John R Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 This was built from the Amodel DH100 Vampire Mk 1 kit modified by fitting the large tail fins, removal of the guns and different decals. There was much anguish about the colour scheme. It has been nearly done to death in a couple of BM threads but the upshot is that nobody actually seems to know what the colour scheme was. Most people agree that the topside was Medium Sea Gray but opinions for the underside colour range from yellow, silver to duck egg. I decided to go for silver. Decals were a problem as there was again a lack of hard information. I settled for 50" Type B on the upper surfaces and 'small' Type C on the underside. The others came from the spares box and and I made the registration. Incidentally the the blue in the kit decals, which I did not use, seems to be somewhat on the light side. Lastly seen here with its younger brother the prototype Venom. Any comments or extra information welcome John 24 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildeSau75 Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Nice one - the large tail fins - have they been fitted just test wise on the Mk.1 Vampire? And how was the A-Model kit? Cheers, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John R Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 49 minutes ago, WildeSau75 said: Nice one - the large tail fins - have they been fitted just test wise on the Mk.1 Vampire? And how was the A-Model kit? Cheers, Michael No that was how it started out. There was a directional instability problem which caused snaking. As part of the investigation they fitted a vertical surface ahead of the cockpit and from that they worked out that the fins were too big and so they simply cut the tops off and that is why the first Vampires had the flat topped fins. De havilland then redesigned them to give them the DH shape. There is a lovely story from one of the ground engineers that when it was realised that the fins were too big they first flew it without one of the rudders and found that solved the problem. However it couldn't be left like that so Geoffrey De Havilland insisted that they just hacked the tops off there and then. The design office had a fit but it worked. The Kit was OK. Not perfect but much better than previous Amodel efforts 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Sweet Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildeSau75 Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 2 minutes ago, John R said: No that was how it started out. There was a directional instability problem which caused snaking. As part of the investigation they fitted a vertical surface ahead of the cockpit and from that they worked out that the fins were too big and so they simply cut the tops off and that is why the first Vampires had the flat topped fins. De havilland then redesigned them to give them the DH shape. There is a lovely story from one of the ground engineers that when it was realised that the fins were too big they first flew it without one of the rudders and found that solved the problem. However it couldn't be left like that so Geoffrey De Havilland insisted that they just hacked the tops off there and then. The design office had a fit but it worked. The Kit was OK. Not perfect but much better than previous Amodel efforts Interesting - didn't know that. Thanks for clarifying. It looks somehow wrong with the larges fins but that makes it special. I heard about the not so special Vampire kit of A Models - got the Mk6 kit to build the Swiss version with the Pinocchio nose - and it doesn't look that special. Good news is that Special Hobbies is working on a Mk.1 as well as on Mk.6 - their Vampire kits are definitely better. Cheers, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 I like the looks of the Grey/silver personally Very well done 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Great to see that you finally got this one done John, I think you're pretty near the mark colour and markings wise. Those I spoke to all said they thought the silver most likely for the underside and it looks just right. (somebody's bound to come along now with a colour photo to prove us wrong!). Look forward to seeing it at the shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cngaero Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Great work there John. It certainly looks smart in that scheme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glatisant Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 That's a good one. Nice work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invidia Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Nice looking build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Nice result! Fresh idea to do the models of prototypes . Regards J-W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now