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A DH Vampire (another boring ehrrr... exciting 28 Sqn build)


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You're a brave man Hendie attempting one of CA's twin boomers! Am I right in thinking you did a beautiful rendition of a Venom not too long ago? 

 

Having completing their T.11 Vamp with all the flightpath gubbins I know the frustration is real trying to fit those flaps!

Try as I might I couldn't get them to fit as advertised, I'm afraid I made a bit of pigs ear of them.

 

Keep plugging away and I'm sure you'll make a silk purse soon! 

Edited by Rich F
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21 hours ago, mark.au said:

I don't have a great deal of interest in the subject kit, but the story is most entertaining indeed. For that reason alone, I'm in!

 

welcome aboard Mark

 

13 hours ago, Andwil said:

Ah, he was stoned...that would explain it.

AW

 

:rofl2:

 

13 hours ago, T-21 said:

I have an Aeroclub Javelin canopy that yellowed badly. After one month taped to a west facing upstairs bedroom window I can CONFIRM it is now beautifully clear and waiting a dip in Future. It does work placing them in direct UV.

 

I've had this one under the UV light for some time now with no discernible improvement.

 

13 hours ago, perdu said:

de Havilland Vampire.

 

 

Hendiebuild.

 

What do you think?

 

Of course I am in with this one, mad at myself for not seeing it until Sunday morning, but now I am comfortably seated.

 

Let the 'tale' unfold...

 

 

 

I'm thinking I wish I was building something else. even a biplane!

 

12 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Your being glamoured. There are no bad bits. 🧛🏼‍♂️👌 

 

No bad bits eh? 

 

12 hours ago, Head in the clouds. said:

This is going exactly as I expected, Hendie improving the improvements and climbing a mountain while doing so...see you at the top.😆

 

Sadly, it's going exactly as I expected too.  The only reason I'm climbing this mountain is so that when I get to the top I can jump off, and hopefully never see another Classic Airframes kit. Ever.

 

12 hours ago, giemme said:

Only page two, but I'm in :tasty:  :popcorn: :beer:

 

Ciao 

 

Admit it Giorgio. You're only here for the schadenfreude aren't you?

 

11 hours ago, Rich F said:

You're a brave man Hendie attempting one of CA's twin boomers! Am I right in thinking you did a beautiful rendition of a Venom not too long ago? 

 

Having completing their T.11 Vamp with all the flightpath gubbins I know the frustration is real trying to fit those flaps!

Try as I might I couldn't get them to fit as advertised, I'm afraid I made a bit of pigs ear of them.

 

Keep plugging away and I'm sure you'll make a silk purse soon! 

 

That's good to hear in a sad sort of way.  At least you've confirmed it's not just me with the PE and this kit then. 

 

This special extravaganza weekend edition brings you Vampire action live as it happens.  Well, maybe not quite live, but certainly a bit more recent that 2019. As per usual I shall be jumping all over the build with this one, not least because you can only go so far in one direction before the kit sneaks around behind you and gives you one great kick up the bahookie  

 

Okay, I'll admit I spent ages looking at these two mishshapen blobs trying to figure out what on earth they were before eventually picking up the instruction booklet.

 

P3140002.jpg

 

It turns out that they are supposed to be the exhaust pipe (yikes). Hence the reason for the brass tube sneaking up behind them.

I did get as far as using some of the PE though - surprisingly well in fact.  This engine representation is made up of 2 discs, 1 ring, and 1 long strip rolled up to make a tube.

 

P3140003.jpg

 

As luck would have it, I managed to get it to (just) fit inside the brass tube - after a LOT of filing to thin the tube walls down a bit.  The masking tape is only on the engine thingy to stop it unwrapping while the CA cures.

 

P3140004.jpg

 

There's not really a lot to the internals of this kit - a few lumps of resin and that's about it.  One of those lumps of resin got glued to a fuselage half and black paint was thrown over it.  Just look at all that detail not popping.

 

P3140007.jpg

 

Then back to PE land again.  This time the instrument panel.

Take the kit part, remove all the detail (which wasn't that bad to be honest) then add 5 individual pieces of PE and three individual pieces of film. (I should have stayed with the resin part )

Rather than glaring stark white, I have used grey as the background for the gauges.

