Rich F Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Thought I'd blow the dust off this one and give it a go. Here's the obligatory Box shot... Hopefully going too turn out some thing like this Im going to add Aeroclub's Vac formed canopy, corrected intakes and wheels, plus the Flightpath set. I heard that there are a few problems with this kit, anyone who's built one and can give me a few pointers i be most grateful. Rich 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atdb27 Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Hi Rich, Funny you should say that. I think I've read somewhere about geting the booms to line up is a bit of a bugger! Hopefully your's will be a bit more shinier than the pic? Do like a good NMF Jet you know. Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Bradley Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 (edited) EDIT Feb 2020: The link I posted no longer works.   Edited February 27, 2020 by Paul Bradley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlpainter Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 hi just a note be careful when doing the unpainted areas as they are not silver but a very pale grey almost a natural steel finish due to the skins being anodized from factory and paint does not stick to it very well even when using aircraft acid etch primer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonofjim Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 look like a nice project ! always had a soft spot for the vamp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich F Posted November 10, 2009 Author Share Posted November 10, 2009 (edited) Hi Peeps, Finally got this one back out again now that I've finished the PR.9 for the GB. The cockpit and bang seats are now at the stage to fit into the fuselage with just few little bits to do but you get the general idea... The IP came for the flightpath set, it really sets it off and would recommended it to anyone who's got this kit. I've also got round to building the flaps also from the Flightpath set, these look the lovely when built up. I wish I could same the same about the fit they sit too proud of the wing when installed so I've had to resort to the dremel to grind away the inside of the top of the wing.Here i had a little accident and grinded a bit too much away so have had to cut the damaged part away and insert a replacement trim tab,, which needs sanding down. This what they will roughly look like when installed. Next up is fitting the cockpit tub, this shouldnt present too many dramas as I've already dry fitted it as you can see. The only problem I've got is the jet pipe which is a strange oval shape so I've ordered some 9mm brass tubing to replace it. Thats all for now Cheers Rich Edited November 10, 2009 by Rich F 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CockneyCol Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 Looking good, I noticed the comments about the booms...I built the Venom recently and found that the Aeroclub bi-plane jig was ideal for lining things up....hope it helps Cheers Col' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJPFlightpath Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 I wish I could same the same about the fit they sit too proud of the wing when installed so I've had to resort to the dremel to grind away the inside of the top of the wing.Here i had a little accident and grinded a bit too much away so have had to cut the damaged part away and insert a replacement trim tab,, which needs sanding down. Hello Rich - Just a couple of points, if I may: Firstly - there appears in your photos [erroneously] to be a wedge-shaped mistmatch between the trailing edge of our inner flap assembly & that of the kit wing - this will vanish once you re-install the similarly shaped piece you were left with after cutting along flap outline, as marked on the kit lower wing. This is mentioned in the instructions. In all other respects though, there can be no mis-match in the fit of our flap assemblies if you use our flap housings as the guides for marking out and removing the required areas from the kit lower wings - at the same time keeping the trailing edge of our outer flap housings in line with the aft edges of the kit wing moulding. Let these guide you rather than the kit lines. You say that the flap units sit proud of the lower kit wings when installed, and that you had to take material out of the upper wing. This is always a compromise [unless we make our entire airframes from sheet metal] as the mouldings in many kits are so over-thick. This is surely better than compromising of the depth of the flap housings. All this notwithstanding though - your photos seem to show the flap assemblies mounted too far into the wing. The etched front walls of our flap housings should be set level with the lower wing surfaces and there should then be a corresponding gap visible between this surface and the fwd. edges of the lowered flaps. This does appear to be the case in your photos. With Regards, David Parkins, Flightpath 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich F Posted November 10, 2009 Author Share Posted November 10, 2009 Hi David, It seems i have caused some confusion, the photo showing the flap assembly attached to the wing half perhaps was a bit misleading. The flap assembly is NOT attached and is just sat loosely (and not positioned well it seems) between the booms, I have test fitted it and all seems well. I was in no way discrediting your set when i mentioned the poor fit, as with most limited run kits, the fit is normally mediocre at best. Hope this helps clarify things. All the Best Rich P.S. Any idea when the 1/72 Canberra ladders will be available? