets my mind at rest. I will probably be brushing Vallejo acrylics which I have used with varying degrees of success before. It is quite hard to cover even something as small as a Vampire and get a perfect finish. Jessica, I knew about the wooden fuselage, but not about the weathering properties oh High Speed Silver. It's nice to have a bit of extra background detail and a rational explanation for the change in colour. Now, more building. I've managed to remove the sticks from the sprue and trim them without breaking anything. I think that may be a good omen. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I posted my build in "work in progress" to encourage or inspire the others. I still consider the camouflage, because I already glued underwing tanks, but as I noticed later, there on the photo is nothing under. As I try to make my kits acc. to photos if fouded... on the other hand, it is almost certain, Vampires had a drop tanks... Andy, I am looking forward, how your finnish with Valejo will turn out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxbat Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Between my two threads here I must be in danger of generating the most traffic without actually building anything. So here is an in progress shot. I painted the cockpit neutral grey, then added a wash of very thin black, then a light dry brush of more grey to try and give the look of a black pit that had been sitting in the sun for 20 years. Then I buttoned the pod up and realised you're going to need a magnifying glass (or a macro lens) to see anything. Oh well. The intake trunking is painted aluminium inside, but you can't see it. Full marks to Airfix for effort though. Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deon Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 That pit looks ace, These Vamps look great, gonna be fab looking at all of them finished at the end of the GB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deacon Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Nice pit and a good start sir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noeyedears Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 yep, very nice start. looks a good scheme too. very attractive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxbat Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 (edited) Progress has been occurring. I gfot the wings and tai booms on (after a fashion). There were gaps and steps all over the place. Comparing notes with Jessica, judicious use of brute force and a little jiggery pokery with a scalpel balde and a sanding stick cured most of it. A quick smear of filler hid the rest so all good. I used primer (which I don't often these days) because I find acrylic yellows in particular are really thin and watery and very hard to get good coverage with. I'm also experimenting with a new technique. The inside edge of the wing stripes are very close to the booms which would make masking silver then adding yellow unnecessarily difficult, so I laid on way more yellow (and red) than I need so I can mask what I want to keep then liberally apply silver over everything else. So, this is where I am tonight. Time to let the paint settle and do some Mongol fettling I think. Anybody got any ideas about how to mask that nose? Andy Edited January 20, 2014 by Foxbat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Looking good ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 ............Anybody got any ideas about how to mask that nose?........... Well, not easy answer. I would suggest to use a masking tape with width no more than 0,5 mm, then you can keep a circle. The rest of surface you can mask with wider piece of tape. The think which I don´t know, how it will work with brushing. Vamp looks good so far . Only eh.. . , it seems you forget to glue outer horizontal tails, don´t you ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noeyedears Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Have you got a rubber o ring of the right size for the nose? 3m do a blue plastic masking tape that comes in thin sizes. Its very flexible and good for curves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts