review Infinity Models DH-100 Vampire F Mk3

[Jboldt007]

Sorry i see the flaps have already discussed. Any-who - i'm thinking of taking the day off work on Friday and going out and taking some pictures of the 012 442 squadron Vampire MK III featured in the kit - the plane is not far from me. I'll see what i can get photos of and post them. 

[Jboldt007]

ok as promised - despite mind numbing traffic - went and visited 7012 442 squadron, one of the decal offerings in the kit. Re: flaps and underside here are a couple photos from today:

 

 

I think this is the flap area in question? i have the kit and everything mostly looks spot on (and well cast) but this area on the wing looks different. here we see the flap going right out to the edge of the wheel well. The rest of the kit seems to be spot on. here is the wing tip re: lights:

 

 

rear bit - well presented in the kit:

 

wheel well :

 

 

trailing edge:

 

 

inboard of the booms:

 

 

top of fuel tanks - the kit has the caps:

 

 

the panel lines and riveting in the model seem to be very accurate and well rendered. We'll see how it all fits. a couple notes: the kit has you apply a single decal for the dash on a panel with raised details. Can't see this working. I'd cut up the deal or use some Airscale dials to do this. Also- very minor- the kit has you tuck the top of the harness behind the seat. In 7012, although the harness in the cockpit now is just an ad hoc thing, it goes up through a hole in the back of the plate (the kit doesn't have a hole in this plate but easily added. . 

and one final final note: the body is composite and therefore painted aluminum / silver (one can still see the original taping) - so a dull aluminum. the rest would  be aluminum metal - polished or faded. i think this is the last military jet with some wood structure - seeing it close up it really does feel first gen ... and it's small!

[Jboldt007]

sorry "in board of the booms" is the wrong photo - forgot to upload it. Anyhow, here's the nose:

 

[Alain Gadbois]

I believe the Vampire was entirely painted silver, not only the wooden nose section. So no bare metal look here!

A nice photo of Swiss Vampires showed some bare metal where paint had worn off on the top wing. Interesting effect one could try on this model.

 

Alain

 

[Jboldt007]

you know looking at my photos - yeah you're right. here's a close up of the wing root ... there clearly is paint finish on the body and wing (at least in its current state). the flanges and maybe the canopy frame look to be exposed aluminum? 

 

[mydesign]

On 9/10/2022 at 3:19 AM, Jboldt007 said:

sorry "in board of the booms" is the wrong photo - forgot to upload it. Anyhow, here's the nose:

 

 

These photos are great, thank you for posting 

It will help me with the paint scheme. I also concluded that panel details of the kit look good.

 

I am building the 1/32 Infinity Vampire, look at my webpage https://aircraftinplastic.com/models/vampire-32/vampire-32-1.htm  here. 

[Jboldt007]

Nice to see interest in the Vampire kit. I hope to build it soon. Note: the 442 plane now does not have the red nose as per the kit decals, as the plane did in the late 40's- 50's. Unless someone makes a mask i might do it in its more current standard black anti-glare pattern as the nose would would be hard to do without a proper template. 

 

i was reading about the use of "high speed silver" - a type of gloss aluminum paint application applied to commonwealth aircraft at this time. it seems such a paint might have been used on vampires etc. as it was for meteors and such. 

 

The vampire looks like such an odd job but it seems to have been well respected and up to the task at the time. I think Eric Brown, perhaps the world's greatest pilot ever, considered it one of his favourite plans to fly (along with the ME163 Comet)! The picture of him landing one on a carrier- the first time for a jet to do so i think... is classic history.