De Havilland Vampire F.3 (Airfix 1/48)
There's something very attractive about early jets - you can see some remnants of the piston era and the new approaches, so it's always something in between. My favourite is the Supermarine Attacker - a jet fighter with a tail wheel. Vampire is another example of the great engineering process of exploring new technologies and defining what new jet aircraft should look like. This period of aviation history gave us a lot of interesting and unique designs, and for me it was always interesting to touch on this transition.
This is a relatively new 1/48 scale Airfix model kit. It's good and fairly easy to build. I've just added interior parts (as usual - not visible on the photos) and resin wheels from Eduard. It was difficult to get enough weight on the nose to avoid a tail-sitting vampire, so the fuel tanks also carry some lead. And I could not resist picking this vampire colour scheme for Vampire. I also like the maple leaf on the roundels.
Very nice. I need one
@blackadder57 Thanks, George! Airfix just released FB.5/FB.9 version, and I hope they will do the two-seat trainer as well.
Pilot Replicas will release a trainer Vampire in 1/48.
As a separate kit or as a conversion set? I don't familiar with this company unfortunately.
Swedish company producing high quality Saab J 29, SK 60, J 21 in 1/48, and more to come.
https://www.facebook.com/Pilot-Replicas-390440134419981/videos/725001225875617
The Vampire trainer will be a new kit to my knowledge. Photo from Facebook.
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
I’m with you on 50s era jets, Dmitry, this is a great looking Vampire.
@chinesegeorge Thank you, George! 50s era is one of my favourite!
50s jets are pretty boss.
This is a great looking early jet.
@ssgt Thank you, Jay!
Amazing job, Dmitry!
@fiveten Thank you, Spiros!
Excellent work, Dmitry @starfar
The Vampire is such a lovely aircraft but looks rather mean with this mouth on.
Well done.
@johnb Thanks John!
This is sooo beautiful! Awesome build. The fuselage of my vampire kit was warped, unfortunately..
@fxrob Thanks Felix! I had some issues with ailerons and intakes, but nothing serious. Sometimes Airfix kits have problems like this. Maybe they remove the plastic from the moldings too early during production. On my Chipmunk kit I had serious issues with the wings - they were twisted in different directions.
Love the build Dmitry. Are the decals Airfix or aftermarket Dmitry ?
@thom Thanks Guy! It's Airfix decals, one of the three painting schemes they provide.
Cheers Dmitry 👍
It's a great kit, Dmitry @starfar. I completely agree with you about 1st and 2nd generation jets. They didn't "know the rules" yet about what worked.
@tcinla Thank you, Tom!
Nice work, Dmitry!
@j-healy Thank you, John!
Wow - I wasn't a huge fan of the Vampire though I have built one and have several in the stash. But when I saw this build and scheme... I'm going to have to find decals for one like this in 1/72! Very striking! And, your build is flawless as always!
@gkittinger Thank you, Greg! I believe there should be the decals for 1/72 scale for these vampires.
A great looking color scheme, nicely done.
@roofrat Thank you, Robert!
Very nice work, Dmitry @starfar! 🍺
@garybrantley Thanks, Gary!
Gorgeous work Dmitry, I love the paint scheme!