 

P3200008.jpg

 

I mean, this is a gauge.  It even gets its own PE covering piece.   Why?   It couldn't all have been on the one single piece of film ?  Can you really tell at the end of the day?   (Spoiler alert:  I've built it, held it in my hands and I canNOT tell )

 

P3200009.jpg

 

Then while the instrument panel was driving me nuts, I did some detail painting on the cockpit area.  (for detail painting, read: painted one button red)

 

P3200010.jpg

 

Okay then I did also try dry brushing and even went as far as rubbing my brush on a chalk pastel and dusted that over the floor. Highly technical stuff.  If I end up using the kit supplied canopy, I may as well have just stuffed marshmallows in there and been done with it. Nobody would be any the wiser.

 

Apologies for the really poor photo to follow.  

I attacked the pilots seat with a rare bout of enthusiasm. I chose red oxide for the seat frame as I thought it was a good match for that ye olde worlde bakelite look.  Unfortunately, when it came to painting the seat padding, I chose 'leather,' which as it turns out, was a perfect match for red oxide!  Hastily adding some black to the leather I managed to differentiate between the two components. and took a(nother) bad foto.

 

P3200011.jpg

 

It can be seen to slightly better effect in this shot. As can the abundance of excessive weathering on the floor.  Not to worry though - that's the artist pastel dust which can be easily licked off at any time

 

P3200012.jpg

 

Both wings were assembled and the intakes were glued in with epoxy glue. 

This may not have been a wise move.

 

P3210020.jpg

 

As you can see here, the intakes supplied with the kit are nothing like the intakes on a Vampire.  This is a MAJOR bit of work to get looking right.

 

P3200015.jpg

 

It may have been easier to work on the intakes before they were glued into the wing, but why make things easy for myself huh?

I'll admit, this has me scratching my head trying to figure out just how to make the necessary modifications to make it look right.  So much so that I have put the wings completely to the side while I f try to figure it out.

 

So back to the fuselage again.  It was around this time that the instrument panel left the assembly line and was ready to slot into the fuselage

 

But not without a small modification first...

 

P3200016.jpg

 

Yes, of course the instrument panel is too wide for the cockpit. Why on earth would they try to make the instrument panel fit within the confines of the cockpit when they can have you scraping the granite like plastic with a chisel for what seems like an eternity?

 

The you have to go and do the exact same thing to the other side which you had just painted up so nicely.

 

P3210024.jpg

 

Stress relieving time was accomplished by gluing in the exhaust pipe backing plate - which I had to rotate 90 degrees from that indicated in the instructions before it would fit.  

The exhaust isn't glued here - just dry fitting.  Some length needs to come off before that gets glued in.

 

P3210025.jpg

 

It's here that things take a turn for the worse.   (Ya hear that, Johnny? eh? You hear that?... worse I said. Worse!)

 

A quick dry fit of the front end shows that I may have some work on my hands.  Namely, more sanding. That fit doesn't look great does it?

 

P3210026.jpg

 

Now, after being bitten by the tailbiter, sorry, tail-sitter that was the Venom, I came prepared this time and brought along some Liquid Gravity to the fight.

 

P3210027.jpg

 

It ain't pretty but it's functional.

I'm taking the approach of loading in as much of this stuff as I can forward of the undercarriage line.  There's only so much you can get in the nose, and that didn't work last time around so this time I'm taking no chances.

 

P3210028.jpg

 

Sort of like this...

 

P3210029.jpg

 

With all that done I thought it was about time to get the fuselage closed up, so while it was in my hands, I started adding TET making sure the panel lines were nicely lined up like this

 

P3210030.jpg

 

then turned it over to find that the panel lines on this side DID NOT @#&%$@#&R@ line up!!!

 

P3210031.jpg

 

admittedly, not by much.  Not much at all.  Just enough to annoy the bejesus out of me for evermore.

 

Lets look on the bright side though - by the time I have finished sanding this pigs ear, there's going to be no panel lines left on it anyway.

I provide Vampirical evidence that this is truly one pigs ear of a kit.

