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1/48 Airfix Vampire: 442 City of Vancouver Squadron


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Hey folks. The other day my local hobby shop gave me a $10 credit usable on anything over $40 before the end of February. I dutifully went to the store, looking for a Hurricane Mk 1 that I could use my resin Canadian-style prop face on... but then I saw this kit:

4zbttzf.jpg

 

Finally. I had been searching for a long time on various sites for a reasonably-priced, in-stock version of Vampire in 1/48, and here it was begging to be bought.

I wanted to make this kit, because I have this old photo of my dear-departed father with one of these. He was in the RCAF Reserve at the time, in Vancouver, working as an instrument/electrical technician with Vampires and Mustangs. My father went on to join the regular force, and was a Navigator then a Pilot. 

 

vampire # 9 mod+rec.jpg

Edited by ALF18
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If you look carefully, the kit comes with decal options for 442 Squadron, tail number 018. Those decals are slightly different, in that the nose art is a variation on the picture I have.

EQS54sE.jpg

 

I contacted my good friend Allen Pelletier on Vanvouver Island, because he's currently building a huge Vampire model (1/11 scale, I believe) for the Comox Air Museum. The main point of my call was to see if the silver colour on the aircraft was all paint (I know it is for the fuselage, because it's made of wood - and therefore, a witch!). The rest of it could have been natural metal or paint, and I know Al has crawled all over the museum's example. He tells me he's touched the surface, and that it's a kind of painted surface, not natural metal.

That decided me - I was toying with the idea of using kitchen foil for some parts, but I'll just paint it all with Tamiya X-11 Chrome Silver acrylic paint.

 

At the same time, we got talking about decals, and I told him I had the kit decals, with differing art, and also an old Arrow Graphics sheet that was different from the example I wanted to make.

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Imagine my pleasure when Al told me he'd been collaborating with Andrew from Above and Below Graphics on a Vampire sheet! Here's his web site, a veritable treasure trove for Canadian subjects. He has taken over CanMilAir's catalogue, and is now in business. https://www.abovebelow.ca/

 

I wrote to Andrew, because the proof I saw (sorry, can't share it here) included tail number 012, and art that looked just like the pic with my father. It's as if the Universe was yelling at me to build this model.

Andrew is going to be sending me a prototype version of his sheet for me to use, and I'll give him some feedback on its fit, suitability, etc. I can't wait!

 

In the meantime, I have to get on with the build. 

ALF

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On 2/10/2022 at 7:23 PM, phantom said:

Looking forward to your progress.

 

Plan on buying this kit too.

 

 

Pics coming soon, Shawn. So far I like the kit. Going together well, but obviously not at your pace! 🙂

6 hours ago, AX 365 said:

Nice tribute to the old boy.  Am looking forward to your progress ALF.

Thx Mike. Coming soon.

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On 2/13/2022 at 9:03 AM, barkin mad said:

Definitely silver painted, correct official colour is High Speed Silver, it's on the duller, greyer sides of silver, you don't want it to look like chrome car bumpers.

 

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Thanks! Yes, I had no intention of making it super shiny. 

ALF

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Finally, some in-progress. This seems to be a newer Airfix kit, in a way similar to that excellent 1/48 Stuka I did a couple years ago. Nice plastic, good detail. The only problem is trying to figure out exactly how some things fit, especially between the top and bottom fuselage halves.

lPbu5tR.jpg

Here I've installed the intake ducts, which end up being glued to the main landing gear well front sides. The kit has some nice clues (like the raised plastic in the bottom centre) that show where things go.

 

The main gear well sides are now assembled, for a total of 4 pieces per side. Lots of nice detail that nobody will ever see in my kit. The piece you see in the foreground on the right is the turbine, which will end up facing backward. I had to glue it in stages to get the whole thing to sit with the wings, because the wing angle needs some coaxing to fit the piece.

4yCTaSZ.jpg

 

Here's what I mean. The centre is glued in place, so I waited for it to set, then I clamped the side parts down into place.

sf085eP.jpg

 

The cockpit was a bit odd. The side panels were not consoles, but rather sat up almost vertically. I glued them in place, not sure how it would all fit with the main instrument panel. Turns out the kit wants the modeller to glue the main panel into place on the upper fuselage half, and hope that somehow it fits into the right place. Right. Not happening!

