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Another Airfix 1/72 De Havilland Vampire T.11


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Hello folks

Here's my offering of the Airfix T.11 vampire; I picked up some Alclad II laquer at Perth show this year and thought I'd practice / try it out on this kit. Pleased with the result although the aluminium should be a bit brighter (I only bought standard aluminium but I think white aluminium would be a better match).

The fluorescent orange fought me and up close the finish is not great. A lot of schoolboy errors, the orange paint is too thick resulting in some tatty lines and raised decals on the wings, a bit of fogging on the canopy due to me not letting glue dry properly and a host of others. Although it looks okay from 3ft away. Despite all this I'm pleased; I learnt a lot more about airbrushing and prepping the surface for the alclad taught me patience :D

Anyway, here she is warts and all

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Cheers

Aaron

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Thanks guys :)

Here's a pic to show what I mean about the poor finish which can be seen up close

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@General Jumbo - it's a fun kit to build but I'd advise against some of the instructions. Don't fit the undercarriage gearing until after everything else is in place. There are little tabs you can cut off for this I think. I followed the instructions and its quite awkward. Also the tail boom fit is quite tight and may require some trimming.

Cheers

Aaron

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It looks great to me, it would be nice to see it up close and personal at the next AMS meeting if you are around.

I thought you only did helicopters!

Its an aircraft I really like, good work Aaron.

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Thanks again guys.

@ Nigel; think I might be away for the next club meeting but I'll find out soon. If I am at home I will of course bring it along.

I do prefer helicopters but I can't help myself from adding bits so it's takes millennia to finish. I thought with this that it could be quick OOB with just a couple of additions; no need to detail the cockpit as its quite dark & hidden with the canopy closed. I also read some good reviews and I do like early jets; something really cool about them. I was also itching to try out the alclad. This kit pretty much fitted the bill.

I found myself buying an airfix spit mk.1a and a gloster gladiator mk.1 today. A complete change from my usual prefrence. I've only built one spitfire in my life and that was a long long time ago; infact it was from a 3 kit collection that included paints and was the first time I used paints on a model. IIRC the kits were the spit, NA P51D and a ME-262.

Edited by milktrip
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Nothing wrong with the duller aluminium. I will concur with the others who say the same thing!

As far as raised paint boundaries, I am sure you must have tried brush painting dayglo paint... More often than not you end up with a damn step!!! So you are doing good in my eyes. Shame the roundels are a bit see through though. Is that a standard occurrence with the Airfix new generation kits sporting fluo orange?

I like it!

JR

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Thanks Jean.

I doubled up on the roundels and its still not enough, I'd advise anyone doing this scheme to paint some white circles for the roundels to be placed on. After talking to another member on here but on a different forum, I may apply another set of roundels but refrain from using setting solution so the decal doesn't hung the paint. If it looks too thick then I'll just remove them.

Thanks again everyone regards the aluminium comments.

Cheers

Aaron

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello Aaron, this is one of the nicest T Mk.11s I've seen and I like it immensely. May I ask if that was Humbrol by the way?

I bought Humbrol fluorescent orange in a spray can to do a T Mk.22 and Gannet trainer as it looked very close to what I remember, but I want to check first.

Cheers, Graham

Edited by Nobby57
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Thanks very much Graham.

The fluorecent colour I used was vallejo model air 71082 "fluorescent red" (it comes out orange though). It's a lovely colour, photographs don't show how vibrant it actually is. I've ordered the Airfix Folland Gnat after seeing Les Moore's build and will do the same scheme (at some point :rolleyes: ) as this although I might try a brighter aluminium finish.

Edited by milktrip
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I agree with everyone as to the aluminum finish. I have a couple of thoughts on the day glow edge condition. There doesn't seem to be any way to apply day glow and the mandatory white undercoat without creating a thick edge (and a thin white pin stripe at the masking) . I have had success applying the day glow and it's undercoat first and feathering it out beyond the intended color separation line. Then, mask off the day glow and apply the overall aluminum finish. I havn't tried this with Alclad but it works fine with Testors non-buffing aluminum Metalizer. You may need to rub down the overspray a little before applying the metallic finish since the edges of the overspray may get a little "dotty" and that will show through the metallic . Ask me how I know.

Another approach was tried by a modeling club friend on that very kit. He used USN international orange on the day glow areas. Not strictly correct but it looked great. True day glow tends to look a little too electric in 1/72 scale

I agree with everyone as to the aluminum finish. I have a couple of thoughts on the day glow edge condition. There doesn't seem to be any way to apply day glow and the mandatory white undercoat without creating a thick edge (and a thin white pin stripe at the masking) . I have had success applying the day glow and it's undercoat first and feathering it out beyond the intended color separation line. Then, mask off the day glow and apply the overall aluminum finish. I havn't tried this with Alclad but it works fine with Testors non-buffing aluminum Metalizer. You may need to rub down the overspray a little before applying the metallic finish since the edges of the overspray may get a little "dotty" and that will show through the metallic . Ask me how I know.

Another approach was tried by a modeling club friend on that very kit. He used USN international orange on the day glow areas. Not strictly correct but it looked great. True day glow tends to look a little too electric in 1/72 scale

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Very very nice, I built the RAAF T11 from the starter set, inspired to build a dayglo one now, it's a really nice kit, I did learn that the Mig neutral wash I used could have done with being mixed a shade or two darker, will do that next build

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