 

P3210034.jpg

 

I have an uneasy feeling I should have been doing something with that ventral panel before gluing it in, but the urge to get rasping, filing, and sanding was just too great to resist

 

which was why I then orfed and glued together some easy bits

 

P3210033.jpg

 

... that ALL had to be sanded to different degrees before anything would start to fit together.

 

On the PERS (Pigs Ear Rating System) I'm giving this a whopping 10/10

 

 

 

Sheesh.   It's be easier if I were to design my own kit from scratch.

 

 

Oh. Wait...

 

 

 

 

 

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How can this be 10/10? Where will Merlin "kits" fit in on that scale?

 

You are right about the schadenfreude though! 

 

 

Carry on that man!

 

Ian

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9 hours ago, hendie said:

Admit it Giorgio. You're only here for the schadenfreude aren't you?

I actually came in here for more Hendie's modelling treat :winkgrin: Not disappointed, so far :clap:  :clap:

 

Ciao

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2 hours ago, giemme said:

I actually came in here for more Hendie's modelling treat :winkgrin: Not disappointed, so far :clap:  :clap:

 

Ciao

Me too neither

 

 

 

"Sheesh.   It's be easier if I were to design my own kit from scratch."

 

Design your own version of the Vamp and maybe start a production faciity...

 

Oh you have havent you, Wapiti Works US of A


Better order some more machines, Company motto "In Elegoo we trust"

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1 hour ago, perdu said:

Oh you have havent you, Wapiti Works US of A


Better order some more machines, Company motto "In Elegoo we trust"

"Who Prints Wins"?

 

Ian

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10/10 on the PERS scale, wow. I'm concerned Airfix would be scanning a Vampire by the time I would finish mine. Carry on Hendie, you're whipping it into shape.

 

Cheers,

Wlad

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On 3/22/2021 at 11:42 AM, hendie said:

Both wings were assembled and the intakes were glued in with epoxy glue. 

This may not have been a wise move.

As you can see here, the intakes supplied with the kit are nothing like the intakes on a Vampire.  This is a MAJOR bit of work to get looking right.

It may have been easier to work on the intakes before they were glued into the wing, but why make things easy for myself huh?

 

I'll admit, this has me scratching my head trying to figure out just how to make the necessary modifications to make it look right.  So much so that I have put the wings completely to the side while I f try to figure it out.


 

Hendy. Back in the day when this kit was first released, John Adams of Aeroclub released a set of corrected intakes for the CA kits, and a new fuselage 'pod' for the FB5..luckily I got both at Telford back then. Intakes are resin and the 'Pod' is injected, and far superior to the CA effort! Well worth searching out for if doing another CA Vampire kit.

Cheers,

Pete M.

On 3/22/2021 at 11:42 AM, hendie said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On 3/22/2021 at 1:56 AM, Brandy said:

How can this be 10/10? Where will Merlin "kits" fit in on that scale?

You are right about the schadenfreude though!

Carry on that man!

Ian

 

I think there's a different scale for Merlin kits Ian.

 

On 3/22/2021 at 2:49 AM, Head in the clouds. said:

 

Oh dear oh dear! The poor man is delusional, that is what you have been doing for the last day hendie.....😬

Inspirational work as ever.👍

 

perspirational more like. Never in the field of modeling, has so much sanding been done by so few for so long

 

On 3/22/2021 at 4:12 AM, giemme said:

I actually came in here for more Hendie's modelling treat :winkgrin: Not disappointed, so far :clap:  :clap:

Ciao

 

you're a sick man Giorgio

 

On 3/22/2021 at 6:59 AM, perdu said:

Me too neither

 

 

 

"Sheesh.   It's be easier if I were to design my own kit from scratch."

 

Design your own version of the Vamp and maybe start a production faciity...

 

Oh you have havent you, Wapiti Works US of A


Better order some more machines, Company motto "In Elegoo we trust"

 

:rofl2:

 

On 3/22/2021 at 7:01 AM, perdu said:

By the way also, only you can provide the viewing experience we're getting here

therapeutic I call it

 

keep taking the meds Bill, you're hallucinating again

 

On 3/22/2021 at 8:21 AM, Brandy said:

"Who Prints Wins"?

Ian

 

:rofl2:

 

On 3/22/2021 at 9:29 AM, gingerbob said:

 

No, I'm here for the schadenfraulein!

