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John Healy
151 articles

1/48 Dehavilland Vampire F.3

March 9, 2022 · in Aviation · · 25 · 1.7K

This is the brand new kit. It's well engineered and fits great. I did trim the bottoms of the cockpit consoles to get a better fit between the upper and lower fuselage parts. One other thing to be aware of is that Airfix reversed the wingtip part numbers on the instructions. Swap accordingly. I built this out of the box with the exception of seatbelts which I fabricated from tape and plastic card. The overall silver paint is Tamiya LP-11 applied with my Paasche Talon. All other pants are Humbrol enamels. The decals are from the kit and are exceptional. High end Cartograf set. This kit is another winner. Keep ‘em coming, Airfix.

Reader reactions:
12  Awesome

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25 responses

  1. Wow, such a beautiful build! That metal coat surely looks pristine. Airfix sure has produced some great kits lately.

    • Thanks, Felix. These planes were painted silver, not left natural metal. In fact, the Vampire had a substantial portion of its fuselage made from wood.

  2. fantastic build! And my fav squadron 🙂

  3. Nice result. Very clean lines.

  4. A wonderful result, John @j-healy
    The overall silver paint looks perfect.
    Your new compressor does its work perfectly.
    It was great to follow your thread, thanks for sharing.

  5. Superb result out of the good Airfix kit, John!
    A very enjoyable build thread, as well.
    Congratulations!

  6. Looks great! Airfix is really stepping up their game. Your game is pretty good too!

  7. Yes, it is elegant, and beautifully done as well John! Super scale model @j-healy! ?

  8. Ditto what everyone else commented previously @j-healy.
    Airfix is on a roll with each new release better than the previous one it seems.

  9. Definitely a great result, @j-healy! One of my favorite early jets and Airfix has really come up with a winner.

    • Thanks, Tom! Now if they’d do a Sea Venom/Venom….

      • If you can find the Classic Airframes Sea Venom, it's good. Done by Sword. Resin cockpit is excellent. Injection canopy can be opened. I managed to miss this when it first came out, but Rareplane Detective had one in March for only $34 (it goes on eBay for north of $100) so there was no choice but to grab it. Well worth keeping a weather eye out for a bargain, and likely the only one that will ever be done. (Please surprise me, Airfix!)

  10. Fine wok John. I've always liked twin boom planes.

  11. Great result with this amazing looking kit John. Very nice work.
    Seeing the vampire in person, I was surprised just how small the aircraft is and the minimal ground clearance.

  12. Great looking Vampire, nice job on the whole build.

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