Rowan, the Vampire looks like a lot of hard work to correct. Its baffling how a modern manufacturer can make so many mistakes on such a well documented aircraft. Those drop tanks are hideous! No doubt the AM boys will do a resin replacement set soon.

Here's where my build is currently at.


The lower wing to fuselage joint need a LOT of filler to blend in and the engine louvres were a pain to clean up. Other than that, fairly straight forward. Once the landing gear is in place I'll give it a quick spray with some white primer and then its onto painting.
Iv'e also painted the struts and prop with simulated wood grain. I used Mig oils light rust, it give a nice rich wood colour once dry. Before doing this I removed the horrible moulded on prop hub as I found a nicer etched one in my spares.

I put those in an airtight container while drying to stop any fluff sticking to them.

Comments welcome.

It's easy enough to see your doing an old-tool Airfix from the ejection points on wing surfaces, Stephen. Nice job of it; well done.

I really like your wood!

Thanks Ben. I'm still fairly new to the oil-paint wood effect but I seem to have the knack of it now. And yes, its an old Airfix but a good one. Besides from my scratched interior, everything else is OOB. Not even going to replace the MG's, the're as good as any I've seen in more recent Roden kits. The DH.4 would have made a far better candidate for a reissue than the ancient RE8 last year. At least the average builder can make something of this kit!

That 4 was always a decent kit, Stephen, and it is looking good.
Back on the Dragon Rapide, second colour sprayed, I'll give it a few days then mask for colour 3 (blue)

Wings on!:

Hi Richard, now that is a truly interesting jig! I wonder where I might find one? LOL that wont cost me an arm and a leg and several vital organs!!

Thanks Andrew, the Rapide is looking great. Looks like it was a devil to mask though!

Richard, the jig looks a lot more professional than the one I tried building from Lego Technic. That probably would've worked if I'd made it bigger. Is it a commercially available product or something you built yourself?

s=Stephen

It's going to get worse, another colour to go yet, heaven knows what it will look like when that lot comes off

Hi
The jig came from West Coast Hobbys:-
http://www.westcoasthobbys.com/shop/index.php?action=show_custom&id=480&cat=22
I added the white styrene to support the arms.

there is some hard core model building going on here!

so That's how you build a bi plane, no wonder Ive never been able to do it!!

Well - it has been a while, with many hours in the shop with this one.

Many thanks for the warnings about the kit canopy, Shanghai! Very brittle indeed... and the fit - UGH! I am displaying it open, because there is no way I could actually get the rear of the canopy to fit properly. A little slice and dice, and I'll push it back.

So, here is is - primed, and preshaded, ready for paint.

Lovely work on all the other projects I am seeing here!

Hi Dave,

Can't see anything unfortunately (probably your picserver is blocked here)
The rear end of the canopy fits lousy and has anyway a wrong shape, so an open canopy is a good choice.

Greetings from Shanghai

Hi Dave

The pic's showing here alright. Great work - it's looking excellent.

Just a note that I haven't given up on my much-maligned Trumpy Vampire. I'm waiting for Postie to deliver some replacement parts after I stupidly lost a couple of items from the Pavla cockpit set following the photo-session for its review! Pavla very kindly sent new parts two weeks ago, but there's no sign of them here yet.

All the best

Rowan

I have de-listed from this campaign, regrettably, and give up on receiveing a DHC Dash 8 kit from Welsh models any time soon.

There is already some beauties in the gallery! carry on!

.... and I'm done! De Havilland Sea Vixen FAW.1 in RN Test Squadron colours (1967-1972). Right then, time to get the FAW.2 finished.





Good luck everyone - Cheers!

Sorry folks, I have to bail out from this campaign. Too much work going on and a one-week holiday trip is coming that month, too. As I'm going abroad there's no building then and that's it for this time.
But I will join the Fleet Air Arm Campaign with my Sea Vixen, because it is still resting in its box...
I'm still looking forward to see your finished models in the campaign gallery. See you in another one!

Hi again

@ Lee - great work on the Sea Vixen!

The replacement parts for my Vampire arrived yesterday, so I'll get back underway this week. Fingers crossed I'll meet the deadline - but I'm cutting it tight now...

All the best

Rowan

A bit more done on the Dragon Rapide, finally the masking is off , no runs just a couple of spots to touch up, rigging done, struts fitted, Touch up, decals and canopy framing left

Hi Andrew,

Beautiful!
I should do more civilian planes, love the colors.

Greetings from Shanghai

Andrew, the DH89 Dragon Rapide looks gorgeous.

Thanks, it is coming together nicely, it'll be next week before I get more done now

Hi Andrew

Really nice! I've always promised myself I'll build a Dragon Rapide one day - we see one occasionally over the Isle of Wight, and it's such a beautiful aircraft.

I was naughty today, and took a day away from news and reviews on my day off from Oxfam! I've made a bit of progress on my Vampire:



There's still masses to do, but it's encouraging to have the basic airframe together (seams still to take care of) and to know it balances on its wheels. There's a bit more butchering to do (the shape of the wing-tips is wrong in the kit), and the intakes will definitely be "fun", but I'm quite chuffed to have got this far, I'm so out of practice.

All the best

Rowan

Rowan, very sharp Vamp.

Cheers Brent

I know it'll never win any prizes, but if I get it done in time for a campaign medal I'll be well chuffed.

Having moaned about most aspects of Trumpeter's kit in terms of accuracy, I guess it's only fair to complement its excellent fit; even after all my hacking and installing a resin cockpit and wheel-wells, the main parts have lined-up without a hitch. The tail booms - which are probably the one point that might scare off a beginner - slotted in very positively and look nice and square to my Mk.1 eyeballs.

Having got that out of the way, that's probably the last complement I'll pay to the kit. I frequently disagree with Gaston_Marty, but where I think he is correct in moaning about releases like this is that they probably represent the only chance to see a mainstream kit of the subject in this scale - so it's a crying shame that Trumpeter could have got so much wrong.

All the best

Rowan

The campaign leader makes one of her rare appearances. This time with the horizontal flying surfaces with all their rigging mounts installed and ready for a bit of paint