 

aren't all women like that?  (with the noted exception of Heather of course)

 

On 3/22/2021 at 11:03 AM, T-21 said:

Cockpit looking good. I placed my canopies in direct sunlight for at least a month. It does work despite  doubters.

 

still trying, still yelowed

 

On 3/24/2021 at 1:05 AM, Wlad said:

10/10 on the PERS scale, wow. I'm concerned Airfix would be scanning a Vampire by the time I would finish mine. Carry on Hendie, you're whipping it into shape.

 

Cheers,

Wlad

 

thanks Wlad

 

On 3/24/2021 at 2:01 AM, Pete M. said:

Hendy. Back in the day when this kit was first released, John Adams of Aeroclub released a set of corrected intakes for the CA kits, and a new fuselage 'pod' for the FB5..luckily I got both at Telford back then. Intakes are resin and the 'Pod' is injected, and far superior to the CA effort! Well worth searching out for if doing another CA Vampire kit.

Cheers,

Pete M.

 

 

I got pipped at the post a week or two ago on ebay.   It was the CA Kit with John Adams corrected intakes, canopy and a few other after market items.  Would it surprise you to learn that it sold for $1 over my limit?

 

This week I have mostly been sanding. If I'm honest I've been mostly Wapiti-ing, but when not being digital it has been sanding.  Never buy a CA kit if you're not afraid of sanding, cutting things up, throwing things away, and more sanding of course.

 

Since last dropping in here I did some sanding. The nose area cleaned up a lot easier than I thought it would, though as expected I lost a fair bit of detail

 

P3220001.jpg

 

Then some micromeshing later - after some more sanding of course - there were a few small holes in the epoxy that I filled with cyano, followed by more ehrrr... sanding

 

P3270002.jpg

 

Between sanding sessions I needed a diversion and when I looked around I spotted the CA undercarriage legs. Clunky, poorly defined, mahoosive parting line flash and mold mismatch and as in my previous CA adventure, I opted to go brassing again

 

P3270003.jpg

 

I even got adventurous one day and threw on some primer to see how bad the seams were, and was pleasantly surprised to note that only a little bit more sanding was required to bring them into line.

 

P3270005.jpg

 

Classic like making you work for your money and the kit just has vaguely defined nav lights molded into the wing tips - in their solid grey plastic of course.  Out with the razor saw and some more sanding.

I haven't bothered polishing them up fully as there is a lot more sanding to come before these wings are anywhere near finished.

 

P3270006.jpg

 

therefore, another detour and cut some holes in here bottom.  More to be done there.

 

P3280014.jpg

 

A lovely alternative to sanding is reinstating panel lines (NOT!).  I lost most of the panel detail along the fuselage join so some light scribes with a pin were required to bring back some of the lost stuff

 

P3280015.jpg

 

All of that work was done essentially in order to prevent me having to start those darned intakes.  CA took a shortcut and supplied the same intakes that they used on the Venom, and they are completely wrong for the Vampire.

I have spent ages looking at these intakes trying to figure out how to approach the necessary modifications and could never come up with a plan that seemed reasonable. Many hours went by. Then some more hours.

Eventually you have to stop procrastinating and just do something. In a CA kit that generally means sanding something.

I sanded the join between the wing and the intakes.

I sanded the inside of the intake as the upper edge on the Vampire looks almost razor sharp.

I sanded off the front end of the intakes.

 

P3280016.jpg

 

There will be sanding aplenty to come. As always, I'm making this up as I go along, so who knows how many two steps forward, three steps back I'm going to encounter along the way -but at least it's progress, maybe not in the right direction, but it's progress.

 

Next weeks episode...

Spoiler

more sanding...

 

 

 

 

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9 hours ago, hendie said:

Next weeks episode...

  Hide contents

more sanding...

 

 

One has to counterbalance the amount of virtual 3D modelling one has been carrying out... just saying... :D  

 

Neat job with all that sanding, Alan :clap: 

 

ciao

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Boring Alan boring, I don't think you could ever be classed as boring! I do like the PE set, looks well detailed. Mention of Hong Kong on the previous page got my attention, a great run ashore. I remember visiting a slot car outlet somewhere along the main drag over in Kowloon. That was back in '66!