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzH Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 Looks good Rich I keep getting mine out of the stash, then bottleing out, so I'll be watching this one! Hadn't noticed the Flightpath set before, may have to invest.... Keep the updates coming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dads203 Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 Another fine model in the making Rich, great start, the office is looking the business, I picked up the intakes at Telford this weekend, just need time to build. Regards Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich F Posted February 26, 2020 Author Share Posted February 26, 2020 After just finishing my F-4E I've decided to dig this one back out from the shelf of doom. I can't believe its been over 10 years since i last worked on this! 😮  Looking at Hendie's Vemon thread has inspired me to give it another go.  I love this video aswell, lots of great shots of two seats Vampires and Harry Enfield narrating whats not too like! Infact the whole series is great, best of British when we were world leaders in the aviation Industry.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brzT-3G40_k  I can't even remember why i gave up on this one, which is a bit worrying!  Anyhow this how she looks at the moment, still lots of work left do...       Here's what i am aiming for, an RN T.22. I'm not sure which one i will be doing yet as i need to check the decals stash for the appropriate serials. (Photo's are from Adrian Balch's book 'De Havilland Twin Booms') I'll take them down if anyone has any objections.   Updates to follow in the not too distant future, give a decade or two! 😄 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 10 hours ago, Rich F said: I can't believe its been over 10 years since i last worked on this!  that seems like a perfectly reasonable furlough between Classic Airframes kits to me! No need to rush things is there?   1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich F Posted March 11, 2020 Author Share Posted March 11, 2020 I've been slowly plugging away on this one again, lets hope i don't lose my mojo and shelve it for a another 10 years.  Anyway after rescribing the fuselage and wings after a vigorous sanding session, I added a few panel lines and filled a couple that where either not present or were fictitious.  I also added the intake vanes, i looked at using the kit offerings, but after a couple of dry fitting/reshaping attempts i gave up and decided to make my own from plastic strip, not perfect but i think they pass muster. Once these were done i drilled out and filed the cartridge ejection chutes. Not sure how I'm going to represent these yet as the holes are minuscule, still looking pretty rough me thinks!  Then on to the booms, I was dreading this as these really don't match up. To help with alignment i first drilled 2 holes through each boom where the elevator would sit and using 0.5mm plastic rod as pins i glued these through the booms into the elevator section. Before this was allowed to dry i offered up the boom assembly to the fuselage with a feeling of trepidation fearing the worst!  After much cursing and fiddling i managed to get them aligned, sort of. I think they are out slightly in every plane of axis but when i tried to straighten out say the vertical axis it would throw the horizontal axis out, very frustrating! Anyway its set now just hope its not to noticeable once shes on her pins.    This is where i am at now, where the booms join the wing there is much filling and sanding to be had! I've used Tamiya putty for the large gaps and Mr Surfacer 500 for the smaller gaps. I have a feeling i am going to need a few rounds of this before i get close to blending the two together!  That all for now.  Cheers 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Fox Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 Brings all the pain back for me. I had all the same issues but you have done a great job. I remember trying to fit the belly plate and watching it drop into the rest of the fuselage. In the end I used a series of plastic strips to hold ot on place and sanded down the outer edges to get a reasonable fit. I later built an Alley Cat FB5 and it was a complete joy. I hoped they would do the two seaters as well but no joy there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 I feel your pain... been there.. done that! Â nice progress though 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bell209 Posted March 12, 2020 Share Posted March 12, 2020 17 hours ago, Rich F said:  Then on to the booms, I was dreading this as these really don't match up. To help with alignment i first drilled 2 holes through each boom where the elevator would sit and using 0.5mm plastic rod as pins i glued these through the booms into the elevator section. Before this was allowed to dry i offered up the boom assembly to the fuselage with a feeling of trepidation fearing the worst!  I've done the same with mine but I've used brass rod rather than plastic. About to offer the whole lot up - wish me luck! Hope it goes as well as yours. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich F Posted July 6, 2020 Author Share Posted July 6, 2020 Still plodding along with this, although even by my sloth like model building speed i have to agree progress is some what slow!  Anyway here's what i have achieved since my last update.  The airframe is pretty much finished bar undercarriage, flaps and canopy. I've added some of the flightpath goodies such as access hatches, strengthening plates and an antenna plate under the wing. Also added some rivets from archer around the wing spar, some small tubing for the pitot probe and some scratch built antenna blade mountings which looking at my DH twin boom bible seem to be in different places depending on which aircraft you choose.  