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Airfix Vampire T.11 **Finished**


Rob G

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I'll be joining in here with the kit in the title above, just as soon as I get some paint on some of my other GB entrants. So probably the day before this ends.

Joining me in the Vampire horror will be one of my brothers, who I'll start a separate thread for, unless the Mods run amok and start fighting the Rockers.

Hang on a sec...

... unless the mods think it'll be OK to do both in the one thread. (I'll ask in the chat.)

Also here in the GB will be my other brother (the 'odd one'), who refuses to do airyplanes and has instead decided on Ye Olde Shippe of the Line, Airfix's venerable HMS Victory, the large scale version. He'll get his own thread, mos def.

Pictures tomorrow.

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Change of plan. Vampire bro, having signed up to this den of futility, is going to make his own thread (which is here http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234999801-de-havilland-vampire/ ) and Victory bro is maybe not going to do Nelson's final command, due to 'holy wow there's a bucket load of stuffs in there' (Sorry Dazdot!). Instead, he may be doing something else, with HMS V to be a more leisurely build as time permits. Hopefully he'll see fit to allow me to post updates in a separate thread in the appropriate forum.

In the meantime, here's my lonely Vampire, which isn't being started yet.

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And the proposed workshop floor, which will remind all who enter why we're doing this (for the Glory of Empire!) (or maybe, possibly, just for the lols.)

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Due to this being a bit of a family heirloom (it dates from pre- my parent's wedding, if I remember correctly, which places it mid-'66...), I'll be laying down newspaper or something similar to keep things tidy.

When this kicks off, you lot will be about the 4th and on to know. ;)

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Umm, I should stop building and post some photos &c, shouldn't I?

At the end of my marathon session of canopy polishing and Futuring yesterday evening, I decided to reward myself with a nice, fun thing to do - start a new kit. So I got on with this one,

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using just these tools

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(you may notice that this bears a striking resemblance to the tools that Hawker's Hound is using. I'll let you work that one out...)

At close of play last night (early this morning actually, but who's counting?), I had this collection of bits

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- well on my way to a Vampire!

I've been able to do little bits here and there all day today, and now I'm here

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And finally,

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Seats AND pilots are painted and ready to install (even if the pilots are a mite green in the face - what I'd give for a couple of drops of red paint!), and all the other less important pieces (like wings, f'rinstance) are fettled and will be a drop-in installation (said he, ignoring hubris) when the time comes.

Hopefully I'll manage to get a first coat of High Speed Silver (aka Humbrol 11 :) ) onto this tomorrow, after I get it assembled.

More later.

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You can see from the two of us which has been keeping up the hobby over the past years :P (And you responded with incredulity when I said I wanted to try to pick out the rails on the throttle quadrant in silver. You did it better than moi! Haha)

And joke's on me. I haven't posted a toolset yet. :frantic:

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The Vampire has been rolling slowly along, at the expense of my much more urgent P-47 builds...

First up, the pilots: Flt Lt Isaiah Kyte and an as-yet unnamed Cadet on a flight awarded for having the shiniest boots or somesuch. You'll notice that they both look a bit green... hard to get flesh tones with no red in the palette.

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And so, I said "Meh to rules" and dug out a bit of a mix I'd made for some anime stuff I'm working on.

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A quick drybrush, and much better. Not finished in these photos, obviously. If this makes me ruled ineligible, so be it.

Next up, it's had a first coat of silver (actually, it's now had 3, but I don't got no pix of that yet).

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Doesn't look too bad here, but it got worse as the layers went on - my brushing skills are sadly deficient. I'm thinking of using this paint as the natural metal finish for one of my P-47s actually - it looks quite good, and should be boss when sprayed.

And the nosewheel... I could go off and rant about how Airfix have no clue at all, but rather, here it is with a recess around the tyre, like it should have, instead of the raised bulge that Airfix supply it with. This, I am proud to say, is the only bit of the whole kit that I used files on. The rest was done with nowt but 400 grit sandpaper, just like it was way back when. (I know, the gap is too wide. Still better than Airfix's automatically skidding tyre design though.)

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Since these were taken, decals and wheels and mass balances and all sorts of fun things have been added, so it looks somewhat like an RNZAF Vampire trainer (if you turn out the lights, then squint from a long way away). Just waiting for canopy and pilots to be finished and installed, and that'll be that. Next update will be the final, I think (failing disasters).

Now, on with the P-47s, in the forlorn hope that they'll get done in time.

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All done. I've decided to leave the figures out until I can be bothered finishing them (and after I've put the photos up in the gallery). Thanks all for following along and commenting.

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More in the gallery.

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Just been checking out the photos in the Gallery..........absolutely superb Vampire Rob! You got a great finish with the paint and, as we all know, the paint in these pots leaves a lot to be desired. Very well done! :thumbsup:

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Aww, thanks guys. However the paint in real life isn't anything to be proud of - the camera has flattened it a bit and flattered it a lot. It won't be going onto the table at this years show, that's for sure.

As I think I said, the silver isn't bad - brushed with a wider, more capable brush (and by a more capable brusher) it'd be quite servicable - sprayed, it might be a very nice indeed.

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