Progress looks good, even if I'm only catching up on page two.

 

Chair at the ready and popcorn in the microwave...

 

Colin

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On 21/03/2021 at 22:42, hendie said:

It's here that things take a turn for the worse.   (Ya hear that, Johnny? eh? You hear that?... worse I said. Worse!)

Hmmmm the lady doth protest too much. 💃 if it just fitted there wouldn’t be any fun would there.  You love it really.  (Nailing it by the way) 👏👏🤣

ps. Don’t seek it my little typhoon I’m building. 💆‍♂️ I had a bit of a big gate on one bit. Terrifying. 🤣

 

Johnny
 

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Well I think you are doing a grand job of this. And, if you didn't lay in enough meds before starting, I suggest having a word with your supplier.

Now, I can imagine that somewhere just over the horizon the word FLAPS will once again resurface and more teeth and nerves will be damaged.

So to that end,

1/ do the kit flaps fit? If so..... (I seem to remember that the PE one's don't).

2/ One would suggest that Pilot Officer Plonk would, upon landing and slowing down, raise the flaps as soon as he remembers them

3/ The reason being that they are very close to the ground and therefore easily damaged. This is not a good thing for ones future career.

4/ So, Flaps up Taxi in, shut down, speak nicely to the Erks, walk away.

5/ Said Rigger Erk can then, as part of his After Flight, dump Hydraulic pressure to check levels. Oh look, The flaps come down.

6/ They can then get pumped up again using the handpump, which I'm sure was in the engine bay. Mostly to add brake pressure, but hey.

7/ Build your kit at point 4 (FOUR) or 6 (SIX) above using the kit flaps. Damn the detail! 

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Nice to see a bit 'o' brass creeping into the build, I do like a bit of brass, nice and shiny you see! And a 100 times better than kit item.

 

Had a thought, save the 50% of the kit shavings you have sanded and send it back to manufacturer asking for a 50% price reduction as they obviously used way to much of the grey stuff.

 

Onwards and upwards.....

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/29/2021 at 3:12 AM, giemme said:

One has to counterbalance the amount of virtual 3D modelling one has been carrying out... just saying... :D  

 

Neat job with all that sanding, Alan :clap: 

 

ciao

 

the counterbalance of digital dabbling is NOT sanding Giorgio.  Just sayin'

 

On 3/29/2021 at 9:50 AM, heloman1 said:

Boring Alan boring, I don't think you could ever be classed as boring! I do like the PE set, looks well detailed. Mention of Hong Kong on the previous page got my attention, a great run ashore. I remember visiting a slot car outlet somewhere along the main drag over in Kowloon. That was back in '66!

Progress looks good, even if I'm only catching up on page two.

 

Chair at the ready and popcorn in the microwave...

 

Colin

 

The PE set looks great Colin, and it is well detailed.  It's just that, well, it's not very useful.  I took a closer look at it over the last week and I reckon I'll be lucky if I use 50% of it.

 

On 3/29/2021 at 11:51 AM, T-21 said:

Great progress I do hope the canopies do come right .

 

only time will tell

 

On 3/29/2021 at 1:55 PM, The Spadgent said:

Hmmmm the lady doth protest too much. 💃 if it just fitted there wouldn’t be any fun would there.  You love it really.  (Nailing it by the way) 👏👏🤣

ps. Don’t seek it my little typhoon I’m building. 💆‍♂️ I had a bit of a big gate on one bit. Terrifying. 🤣

 

Johnny
 

 

Fitting is one thing Johnny, but having to carve your own shapes out of bits of the kit because it's so far off is another thing

 

On 3/29/2021 at 3:08 PM, Pete in Lincs said:

Well I think you are doing a grand job of this. And, if you didn't lay in enough meds before starting, I suggest having a word with your supplier.

Now, I can imagine that somewhere just over the horizon the word FLAPS will once again resurface and more teeth and nerves will be damaged.

So to that end,

1/ do the kit flaps fit? If so..... (I seem to remember that the PE one's don't).

2/ One would suggest that Pilot Officer Plonk would, upon landing and slowing down, raise the flaps as soon as he remembers them

3/ The reason being that they are very close to the ground and therefore easily damaged. This is not a good thing for ones future career.

