Vampire - T.11/J-28C - Another 1:72 by Airfix

VAMPIRE 

No, not that vampire but this...

The DeHavilland!  One of the first of the Jet fighters coming out of WWII.  I'm not a jet builder, but this intrigued me.  Plus I have a strange idea about what I want to do with this - more on that as I progress.

Here is the kit, but I don't plan on my build looking like this.  First off I must thank myself for purchase via Amazon.  Upon inspection, even though the parts sprues were in a sealed bag, two pieces were missing.  I was able to make a replacement order which will arrive only 4 days after this kit arrived.  All I have to do is drop off the return kit to UPS by March 23rd.  Going through Airfix may have required a month of waiting for spare parts.  In this I was able to begin the build now!!

As usual the interior is first in the instructions so I applied the instrument panel decal!

Next was more interior work while on the sprue.  A couple of things here.  First you will see that there is only one pilot seat installed - yes, that is one of the missing parts.  Second the interior paint is in accordance with instructions-sort of-I used a gun metal mix instead of the called for matt black (I am used to the typical interior green/zinc chromate of WWII aircraft).  This was outside of my comfort zone, but I hung in and added some color as I usually do.

My first DIY.

I painted some wire with flat black and drilled out the four gun ports in the underside nose panel.  Sliding the wire through the holes and gluing down with cyano gel....

....I get the look of the four guns on the exterior!  The Vampire has to be able "Bite" after all😈

The pilots are painted in accordance with 1950s period.  Silver helmets and gloss visors.

While waiting for the replacement kit to arrive I searched the instructions for assemblies that could tide me over.  The twin booms was one of those. Boom halves needed to have pin release extrusions shaved from the vertical stabilizers in order for the parts to mate flush with no seams.  Tail pieces were then applied.  Thin cement works well for this assembly.

I finished with the landing gear legs, nose wheel and wing tanks - all in accord. with instructions.  I can build no more until the replacement kit gets here (today, I hope), but there was one more thing.....

....Panel washing!!!  I used thinned mat black that could flow easily down the lines by touching the brush to line intersections. Over-wash was quickly wiped away and then a light scraping with the edge of the xacto blade.

The replacement kit has arrived so I painted seat number two along with the control yokes and installed them.  I seated the Pilots are and panels and bulkheads are then fixed to the cockpit platform - ready for fuselage closure.

Assembly goes quickly now with the wings and engine, except this time I remembered to drill out holes for the drop tanks before closing up the wings.

The boom assembly with gear legs fits snuggly into the wings, but!!!!!!

I snapped off the plastic pitot and had to replace it with a piece of gauge 26 wire.  Things Happen!!!

The half dozen lead shot sinkers (7grams needed) glued into the nose before fuselage closure makes sure that the tricycle gear sits firmly!!  The tires and wheels were painted on the sprue and fixed to the landing gear legs.  The anti-glare has been applied to the nose.

BTW, I did not want to emulate the box art, but rather a camo style fighter.  I will use a number of decals included but not the orange stripes.  My Vampire will be a hybrid - maybe out of Australia or New Zealand.  I am having my brother print Tasmanian Devil decals (Warner Brothers).  Although Taz appeared in only 5 features between 1954 and 1966 the timing is correct to be used on a fighter plane of that era!  I think he will look good on the nose!

Started panel painting on the underside with "Sky" The tedious part is picking out the rivet pattern after painting.  They are tough to see!

SEE!!!

The camo went on faster - fewer rivets!!!

With painting completed, I put down some decals.  I now must wait to get the ones my brother is making before I can dullcoat.  In the meantime I will be working on the canopy framing.

The windscreen and rear piece frames are painted and installed.  I used some masking on the windscreen but the framing was well molded and the edges were easy to hand paint. The center/hatch portion can be mounted closed or open.  Although the plastic is clear I will mount the hatch open since you get a good view of the interior detail. A word of caution. The no-step areas marked out in yellow are solid decals and as you can see the centers did not seal down well and look opaque and don't show the underlying color well.  My solution was to draw the xacto tip across the center in parallel strips and reapply Micro Sol.

The results were good!

Now for the whimsey. My brother's decal creation from the internet image was pretty good.  I simply cut out an oval shape and applied.  It is a good thing I did not attempt to cut out the image as the film is a bit thick and tends to curl under as it comes off the paper backing, but once applied I was able to maneuver the oval to get the edges down on the fuselage.  Micro Sol to the rescue again.  Now I have my Australian De Havilland conversion from Vampire to Tasmanian Devil.  

Pilot call sign - "TAZ" of course!  Now for some finish photos!

Open canopy hatch,,,,

....for better interior view.

Turned over to see some of the many tiny decals, but.....

....in so doing the canopy hatch closed (did not break - the thin cement allowed movement).

Oh well😁

Shrinking the Shelf of Shame, episode 4: Valkyrie!

This big beauty got stranded on the SOS after I had decided that all of the panel lines should be engraved. That's a lot of scribing and sanding. My patience was not then up to the task...

I remember following its story in my youth, always feeling that it was the Coolest Thing Flying. Even today, the last surviving example, held at the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, looks fast and futuristic. Designed to strike at Mach 3 at intercontinental ranges, it was made obsolete before becoming operational as the focus moved from men to missiles, in offense and defense.

This big AMT/ERTL beauty was fairly complete when I lost my mojo, lacking wingtips and landing gear. It will need an extensive cleaning, completion of panel line work, some seam filling, prime and paint.

