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Classic Airframes 1/48 Vampire T.35


Bell209

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Because I'm a glutton for punishment, my next project is Classic Airframes' DH Vampire Trainers kit. I've got the Flightpath detail set for it, too.

After lots of work with a razor saw and sanding sticks, it's ready to assemble.

I've made a start on the cockpit.
 

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Still need to paint the Face Blind Ejection Handles with yellow stripes before fitting it to the fuselage.

I also decided to open up the holes in the intakes where they pass through the fuselage, which means you can see through to the inside of the fuselage (slightly). To that end, I scratched up a representation of the engine intake. It's not meant to be accurate, just something that looks like the engine.
 

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I'll also replace the exhaust pipe with a piece of aluminium tubing before closing up.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Managed to trash the canopy while mucking about with the etch. I think this is recoverable with Windex and Future:
 

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The aft section is badly cracked after I sanded it too much while trying to remove the clouding from the acetone (don't ask). Hopefully I can replace it.

 

I've pushed on with some other bits.
 

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Plenty of weight to ensure she's not a tail-sitter.

 

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Opened up the gun troughs as they looked odd as moulded.


I'm starting to see why Classic Airframes kits are viewed with an amount of trepidation! Lots of dry fitting and sanding is required and even then there are issues. The nose/cockpit/nose landing gear well/gun trough joins are just one example.

Just to make things harder, I stupidly bought the Flightpath detail set. While the instructions are good, it does miss some bits.

I replaced the kit jetpipe with an aluminium-sleeved plastic tube.
 

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There's a nice turbine replica in there but you'll be hard-pressed to see it.

The Flightpath flaps are nice but they take a bit of work. I initially folded the LH flap wells the wrong way, then folded them back, which subsequently weakened the bend and they broke. What John forgot to mention in the instructions is you need to either separate the flap sections (inner and outer) or slice the tailboom to allow the rear spar replica to fit in. I chose the latter option and didn't cut deep enough. The single piece then made it difficult to get the thing to fit properly. This is the mess that results:
 

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The instructions say to thin the removed flap sections dramatically and fit them to the new flap inners. I made new ones out of .020" card and they look much better. Got to fix that gap mess...

For the other side, I ignored the direction to fit the flaps to the wing upper surface first and instead separated the flap sections. More thinning of the wing inner surfaces this time, too. It fits much better this time and here you can see the outer flap waiting to be fitted once the wing is dry.

Because I'm an idiot, I also liberated the speed brakes from the wings and will pose them open, as per almost all twin Vampire photos I've seen. A fellow member of the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society and good mate of mine will get some pictures of the speed brake wells for me today so I can detail them appropriately.
 

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Oh dear. Like the Venom currently in progress by @Hendie, the gaps are terrible - and that's after I sanded the fuselage and wings to produce a better fit..

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The problem is the wing/fuselage junction doesn't meet everywhere. You can get it to fit on top or at the bottom or at the front or at the training edge but not at all four points!


These gaps are too big to fill with Mr. Surfacer or even Milliput, I think. I'll need to put some plastic strips in there before filling with the usual suspects. I hate filling and sanding...

I also decided to pull the tailpipe out and replace it with a piece of brass tube alone. It'll be fitted after painting's complete. This kit's a lot of work, despite its low parts count.

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I feel your pain.

Yes the fit of pretty much everything is terrible - there's not a flat edge or a straight line on the kit. You have to do a lot of selective sanding to get any two surface anywhere near close together.

 

I had actually started this kit some time back - the flaps are a LOT of work, not to mention the amount of work just to get the upper and lower wing surfaces to come together. As you note the PE instructions are  missing a few steps - I cut through the boom as it seemed the easiest solution at the time. I'm sure all the scraping I had to do to get parts to fit contributed to the resurgence of an old injury, so I just put the kit away to be revisited at some point in the future.

 

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19 hours ago, hendie said:

there's not a flat edge or a straight line on the kit.

You can say that again - even the leading and trailing edges are wavy!

 

Most of this afternoon was spent stretching sprue to go in the gaps. I think it's come up okay but I won't really know until I start sanding and filling.

 

The wheel well roof etch was discarded as it's too much trouble to fit for little benefit. I'll use the door linings and the actuating mechanisms, though. The unused etch will be useful for the speed brake wells.

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  • 1 year later...

Wow - I haven't done anything to this for a while! The COVID lockdowns and a double move to Canberra (in the Australian Capital Territory) from Adelaide (South Australia) and the Sunshine Coast (Queensland) meant this project spent most of the last 18 months in storage.

Got the gear (and the new heater!) out on the weekend and assembled the tailbooms after inserting some locating pins earlier in the build, both for the boom attachment and the horizontal stabiliser. Fortunately, there's a shedload of weight in the nose and room for more, if needed!
 

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I'm reasonably happy with the result but it needed a bit of fettling as I didn't align the holes for the pins properly first time around...
 

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I can live with that. Some minor filling and sanding will tidy this lot up. The resin ends have been drilled ready for assembly and will go on shortly.

Uncle Les kindly made me a new pair of canopies to replace the rear one I cracked but I just can't get them to fit (I think they're for the Hobbycraft kit). I managed to tidy up the one I have well enough and I'll put up pics once the etch is all on.