4/ So, Flaps up Taxi in, shut down, speak nicely to the Erks, walk away.

5/ Said Rigger Erk can then, as part of his After Flight, dump Hydraulic pressure to check levels. Oh look, The flaps come down.

6/ They can then get pumped up again using the handpump, which I'm sure was in the engine bay. Mostly to add brake pressure, but hey.

7/ Build your kit at point 4 (FOUR) or 6 (SIX) above using the kit flaps. Damn the detail! 

 

The kit flaps were molded in Pete.  Badly.  The PE ones will fit in. Eventually.

 

On 3/30/2021 at 3:43 PM, Head in the clouds. said:

Nice to see a bit 'o' brass creeping into the build, I do like a bit of brass, nice and shiny you see! And a 100 times better than kit item.

 

Had a thought, save the 50% of the kit shavings you have sanded and send it back to manufacturer asking for a 50% price reduction as they obviously used way to much of the grey stuff.

 

Onwards and upwards.....

 

if they gave me just the right amount of plastic, I wouldn't have anything to carve out the correct shapes.

 

In between Wapiti adventuring, well let's be honest, the Wapiti is much more interesting than this so I pretty much concentrated on Wapiti-ing and completely ignored the Vampire over the last few weeks, but it's sitting there on the work bench, leering at me, and I need to clear up space for the final 3D print-a-thon, so there was nothing for it but to pick it up and start more sanding.

 

Trying to ease myself in gently, I put the big sandpaper to the side and went for the small stuff.  Now, remembering the faffle I had with the nose undercarriage on the Venom, I took a look at this offering. Yup, same.  The resin wheel doesn't fit.  Easy fix... glue in a spacer

 

P4100004.jpg

 

Then glue it together.

Then look at it and think: Do I really want to stick that on a kit?

 

P4100013.jpg

 

So that was put to one side while I think about it - which meant meddling about with some brass though not enough meddling to bother taking a photo just yet.

Time to cut something. Out with the razor saw taking particular care to make sure I stay within the stabilizer/rudder lines and...

Of course the panel lines don't match up. Why on earth did I ever think they would? 

 

P4100005.jpg

 

Undaunted, he pressed on separating the flying controls, then put those to one side as there's not much else to do with those at this point.

 

P4100006.jpg

 

Which left only the dreaded intakes. The real mojo killer of this kit, and there's a lot of mojo killers in this kit that's for sure, but those intakes are just a joke.

Last time around I had glued on a big chunka styrene on the front end.  I did a bit of basic shaping, but in looking at more and more photo's of Vampire intakes it soon became apparent that just about everything that can be wrong is wrong with these, and then some.

More bits of styrene were duly glued in place.

 

P4090001.jpg

 

I can't say for certain that my intakes are going to end up being correct, but they won't be as far off as the kit offerings if I can help it.  The port wing intake leading edge has been trimmed back and you can see by the pencil mark on the starboard intake how much has to be removed on the top end.  Or at least I think that's how much I need to remove.

 

P4090002.jpg

 

Have I ever had such fun with a kit? (no, don't mention Fly!)   Not only do you get to carve organic like shapes from resin and plastic, but you get to do it twice! Then just to top things off - they have to be symmetrical

This means constant comparisons between the two. Do a bit on one intake - get to a place you think is decent, then stop and try to do exactly the same thing to the other intake.

So what's actually wrong with these intakes?  Let's see... The top edge is too fat and needs to be almost razor like at the leading edge. The bottom edge is is too thin and needs to be beefed up to have a nice bullnose rolling edge.  The line of bot the upper and lower edges of the intakes are at the wrong angle as the leave the wing and head to the fuselage.  They are too short and completely miss the shark like shape of the front end on the intake. Oh, then the intake itself is the wrong shape - the outer end of the intake should be nicely rounded, and so it goes on.

Here's a few hours of my life filing and sanding.  On the port intake (on the right), I've thinned down the top edge, and added a piece of thick styrene to give me a chance at shaping the bottom lip at some time in the future.

 

P4090003.jpg

 

Then more fun comes along when you have to ensure that everything is symmetrical and evenly rounded.  Damn DH and their nicely flowing curves.

