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Hello, fellow
modelers! This
year I took on the goal of finishing some of those old tooled raised-panel-line
models that have been resting unfinished for several years in my collection.
It’s easy to put these models aside when one builds several newer
recessed-panel-line models in a row. The difference lies not only on the panel
lines, it’s also the level of detail, the quality of the fit and of the
decals. In
this article I’d like to share with you my Airfix (ex Heller) Vampire FB.5 in
1-72 scale. When I knew that Cyber Hobby released a newly tooled Vampire FB.5 in
1-72 scale, I seriously considered to abandon my almost fully built Airfix.
Later I found reviews claiming that Cyber Hobby’s Vampire isn’t free from
mistakes and assembly problems, and taking into account its high price tag I
thought it would be better to put a little effort into making a decent model out
of my old Airfix kit. Despite its age, Heller’s rendition of the Vampire show some good features, such as very thin undercarriage doors with internal detail, a deep boxed in nose wheel well, somewhat detailed main undercarriage wells, a two-piece cockpit canopy and separate aerodynamic brakes. Nevertheless, it also has its low points, such as the absence of underwing stores and pylons (the FB.5 was a fighter bomber capable of carrying rockets, bombs or drop tanks,) poorly molded undercarriage legs and the poor fit between the front and rear parts of the canopy. Another low point is related with decals: the underwing codes and roundels for the RAF version are oversized, as is the shark mouth decal intended to cover the rear nose undercarriage door. Besides that, some of the data decals aren’t opaque enough, so they virtually disappeared when applied over dark painted surfaces.
I built this model OOB, as almost
always. I had to rescribe some of the panel lines lost due to sanding, besides
that I’d like to point out that despite I tried in several ways (filing and
sanding) to get a good fit between the front and the rear parts of the canopy, I
didn’t have any success (the parts are different in size and shape at the
matching surface, and the rear part didn’t sit over the rear flat part of the
cockpit,) so I opted for an open canopy. I glued the airbrakes in a wrong open
position, following my intuition instead of my references LD.
The kit’s instructions didn’t help, as these indicate to glue the airbrakes
in the closed position, but I thought it had no sense to have separate airbrakes
if one doesn’t have the option to glue them opened. I chose to finish my Vampire with
markings from the RAF 112 “Sharkmouth Squadron.” As
the Vampire FB.5 served for several years in the FAV (Venezuela’s Air Force,)
the only way in which I wouldn’t have chosen the sharkmouth markings would
have been having decals for the FAV version. Well, maybe these will be released
some day in the future, I hope. A interesting history regarding
RAF 112 squadron’s aircraft, camouflage and markings can be found on the
Internet at the following liks: My
Vampire was finished mainly with Humbrol and MM enamels, plus Xtracrylix and
Polly Scale acrylic varnishes. I added white in different proportions to the
camouflage colors in order to get a scale effect and to increase the contrast
between these colors. I also kept weathering to a minimum: I only accented gun
bay and control surfaces’ panel lines, and added exhaust stains on the
horizontal stabilizer’s undersurface. I hope
that you’ll like my model, which I dedicate to the memory of my father
Orlando. Besides teaching me how to recognize Vampires flying over Caracas’
skies when I was a little child, he introduced me to the scale models’ world
when he gave to me my first aircraft kit 42 years ago. Greetings
from Caracas, Venezuela, a “rich” country were many basic products, such as
powdered or liquid whole milk, shampoo and liquid dishwasher, to name a few,
have virtually disappeared from the supermarkets. What a weak future for our
nation’s children in school age, who have to be feed without enough milk. S.O.S. Venezuela! God save us all! Orlando Sucre Rosales
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Photos and text © by Orlando Sucre Rosales