Not sure how the decals will have survived...

I pre-painted and shaded the gear so it could be assembled, shown here drying. It will be added after paint and decals are complete. 

I've had to declare a truce with panel scribing. I am not happy with my tools and techniques,  and will finish the upper surface, the forward fuselage in particular, and move on. I really needed to have addressed that before any panels were assembled, or you create too musk risk of damage to what you've already built.  Live and learn.

Shown, some Tamiya panel liner added to scribed ejection hatches.

My plan is Tamiya white primer, followed by Tamiya acrylic gloss white. Keeping fingers crossed...
The Tamiya white went on well, leving some of the panel lines show through. Despite being white over white, it required the better part of two bottles to cover adequately. 

How will those uncautiously aged decals go on?

Fairly well, actually. Slight yellowing of the film, noticeable only if you look for it.

Time to take some glamor shots.

Surprised how much you can see through the windows.

Red Tail - Airfix 1/72 P-51D - Tuskegee Airman Lt. S. Ellington

 

The P-51D of 1Lt. .Spurgeon Neal Ellington, "Lollypoop"

The Airmen!

It seems I like the stories of "Firsts" or the out of the norm.  My previous work was the Po-2 Night Bomber of the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Regiment - the only All Woman regiment of the Soviet Union in WWII.  That was a delicate 1/72 Bi-plane with significant rigging.  I needed a rest!  Airfix kit of the P-51 was just what I needed, although every kit does have it's challenges. Silver is always a challenge although I did not expect this......

.....I have drawn circles around the "pins" for insertion into receiving holes.  Well, I guess the styrene did not flow completely into the molds because a couple of these "pins" were not there!!!  I had to think of a way to assemble pieces DIY!  A bit of sprue here and a drop of cyano gel there (between tire and wheel cover) did the job as you will see later.

But first, the interior.  The kit has some nicely molded detail, plus a very nice instrument panel decal.

A nice seat, radio equipment etc, painted in accordance with cockpit photos.

In order to close up the fuselage it was necessary to install the prop.  The way it was attached to the sprue facilitated its painting and application of decals.

Tail and wings were a quick and easy assembly.  I had painted the rudder and tail planes red while still on the sprue.  I did mask the fuselage.

Lt. Ellington was "dressed" in his flight suit on the sprue as well.

The Testors Silver enamel started at the tail.  I like the 1/72 scale for hand painting and work from panel to panel avoiding the panel lines.  I do this with a very small brush that I have cut short.  The paint is applied in a stipple fashion with not much paint on the brush. Almost a dry brush that allows rivet depressions and panel lines to stand out without an enamel or acrylic wash, although some washing is done on the wings later.

I took care of the anti-glare panel and the windscreen frame.  With the bubble canopy, frame painting is reduced to the minimum (which is a nice change).

The next silver is around the wheel wells.  the interior green was applied to the molded framework of the wing while still on the sprue. Note some wash used for the brass casings discharge.

Once the gear wheels and covers were painted the attachment went smoothly since the fit into the wing receiving holes was well molded.

Eventually a decision will need to be made, either closed,

or open???

Panel by panel the silver is applied first on the underside,

working around to the top surface.  The order of panel painting was chosen to minimize handling of previously silver painted surfaces.  No matter how long you let silver dry, if you leave your fingers on it long enough you will leave prints!!!  A clear topcoat will be sprayed on after decals are set. notice that the red spinner is paint whereas the red on the fuselage is a decal.  In this photo you can see that some panel washing was done.  Thinned Gun Metal applied and over paint immediately wiped off with paper towel.  My panel by panel silver application easily covered any leftover wash.  The exhaust manfolds (again painted on the sprue) have been inserted into the receiving slots, and Lt. Ellington has taken his position in the cockpit.

Decal application followed as surfaces were painted.  Once the underside paint dried, on went it's decals.  Look closely.  The kit is supplied with almost any decal you can think of.

Moving to starboard,

then port and upper wing surface.  There is more to go!  FYI, the canopy is still dry fit.  The decision to open or close is still being debated (in my head).

The drop tanks were painted and assembled and decaled while on the sprue.  As an experienced modeler I have a tendency to assume I know what to do and too quickly remove parts from the sprue.  This must be resisted.  The drop tank hard points are not identical, plus I was supposed to drill holes in the bottom wing half before assembly - Ooops!  Fortunately I studied the hard points and got them and the tanks oriented correctly.  From instructions I spotted the forward most hole location and drilled it.  I snipped off the rear of the two pins on the hard point, scraped off a bit of silver, put down a drop of cyano and put the tanks in place - whew - another bullet dodged.

Those yellow stripes on the bottom were a bit tricky as they were in 4 pieces and had to be lined up.  Some needed trimming to remove edges as well as drawing the xacto tip along panel lines (after they were dry) and adding additional Microsol.

We are just about done here.  A few more teeny decals, pitot tube and radio mast and this little kit will be done.  Airfix 1/72s are nicely detailed and fun to build (still trying to make up my mind on open or closed canopy).

A simple mistake determined the canopy to be open.  I hit the upper side with Dullcoat without masking the windscreen - D'Oh!  Two other things.  First the antenna mast is too small and disintegrates coming off the sprue, so I had to replicate with stretching some sprue!  Also I realized that since I had painted the tail piece on the sprue early on, I had not considered washing the panel lines.  Fortunately it was easy to do now that I had sprayed on the Dullcoat because any overage could be quickly wiped off.

The End.