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Sorry, I missed this the first time round. Just caught up, crikey what a fight.  You are doing well to still be working on it and are doing a great job.  Will watch with interest.  I am doing a CA/Special Hobby kit at the mo but am lucky as the fit is quite good so far  although instructions are vague in places. 

Chris

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Thanks, gents. I'm aiming to attach the booms this week - here's where I find they don't align with the re-fettled fuselage sections! Probably should've checked that before gluing the horizontal stabs in...

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A wet weekend in Canberra made for a bit more progress on the Vampire. I had a feeling something wasn't right when I went to fit the booms and found the assembly splayed outward by a significant amount. That'll teach me not to check before gluing the horizontal stabiliser on! Luckily, it came apart without too many issues and I managed to take a significant amount off both ends to square the lot up.

 

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It looks slightly misaligned but sitting it on the cutting board with the grid markings shows it's actually square - must be an optical illusion. I think I have the upward deflection angle right - bad luck if it isn't!
 

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I also tidied up the rear canopy I damaged last year. Uncle Les kindly made me replacements but I can't for the life of me get them anywhere near close enough to fit - I suspect they were intended for the Hobbycraft kit originally. I can live with this as it is.

 

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I'll get the horizontal stab outers on next and then do some filling before moving onto the flaps and speedbrakes.

 

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Right - fixed the dead links created with the demise of Aussie Modeller International's forum and now for the latest!

 

I didn't like the idea of painting the lights on the wingtips, so more work for me!

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Next I drilled the end of a piece of clear sprue and filled the ends with red and green paint.

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After cutting and gluing, the starboard one looked like this:

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...and the port like this:

 

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More filling on the belly and I added an ADF antenna used by RAAF aircraft.

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The external tanks alo came in for attention:

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More filling, sanding and blending later...

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I started work on a rear nav light at the end of the port boom, too.

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I also realised the landing light was missing, so I drilled a hole for a lens.

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Remember the speedbrakes? Turns out their wells need some secondary ribs added. The etched set provided from the unused wheel well roof.

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I seem to have lost some pictures of the progress of this - very annoying! Here's where I'm at now:

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I'll mask and paint the white undercoat next while I wait for my Colourcoats Dayglo Red to arrive from Creative Models.

 

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2 hours ago, wellsprop said:

Looking good! I have this kit too and I'm looking forward to it :)

I'd wait for Airfix to release a version of their single-seater. Can't be far away - I've nearly finished my CA one!

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I found the missing photos, too!

 

This is the final primer coat

 

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Underside primed.

 

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There are no actuators fitted to the flaps or speedbrakes at the moment - they'll go on shortly as they had to have anodised/chromed rod ends painted separately.

 

 

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Getting closer now! Added the dayglo orange paint, courtesy of Colourcoats. I managed ot knock one of the elevator mass balances off and will have to make a new one eventually.

 

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Annoyingly, while working on our AP-3C at HARS over the weekend, I noticed our two Vampires being restored there had a slightly different scheme to what I'd painted. A check on my references revealed I'd missed extending the dayglo panels out onto the underwings. More masking later...

 

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I've used Humbrol 81 enamel as a primer as I wanted a lightly faded shade of the paint.

 

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Back in into the spray booth after the primer dried.

 

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After unmasking, I found a couple of over-sprays on the port wing. Unlike the last time I did this, this time the aluminium paint came off, too.

 

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Back to the spray booth...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Main gear's in and I've made a replacement elevator mass balance. A couple of touch-ups to do on the paint before clear-coating for decals.

 

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I've also made my own stencils sheet:

 

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Actuating rods and hoses fitted and nose gear installed. 

 

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I realised I'd misplaced the forward nose gear door somewhere in the past and manufactured a new one from some surplus etch yesterday. Made some actuating rods for both doors from 0.3 mm brass rod, too. Also fitted the landing and tail lights, both from the spares box.

 

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Subsequent to these photos, I painted the rods silver and touched up the lower antenna. I need to make a black one up for the rear of the canopy but that can wait until after decalling. She's now ready for a quick clear coat prior to decals. The finish line is in sight!

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Approaching the finish line now and, as so often happens with me, issues near the end. Spent all weekend decalling:

 

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After washing the model prior to applying the clear coat I noticed this:

 

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The sharp-eyed amongst you will notice the serail number has disappeared from the port tailboom. It must've gone down the drain - first time this has ever happened to me and that's despite using Micro Set as a primer and two coats of Micro Sol! I also noticed that my constant picking up of the model by the leading and trailing edges has eroded the paint, despite several coats of Future over the paint.

 

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I'm not sure that I can be bothered fixing it now as it sort of looks a lot like it's been eroded by the airflow. Regardless, I'll be spraying a coat of Future over it first so I don't tear off any decals. I have to do a couple of small aluminium touch-ups anyway. What do you think?

 

Fortunately, I had a stash of old Aussie Decals RAAF serial numbers and applied those in lieu of the lost decal.

 

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As they look a little different from the original, I had to swap the starboard side one out, too:

 

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I'm a bit over this kit. Time to clear coat. This will be the last WIP post for this. Expect to see it in the RFI in the next week or so. Thanks for following!

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