 

P4100008.jpg

 

Some days later and a few rounds of filing, sanding, adding filler, sanding filler off, adding more filler etc., the port intake is finally starting to take shape.  To alleviate the boredom I drilled a hole as well.

 

P4100009.jpg

 

It was at this juncture that I happened to refer back to my Sek Kong Vampire photos and not the generic Vampire (is there such a beast?) that I've been using as reference for my sanding has never been such fun sessions, when I came across this shot and saw the bullet nose on this intake.  :angry::rage:  Completely different shape from the one I'm trying to form.

I was well aware of this photo - I've had it for a couple of years so why was I using 'standard' Vampire intakes as my reference? 

Vampire-01-2.jpg

 

A few moments of wild panic ensued while I checked my other references.

Ah... saved!  This shot was titled simply "Sek Kong Vampire" but that fairing is noticeably different from the shot above (thankfully), and if you chack my first post, the shot with the very nice BOAC lady sitting atop a Vampire shows that aircraft with the "standard" fairing.

 

Sek-Kong-Vampire.jpg

 

Lucky save there.

After my heart started back up again, it was back to the files and sandpaper.

Another few hours and today I feel I am starting to get somewhere.  Port intake again.  I've concentrated on doing all the hard shaping - getting the overall form right. I'll concentrate on the soft shaping (rounding the edges etc.) when I feel that I'm 95% there. 

A squirt of primer is needed every now and then to stop the eyes getting confused and mislead by the change in color and textures of the different materials used.  So far that is: kit plastic, kit resin, epoxy glue, superglue, and squadron white putty.

 

P4100010.jpg

 

I think I'm almost there with this one.

 

P4100012.jpg

 

Sanding and shaping the outer faces of this is difficult enough, but I still have to try and smooth all the internal ridges and scratch marks.

Almost there though, at least on one intake. Unfortunately these need to be done before the wings can go on, and without the wings on, the booms can't go on, and so on.

 

Oh, I'm so looking forward to never having to build another Classic Airframes kit!

 

 

 

 

 

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8 hours ago, hendie said:

 

Fitting is one thing Johnny, but having to carve your own shapes out of bits of the kit because it's so far off is another thing

Sorry. I don’t mean to be flippant. I was just ribbin’ ya. I know it comes across weird in written form sometimes so please accept my apologies. In reality you’re making me panic a little. I bought the Classic Airframes whirlwind while you were building the Venom. Seeing your stash of CA kits I figured they were sought after quality affairs. Now I need to go look at the hunks of plastic I have. 🥺😩 You’re going to make this shine as you always do. Great work on the intakes they look splendid. 👏👏🙌

 

Johnny

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9 hours ago, hendie said:

It was at this juncture that I happened to refer back to my Sek Kong Vampire photos and not the generic Vampire (is there such a beast?) that I've been using as reference for my sanding has never been such fun sessions, when I came across this shot and saw the bullet nose on this intake.  :angry::rage:  Completely different shape from the one I'm trying to form.

I was well aware of this photo - I've had it for a couple of years so why was I using 'standard' Vampire intakes as my reference? 

Most Vampires had symmetrical intakes port & stbd, except those that were tropicalised, ie FB.9's, and I've seen reference to FB.5's having being modded with a tropicalisation kit. The air conditioning pack (or at least part of it) was fitted in an extended intake fairing on the stbd side only. This is what you're seeing in the photo referenced above, it gives a good profile view of the extended fairing, which would be fitted to most, if not all of the Sek Kong Vampires. 

 

9 hours ago, hendie said:

A few moments of wild panic ensued while I checked my other references.

Ah... saved!  This shot was titled simply "Sek Kong Vampire" but that fairing is noticeably different from the shot above (thankfully), and if you chack my first post, the shot with the very nice BOAC lady sitting atop a Vampire shows that aircraft with the "standard" fairing.

That looks like another extended fairing to me @hendie. You can't see the extended fairing on the shot of the BOAC lady sitting on the Vampire because you're looking at the port side which retained the standard fairing. The shot including Audrey also shows the extended fairing. The shots of the trials aircraft that landed on the beach shows symmetrical intakes, so standard FB.5.

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