6U2cPK3.jpg

 

I like the decals for the side panels and MIP.

aAPvGiM.jpg

 

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For the tail booms, it's an interesting little bit of engineering. At first I was uncertain how to make sure I had the left and right sides correct, looking carefully at the oval-shaped access panels on the inside (more on the insides than on the outsides). Then I realized there are huge slots on the insides to accomodate the horizontal tail. Duh. 🙂

These parts fit nicely into the long turbine part. The one on the right (attached here) went in nicely, while I had to trim the left-handed one a bit to make it fit tightly.

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I've installed both the tail booms. The front of the cockpit has had some boxes added to the upper part.

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Currently, I'm going through a whole bunch of dry-fitting. The front part of the fuselage doesn't want to close up neatly, so I've been trimming some of the shoulders of the bulkhead behind the seat, as well as the side panels. I tried gluing the MIP to the upper fuselage, then installing it, but it never sat right (really hard to gauge). I ended up gluing the MIP in place as you see here. Much more dry-fitting to come before I can mate the upper and lower parts.

For those who might be worried about nose weight, the kit cleverly asks for it in the nose cone, which gets installed after the upper and lower fuselage are mated. Makes it a bit easier, and of course the weight is that much further forward, which helps.

ul4CeKF.jpg

 

ALF

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3 hours ago, Cat Barf said:

I was kind of bummed that this kit didn't come with the Mexican AF decals that were in the 1/72 kit. I wonder if they are available aftermarket. 

 

 

My wife laughed out loud when she saw your name.

 

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15 hours ago, Cat Barf said:

I was kind of bummed that this kit didn't come with the Mexican AF decals that were in the 1/72 kit. I wonder if they are available aftermarket. 

 

Yes, Aztec Decals does Mexican Vampires in 1/48. Sheet 48-041. Might be difficult to find now though.

 

ALF18 I should have mentioned that the seat in non EJ seat vampires are usually a red brown colour (see pic), being made from a composite paper resin type. I know it's probably too late for this one. That said the black seat is not wildly out there, given the rest of the cockpit is black. I can see you are having a few issues with this kit, recent Airfix kits have tight tolerances & need to have a traces of mold lines, paint etc from joining surfaces. I have also seen a couple of instances of this kit having warped fuselages. Keep at it though you are doing a fine job & you will win through in the end.

 

Image result for vampire seat pictures

 

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On 2/17/2022 at 9:15 AM, barkin mad said:

 

Yes, Aztec Decals does Mexican Vampires in 1/48. Sheet 48-041. Might be difficult to find now though.

 

ALF18 I should have mentioned that the seat in non EJ seat vampires are usually a red brown colour (see pic), being made from a composite paper resin type. I know it's probably too late for this one. That said the black seat is not wildly out there, given the rest of the cockpit is black. I can see you are having a few issues with this kit, recent Airfix kits have tight tolerances & need to have a traces of mold lines, paint etc from joining surfaces. I have also seen a couple of instances of this kit having warped fuselages. Keep at it though you are doing a fine job & you will win through in the end.

 

Image result for vampire seat pictures

 

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Oops... Thanks for the reference pic. I'll see if I can reach in and carefully paint the seat. The instructions gave very little guidance, and the only pics I have are black and white (because the world WAS in black and white back then... honest!) 🙂 

I was going by the T-33 all-black cockpits that I was used to, built in the same era. Interesting that the kit, with such nice detail, doesn't try to represent the padding on the seatback.

Yes, I am having problems with the fusing of the top and bottom of the fuselage. Thanks for the encouragement. It will eventually work out, and thanks for the positive feedback.

ALF

I

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Excellent work, ALF; thanks for sharing; I have one to do it in Mexican markings; since they were ex-Canadian, your build will be a helpful reference.

 

 

@barkin mad , thanks for the info on the seat; were they made from bakelite? Judging from the picture, it looks a lot like it.

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19 hours ago, cruiz said:

Excellent work, ALF; thanks for sharing; I have one to do it in Mexican markings; since they were ex-Canadian, your build will be a helpful reference.

 

 

@barkin mad , thanks for the info on the seat; were they made from bakelite? Judging from the picture, it looks a lot like it.

