1/32 Fleet Air Arm Sea Vampire F20

[thierry laurent]

Hi guys,

 

I have one question for you: does anyone know a picture of a single seater production Sea Vampire with external tanks? The Cyberhobby boxart is showing one with the initial tanks. However, the only pictures I've ever seen of a Sea Vampire with tanks are the ones of the LZ551G prototype and it carried the later type of tanks (similar to the ones used by FB5)! I would like using external tanks but prefer relying on something that is reasonably accurate!

 

Thanks

 

Thierry

[thierry laurent]

One prototype picture with the late tanks:

 

[thierry laurent]

This shows the location of the ID lights for which I'm still looking after one picture;

 

[Alain Gadbois]

4 hours ago, thierry laurent said:

One prototype picture with the late tanks:

 

That’s not the prototype. The prototype has the early square fins (with added bullets).

It’s a repainted Swiss Vampire with ejector seat if you look carefully. Wrong wing tips also.

 

Those tanks were only on the Swiss Vampires and Venoms.

 

You can see the standard emplacement of the lamps in the engine cowl drawing in the Vampire build thread. Never found out what the colors were supposed to be.

 

Alain

 

[thierry laurent]

Thanks Alain. 

 

I did not look too closely and thought this was another prototype (the original being in Yeovilton).Now I'm understanding why some features looked weird on that plane. The remark about the tank is also interesting. I was puzzled by the fact I could not find any picture of a FB5 with such tanks. This explains that.

[Alain Gadbois]

Hi!

First a photo of the modified dive brake in the prototype, from somewhere on the internet. You can see how plates have been added to augment the surface area.

 

 

Photos of the underside lamps. F3 in Ottawa. You can see these have been covered with a small hole remaining. Looks like they got painted over at some point.photo F. Huot

 

photo F. Huot

 

The dismantled Mk1 in Ottawa. I wonder if what we see on the F3 are the plexiglass panels painted over in silver. Too bad the plastic seems to have yellowed so much we

can't see much through it.

 Photo F. Huot

 

So not exactly like the Sea Vampire, but looking at the general design, you can adapt to your project.

 

Alain

[spyrosjzmichos]

Nicely done so far Thierry!

Edited August 30, 2022 by spyrosjzmichos

[thierry laurent]

4 hours ago, Alain Gadbois said:

Hi!

First a photo of the modified dive brake in the prototype, from somewhere on the internet. You can see how plates have been added to augment the surface area.

 

 

Photos of the underside lamps. F3 in Ottawa. You can see these have been covered with a small hole remaining. Looks like they got painted over at some point.photo F. Huot

 

photo F. Huot

 

The dismantled Mk1 in Ottawa. I wonder if what we see on the F3 are the plexiglass panels painted over in silver. Too bad the plastic seems to have yellowed so much we

can't see much through it.

 Photo F. Huot

 

So not exactly like the Sea Vampire, but looking at the general design, you can adapt to your project.

 

Alain

Thanks Alain. I found various pictures of the prototype but not that one! Very useful!!!

With regard to the lights, it looks this changed somewhere during production but when? Why the Sea Vampire kept the forward lights configuration is a mystery as they were not made from early F1 airframes?!? I'm wondering what were the lights color as typically ID lights were differently colored. I should possibly look at the DH Hornet.

[mozart]

Marvellous work Thierry in all respects; the modelling, problem-solving, research and general sleuthing! 

[thierry laurent]

Thanks Max!

 

The quest to find lights info is slowly progressing! I found that thread with a funny title on BM: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235103890-the-vampire-scared-of-the-light/

At least, now we know that the front one was red! So I guessed the rear one behind that oblong cover had to be blue. However, the Ottawa one seems indicating it was amber!?! Red/Amber/White was not a very common ID lights combination!  I'm still digging!

[thierry laurent]

I forgot adding I made yesterday evening a quick comparison between the Sea Venom and Vampire kits. Mixing them IS possible but will not be very easy without cheating a little bit as the mid fuselage difference is close to 2mm!

 

[mozart]

I’m 20 minutes away from Yeovilton if you need anything checking Thierry, though away on holiday next week! 

[thierry laurent]

52 minutes ago, mozart said:

I’m 20 minutes away from Yeovilton if you need anything checking Thierry, though away on holiday next week! 

Thanks very much Max.

 

I will assess that but very probably the only missing link is that lights panel.

 

There is also a question regarding the internal flaps external face as the picture Alain posted shows some screws were visible on the airbrake and external flaps section. So, this was probably similar on the external face of the internal side of the flaps (between the boom and fuselage). However, I'm not that sure this was identical on the production Sea vampires and the rare pictures of the deployed flaps seen from the front are shot from a too distant point to see them. In any case, I would not be surprised seeing they were replaced by flush screws. This would make sense when you see how they modified the tail hook to ensure it would join the fuselage to get a more aerodynamical result on the production batch.

 

I know it is not possible to see such features without crawling under the plane! So, if the museum guys could at least tell us what are the lights color, this would be terrific!

 

Thierry

[thierry laurent]

Small progress yesterday evening. I cautiously sanded the protruding panels:

 

[thierry laurent]

Hi again,

 

Weird seeing that when my wife is not at home for some days, I'm noticeably increasing my available modelling time!

 

I went back to the gun muzzle holes.

 

First, I marked the correct location with a greasy pencil and when satisfied after some comparisons with pictures I used a permanent marker.

 

 

By the way you can see that the strengthening plate is still visible with a remaining border. So, I'm not convinced I will change that.

Next step, I made a very small hole right in the middle to get some grip. The final step asks for the use of different drills and files and a lot of comparisons to get a symetrical result. Again, the thickness of the plastic is quite useful.

 

 

As you can see I did not have to add plastic inside. I will possibly add a little bit of tube to locate each gun muzzle but this depends how deep it was located. And, practically, the fact I relocated the holes had no actual impact. You have to consider that even if you do not correct the location.

 

Now, I'm going to allocate my time to something easier!