Airfix Vampire FB5

[Graham T]

Not quite shake & bake but quite pleasing for all that.  The joining of the upper & lower fuselage/wing halves was quite trying, a bit of filler around the intakes & I don't see how the windscreen fits without shaving a bit of material off the base of the gunsight!  A tail sitter & as I didn't have any depleted uranium lying around I used lead fishing weights but sadly it was impossible to squeeze in enough to keep it on it's nose wheel!  I built it as an FB5, using the expended undercarriage legs & flat wing tips (the kit includes a pair of the latter but tbf I found them a bit too thin so I attached the rounded F3 tips, then cut & sanded them to shape before adding the clear navigation lights from the kit).  Decals from an old Xtradecal sheet for 20 squadron.  I dropped the flaps & opened the air brakes which may not be commonly seen on the ground but the Vampire is quite a clean airframe & I simply wanted to add a bit of visual interest!  Certainly looks nice when completed.