 

No, it's a SRPB - Synthetic Resin Bonded Paper. I guess it does look like Bakelite though. Spitfire seats were made from the same SRPB after May 1940.

 

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11 hours ago, barkin mad said:

 

No, it's a SRPB - Synthetic Resin Bonded Paper. I guess it does look like Bakelite though. Spitfire seats were made from the same SRPB after May 1940.

 

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Thank you for the response; it was indeed what I thought; I incorrectly used the term bakelite, but I should have said phenolic instead, similar to the circuit boards I used to work with and hence the similarity in the look.

 

Carlos

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dry fit, chop, rinse, repeat... this is getting old fast. Still trying to get the top and bottom fuselage halves to mate seamlessly. Here, I finally got the front portion and the outer wings to come together. Looks ok for that part, but wait until you see the back near the jet nozzle.

lWG3y09.jpg

Extreme close-ups showing the front parts. Acceptable, and with a tiny bit of filler, okay.

80EHGf7.jpg

 

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The rear, though... arrgh.

Try as I might, there were small gaps on both sides.

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Finally, with a bit of swearing, some crazy glue, and lots of time, I got the gaps relatively small, and filled the rest with putty and smoothed over with a QTip dipped in nail polish remover.

 

My thanks for the seat colour were sincere. Using a Bic permanent marker, I scribbled over the black paint, and came up with this. It actually doesn't look too bad. Sorry about the lighting, but believe me the seat is a deep orange-red.

wWbdE6W.jpg

 

Using CA glue, I mashed as many little fishing weights as I could into the nose. Unfortunately, the volume is quite small, and there are not quite enough to do the job.

aHbdPXq.jpg

 

Amid all this frustration, a ray of sunshine from the West Coast. The decals arrived! They came in this rigid envelope, perfectly preserved. Wrapped in a plastic protective sheath inside the envelope, with great instructions. 

qSuq0dn.jpg

 

ALF

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One of the benefits to following one of my WIPs is that you will hopefully learn from my mistakes. Parts C47 and C48 are the hanging flaps. I didn't look as closely at this drawing as I should have before I snipped them off the sprue.

E5gxJ9t.jpg

 

These are similar parts, still on the sprue, showing the excess plastic that needs to be chopped off. Only problem with what I did, is that I chopped off too much.

eE7hUPr.jpg

 

Here's what I ended up doing. I chopped off the little hinges with their locating pins! Doh. 

rwoJw3R.jpg

 

I fiddled around with the tiny hooks, trying to glue them back in place, and finally giving up. Turns out, they don't really show that much. In this picture, taken from a much later stage in the build, you can see that the outboard flap is missing those tiny hinges, and the inboard one has them. Doesn't exactly jump out at you, does it? I decided that nobody is allowed to look at the flap detail, unless she's wearing a low-cut top. Oops. There goes my HR sensitivity training, right down the drain! 🙂

73d5TIU.jpg

I'm now at the overall painting stage. I used Tamiya acrylic X-11 gloss silver, with a brush, straight from the jar. Tamiya acrylic paint is notoriously hard to brush paint, because it quickly dries into little clumps, and attempting to eliminate brush strokes by going over a partly-dry segment can often lead to lifting up and clumping of the paint in that area. If you look carefully at the picture with the flap detail, you'll see that I've done only a first coat with the brush, leaving some areas sparsely covered, and others okay. In the following overall pic, you can see that the second coat has covered reasonably well. The kit instructions are in the background, showing the intended paint scheme.

c2OgV65.jpg

 

And now, dear reader, here's another example of why one shouldn't rush, and should read the furschlinger instructions!!!

I had glued the main gear struts in place, and was starting to chop and trim the nose gear parts to install it, when it was time for our afternoon walk (i.e. a painful trudge through snow and ice-covered streets, at -19 C (-2 F), with wind chill making it feel like -27 C (too cold for Americans, lol). I hastily glued the nose wheel in place, so that it would be dry when we got back half an hour later, and I could test the amount of nose weight and see if it was sufficient.