Once i was happy with the finish i gave it an undercoat using Alcad's grey microfiller. Then i noticed a couple of flaws which i duly filled and after a quick rub down i gave it a coat of Mr Color white ready for the silver and the fluorescent red. I remember seeing a online pic at the back end of a vampire showing the turbine inside the jetpipe but for the life of me i cannot recall where i saw it, anyway i am the process of replicating this from an old 1/72 drop tank tip and some plastic strip. If anybody has any pics of this area i would be grateful.   Next up will be the fluorescent red, for which i will use a custom mix of Humbrol's 19 gloss red and 209 fluorescent orange, wish me luck! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted July 6, 2020 Share Posted July 6, 2020 Crikey what a cracking build, added to faves as I will pilfer, ahem use as reference for mine when I do it, will be in 72nd scale using the Airfix kit.  Great work looks flippin amazing. All the best Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bell209 Posted July 7, 2020 Share Posted July 7, 2020 Coming along very nicely. I might do the same thing re the ejection ports on the underfuselage on my build, too. I also used a brass tube for the exhaust on mine but utilised the turbine bits from the Flightpath set. You can't see it now, anyway as the jetpipe's so long. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich F Posted July 9, 2020 Author Share Posted July 9, 2020 On 7/6/2020 at 7:51 PM, bigbadbadge said: Crikey what a cracking build, added to faves as I will pilfer, ahem use as reference for mine when I do it, will be in 72nd scale using the Airfix kit.  Great work looks flippin amazing. All the best Chris Thanks Chris, help yourself, pilfer what you need  I have a feeling the Airfix kit might be a tad easy build... On 7/8/2020 at 12:45 AM, Bell209 said: Coming along very nicely. I might do the same thing re the ejection ports on the underfuselage on my build, too. I also used a brass tube for the exhaust on mine but utilised the turbine bits from the Flightpath set. You can't see it now, anyway as the jetpipe's so long. Cheers Rob, after seeing Hendie's solution to the ejection ports i thought I'd give it a go at improving them, although mine are not as elegant as his! Regarding the turbine bits, your probably right as it will be hard to spot, I'll carry on with it and see how it turns out. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich F Posted August 24, 2020 Author Share Posted August 24, 2020 A Little bit more progress to report, not getting much time at the bench at the moment, but I'll keep plugging away at it.  After the white coat i and a rub down with various lighter grades of micromesh, i experimented with which colour to put down first, turns out dayglow red covers better over white than it does silver, so thats what i started with. I used a 50-50ish mix of humbrol 209 fluorescent orange and 19 gloss red. which turned out quite nice me thinks...   Next up i was masking the dayglow red which looking at the real thing was not easy as i thought. All the photos i have seen of RN 2 seat vampires have different demarcation patterns for the nose area. Not having a frontal pic of XA128 i short of made up what i think looked right in the end. After the masking i gave it a coat of Aclad's white aluminium which i think gives it the finish i was after...    All was going well until i peeled the tape off and this happened...   Doesn't look like much to fix, just hope i can get a close match for the custom day glow red mix again.  The finish line is almost in sight now!  Cheers 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKirwan Posted August 24, 2020 Share Posted August 24, 2020 I am in the middel of this one as well. It had languished on the shelf of doom for 10 years but Corona gave me the boost I needed. Very similar issues encountered as you but your boomd to wing fit is better than mine. Looking forward to seeing this one being finished. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted August 24, 2020 Share Posted August 24, 2020 ouch for the peeling.  Aside from that unfortunate event, that finish is looking fabulous 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich F Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 A bit more progress done,  I managed to repaint the peeling on the nose with a close match so no dramas there.  Next up was decaling, I used a mix of kit decals for the RN markings/stencils and fantasy workshop/model decals for the numbering, this was followed by a wash using promodeller dark wash. After this i attached the canopy but this was far from straightforward. Unfortunately my cockpit glazing was missing from my kit when I bought it so vacuform was my only choice. Having had little success in the past when working with these I wasn't looking forward to it. After marking and carefully cutting it away from the surrounding sheet I sanded it as smooth as I could. At this point my Flightpath Vampire detail set came to the rescue as the canopy framing on the vacuform piece is quite vague to say the least so the metal framing really helped define this. I used Mig Ammo Ultra glue to stick the canopy to the jet, I would definitely recommend this as it holds very firm which is impressive as the mating surface area between the canopy and the cockpit is  quite small. Once it had dried I filed the seamline with some vallejo plastic putty as smoothed it over with some water. It still needs a bit of work too blend it it but its looking better than it was.  This is where I am it now...    Couldn't resist adding the seats, has a bit of a sports car look about it!  Thanks for looking. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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