Swedish Vampire, Airfix 1/72

[Avereda 1,609]

Shouldn't really as I've already got enough on the go but I can't resist this GB having seen what's happening already. My entry, a Home Bargains three quidder picked up over the summer.  I'm planning to pick up decals to allow for a non-metal finish, something Swedish or maybe Rhodesian may be on the cards.

 

Box and sprue shots to make sure I'm playing fairly

 

 

 

 

I've already lost the clear parts for the IP as part of the initial foray so this promises to be another grim build - comedy scratch building ahoy.

 

Edited February 25, 2017 by Avereda
Topic title

[DAG058 3,648]

A bargain at £3, why do I never stumble across anything like that?! Welcome to the GB and I look forward to seeing your scratch building.

[Rob G 3,404]

Just as a head's up, the Vampire was sprayed Aluminium, she wasn't natural metal. That'll make it easier to do the box version.

[Robert Stuart 2,785]

39 minutes ago, Rob G said:

she wasn't natural metal

 

I thought the Vampire fuselage was wooden, very like the Mosquito.

 

Good choice Avereda

[Rob G 3,404]

17 minutes ago, Robert Stuart said:

 

I thought the Vampire fuselage was wooden, very like the Mosquito.

 

Indeed it was. 'High Speed Silver' was the RAF's colour of choice after camouflage went away in the late '40s.

[Avereda 1,609]

23 hours ago, DAG058 said:

A bargain at £3, why do I never stumble across anything like that?! Welcome to the GB and I look forward to seeing your scratch building.

 

You need to spend more time with the Bargains section of the Sales forum. As it happens I got lucky in the summer, I was holidaying up the Tarbat peninsular and the Tain HB was full of cheap Airfix.

 

You may wish to reconsider the scratch building comment once you've seen where it's heading

 

19 hours ago, Rob G said:

Just as a head's up, the Vampire was sprayed Aluminium, she wasn't natural metal. That'll make it easier to do the box version.

 

Thanks for the info Rob, I'm probably going to go for some form of camo...early days though

 

18 hours ago, Robert Stuart said:

 

I thought the Vampire fuselage was wooden, very like the Mosquito.

 

Good choice Avereda

 

I didn't know that, if you follow this thread you'll find there's an awful lot I don't know.

 

As always thanks for the comments, GBs are great for this sort of stuff.

 

By the way the Swedish markings on the Xtradecal sheet I've been looking at are for a T.55 - is this likely to be significantly different externally to the T.11?

[Troy Smith 7,473]

19 minutes ago, Avereda said:

 

By the way the Swedish markings on the Xtradecal sheet I've been looking at are for a T.55 - is this likely to be significantly different externally to the T.11?

 

no, 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Vampire

 

• Mk 11 or DH.115 Vampire Trainer: private venture, two-seat jet trainer prototype.

• T.55: export version of the DH.115 trainer; 216 built and six converted from the T.11.

 

HTH

T

 

[Avereda 1,609]

1 hour ago, Troy Smith said:

 

no, 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Vampire

 

• Mk 11 or DH.115 Vampire Trainer: private venture, two-seat jet trainer prototype.

• T.55: export version of the DH.115 trainer; 216 built and six converted from the T.11.

 

HTH

T

 

 

That's good enough for me, thanks Troy

[Avereda 1,609]

Decals and bucket seats ordered after checking the thread linked below, so we're definitely going the full Swedish now. The thread also links to some excellent interior photos so I may slightly rejig my cockpit plan.

 

 

[Col. 10,053]

This one is proving a popular choice of kit for our GB but a Swedish one gets my vote  

[Avereda 1,609]

On 26/02/2017 at 10:55 PM, Col. said:

This one is proving a popular choice of kit for our GB but a Swedish one gets my vote  

Cheers, it may well be the only vote it gets. In other news the aftermarket has arrived so I'm good to go. There's going to be a short pause as I'm off to Glasgow for a weeks holiday after that I'll crack on with the Swede.

 

 

[Grandboof 1,644]

Looking forward to this one in Swedish marks  

Martin H

[CliffB 7,529]

  A very nice choice.

 

Cliff

[Avereda 1,609]

Belated update after a week in Scotland followed by the usual end of financial year bedlam at work. I had a go at replicating some of the seat framing using, wire, brass rod and the resin seats (see the link earlier in the thread). It still needs some work, the seats aren't quite level but I think it might end up ok. I gone sort of halfway house on the IP modification as I've retrieved one of the clear parts but this might change.

 

 

 

 

[Avereda 1,609]

Some slow progress but progress nonetheless. I've gone for Panzer Grey on the internals, figuring that it would be slightly less "black cat in a coal hole" than solid black. One of the seats is minus a lever, I poked it to see what would happen...it fell off.

 

Nose weight courtesy of Milliput and some vintage lead shot I found in an old tackle box - I haven't fished for nearly 30 years but I knew it would come in handy one day.

 

 

[Davek72 1,056]

Top work.  I have the same kit (2 actually) and the same decal set but I shall choose another scheme and leave you the camo Swedish version.

 

Dave

[Avereda 1,609]

On 04/04/2017 at 5:37 PM, Davek72 said:

Top work.  I have the same kit (2 actually) and the same decal set but I shall choose another scheme and leave you the camo Swedish version.

 

Dave

Cheers, though don't let my efforts put you off having a crack at the Swedish one.

[Avereda 1,609]

A few hours on the bench and I've got this moving along a bit. The seats are painted, fuselage together and a dry fit of the wings. Only after I put the IP decal in did I realise the issue with painting the internals something lighter than black, I'll ponder how to rectify this after some weekend drinking.

 

 

Edited April 14, 2017 by Avereda
Photo

[Avereda 1,609]

Not exactly racing along but the Vampire's nearly ready for paint, some pointy bits have been snapped off but I'll try and repair the damage.

 

 

[TEMPESTMK5 7,337]

Good afternoon Avereda

  so far

 

Patrice

[Grandboof 1,644]

Looking good 

Martin H

[DAG058 3,648]

Looking very smart, nice work.

[Avereda 1,609]

On 08/05/2017 at 0:38 PM, TEMPESTMK5 said:

Good afternoon Avereda

  so far

 

Patrice

 

On 08/05/2017 at 3:09 PM, Grandboof said:

Looking good 

Martin H

 

On 10/05/2017 at 4:03 PM, DAG058 said:

Looking very smart, nice work.

 

Thanks everyone, primer on today I may even start adding colour before the weekend is through

 

 

[DAG058 3,648]

Looking good in that primer! 

[Avereda 1,609]

On 2017-5-28 at 7:56 AM, DAG058 said:

Looking good in that primer! 

 

Thanks, and now with added colour. Some correction of the underside is required and a scheme needs to be plotted for the dayglo bands but it's still moving along.

 

The Xtradecal sheet advises that the gun ports should be masked and I've also noticed that there's still quite a nasty seam line on the underside of the fuselage. Still a bit of work to do before the gloss coat and decal stage.