Turns out, that rushing was a bad idea. Here are the instructions:

4j1fOIT.jpg

In step 68, I was supposed to glue part C8 to the nose door (C7), then glue the strut assembly (from step 67) onto the top of part C8. In my rush, I looked at step 70, and took part C26 (the main part of the nose strut), and tried to make it fit into the nose wheel well. Well (pun intended), it didn't fit the way the drawing said, and the two holes where the assembly from step 69 is supposed to go, didn't fit the single pin on part C26. My wife was waiting. I was dreading the walk, so I just spammed a bunch of glue onto C26 and set it in place, until it dried.

When I got back from the walk, I looked at how the front gear door was supposed to fit, and discovered what I'd done. I decided to hell with it, I wasn't going to fix it, so I simply glued the door into place on the front of the strut. This means the nose sits a tiny bit lower than it should, and the door isn't quite in the right place, but only you and I know that now.

Editorial comment: A couple years ago, some total jerks on ARC decided to upload some pictures from one of my previous WIPs to Facebook showing how bad a modeller I was, and how I had made mistakes, so that all the a-holes on the Facebook page could laugh at me. I found out, and sent very nasty messages to the culprits. I have since forgotten who they are, and that's fine because they are not worth fretting over. I believe in total honesty when it comes to WIPs. We are all humans, we all make mistakes, and some of us don't lie about it. Only the really superb modellers (I'm thinking of Chuck, from Calgary, among others) can make such mistakes, scratch-build a replacement, and have it looking even better that the original kit would have been.

This kit is very detailed, and to do it right deserves lots of attention to the instructions.

 

Remember I mentioned that the nose didn't hold quite enough weight? Well, I cheated and filled up the nose wheel well with weights, painted black. If you look closely, from the side or underneath, they are just visible. Here are some pictures to show how they don't look so obvious from some angles, but just how many I stuffed into there to make sure it wouldn't sit on its tail.

This pic shows the nose gear door (front) and how it is not quite in the right place. The extra weights are inside the nose well, but barely visible in this shot.

yOxwcXe.jpg

 

This one, from the side away from the side door to the nose wheel well, doesn't show the extra weights. So where are they?

92FG4go.jpg

 

They would be here!

DpUUW6G.jpg

 

Next steps: paint the red and black areas, after the silver dries thoroughly. Then, floor polish coat and decals.

Thanks for stopping by.

ALF

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35 minutes ago, Cat Barf said:

Some surprising fit issues for a new tool kit. I think I'll be giving this one a pass. 

It's actually a good kit, but I find it has a bit of non-essential complexity. For example, the wheel wells come in multiple pieces, and the jet nozzle and intakes are mated to big parts that form the interior of the fuselage. I'm sure that some minor errors in placement on my part, of some of those items, may have caused the fit problems. If you dry fit the upper and lower fuselage halves together, before adding in all the interior stuff, they fit beautifully.

Yes, it requires a lot of attention to detail, but at the end of the day it comes out looking like a great little Vampire.

ALF

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On 3/3/2022 at 3:39 PM, Cat Barf said:

Some surprising fit issues for a new tool kit. I think I'll be giving this one a pass. 

If you take decisions based on a single opinion, then you'd pass on a lot of good things.

Tamiya kits, specially some of their higher end car kits have very tight tolerances. Dryfitting every thing looks nice, add a few layers of primer, paint and so on and each micrometer adds up to make things not fit.

If the opinion of a single person was all that mattered then according to Doctor MIG/Dragan Cvetic the ICM MiG-25 and Zvezda Mi-24, both 1/72 scale, would be the worst fitting kits in the world. They aren't perfect and not the worst either, I've built both and as experienced modellers do, just changing the assembly order or paying attention to some parts helps solving some fit issues. The MiG-25 in both 1/48 and 1/72 the firewall that separates the front and rear fuselage has a tab that can be a problem depending on when you glue the front to rear fuselage, and even if you follow the instruction's order that tab gets in the way. The Mi-24 just gluing the front and rear of each halves separately and then gluing the whole halves solves a lot of fit problems, same with the KH Su-17 that each fuselage half was split in 3 sections.

As ALF18 said and from his photos there are places where complex assemlby and small user errors add up to big fit issues. For example in this photo just the tip of Part D18 is sticking out and fouling the fit.

 

JZVueTq.jpg

Edited by Inquisitor
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