Almost ready to prime:-

@(tinbanger) Richard,

Nice progress on your bird and I like what you did with the interior that you showed earlier. We'll know its there but I wonder how much one might see through the windows?

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In my case I managed to squeeze in one more sinker weight in the nose, give all the weights one last coating of glue and finally had the nerve to seal up the forward fuselage. Front of the intakes are attached as is the intake manifold assembly, cockpit and engine exhaust. Ive also installed the forward landing gear bay and cannon cover plate.



You may notice in the image above and the next image that I spent some time smoothing out the seams in the nose section.



If you notice the seam it's actually a bit of staining from when I sprayed the cockpit interior with flat black. If one runs the end of a pin or strider lightly across the seam it feels totally smooth. The final image shows the fuselage assembly from the rear and work done on the upper seam lines.



Cheers,
Jan

Well not a lot of progress but some is better than none I guess. The upper wing of the Vampire is now officially glued in place (...wonder what 'glued unofficially' would be...). When I tried dry fitting the tail booms they didn't sit equal vertically so I had to spend time using needle files on both the booms and the openings in the upper wing where they reside. Here are a few images of the booms dry fitted.







Oh, forgot to mention that I had to fix the main landing gear struts to the booms as it won't be easily possible after the booms are glued in place. You'll note that the aircraft easily sits node down on the main undercarriage struts so I guess I got enough weight in the nose! Now to figure out how to attach the tail piece between the two booms and have everything line up!

Cheers,
--Jan

Jan, your Vampire is looking really nice. I like the panel line detail. Just wish that I could find one in 1/48.

Richard, I cannot make out if you Rapide has flying wires, but I cannot see with out my magnifying hood. Cannot wait to see some color on her.

Bob

Thank you Bob and I believe there are a few 1/48 Vampires out there but not sure if any two seaters are still made.

Now with my Vampire some more small progress. The Port tail boom is now cemented in place and after what feels like hundreds of tries, Ive dry fit the Starboard boom and the tail centrepiece. The wooden blocks are to see how it will sit on the main gear struts and if there was enough weight in the nose. Obviously the weighting in the nose proved sufficient.







Now the question remains, is the tail centrepiece appropriately level and ready for gluing?

Cheers,
--jan

Well gang it was a dirty, nasty, dragged out fight but I finally beat the tail assembly into submission and, the instruction method probably wouldn't have worked. As an added bonus I've started on the landing gear. Please note in the first two images the nose down orientation. Guess I squeezed in enough weight in the nose?







Just a few minor items to add to the tail section and then I'll work on the landing gear doors.

Cheers,
Jan

Well, Jan, I think that you are only 1 set of landing gear ahead of me, but mine's been sitting idle since 2014... I hate to lose my comment to do the research, but whose kit is this? I was building the Airfix T.10 when I moved.

@(md72) Mark,

My Vampire has all the landing gear struts in place. it’s just the main wheel parts are still to be added. If you could see the box, this is the newer or newest release of the T-11/J-28C DH Vampire by Airfix kit AO2058A.

Cheers,
Jan

I guess that some progress is better than no progress! Tail assembly is complete except for a couple of what I figure are counterweights on the centre section bottom. The tail winglets had a very loose and sloppy fit and had to be propped up while they dried. Next up will the the main wing bottom pieces. I test fit them but only the port side fit pretty well. Both pieces were a bit warped but the starboard one will need some surgery to fit well.

Cheers,
Jan

Well, there's something about the kit's design, that the MLG struts have to be added early on. So that's where I was a long time ago, IIRC I've got the red box release without the Swedish options. I started as part of an Aeroscale group build, "Ultimate Build Off" or some such back in 2012-2013.

AH, it was The Great Buildoff Campaign of 2014. I must have had the A55204 flavor.

@(md72) Mark,

The kit number you quote here is for the "Starter Set" version but ideally should be the same 'plastic' as mine but with different decals. From What I gather there appear to be four or five two seater boxings each with unique decals.




There are some interesting engineering features to these later versions and yes you must put on the struts during assembly of the tail booms. In fact you are supposed to assemble the entire tail section(s) before adding it to the main upper wing section! I fear I have only followed the instructions where it looked logical. I changed quite a few parts of the assembly process order to a way that made more sense. Airfix's instructions in this case aren't as bad as some Dragon kit ones but I personally feel they weren't properly thought out.

Cheers,
Jan

EDIT: Is there ever such a thing as too many clamps when building a plane?

Nope, mine wasn't the starter set. Just the kit with two sets of markings, one for an inservice trainer (from the 50's?) and some sort of memorial flight, no Swedish markings. I do remember taking a lot of time to fine tune the tailboom to wing joint, but I only got the center section of the tail feathers installed.

Well we'll just leave it as there were a number of versions of this kit.




The one boom to upper wing joint was a bear. I had to do a fair amount of sanding to get it to sit level with its mate. Not meaning to scare anyone from this kit but those tailplane segments all had quite loose and sloppy fits. That's why I say that it would be a nightmare to assemble that section as the instructions suggest.

Cheers,
--Jan

Jan, nice job on the vampire! Like it a lot!

Richard, really like your Rapide. Unusual subject, and well done. Hopefully you can see a bit of the interior work when done!

[b]@john41492(John),




Thanks for commenting and when I first got the Vampire as a gift I was a little indifferent about it but it does seem to grow on one after a while. It's sort of like the old VW Beatles in that sense!

Cheers,
--Jan

I am in with a MIG 29UB



As an Iranian air force trainer.

Date stamp on the photo is March 29th 2019.

I hope I am not to late.

Welcome to the campaign (Mortifa) Richard, and interesting to see a modern aircraft entry. I've always liked the Mig-29 but never seen the Trumpeter kit. :-)

In my case, after more judicious filing and sanding I have finally got the port lower wing to sit fairly well.







Next up should be the main landing gear, wheels and all the gear doors.

Cheers,
--Jan

Hi all!

Jan, you might be setting the record for the number of clamps onto a wing!

Richard, welcome! You're not too late, the campaign ends on June 1st. plenty of time to finish your Mig-29, I'm looking forward to see what you do with it! Very interesting subject.

I've been toiling away putting instrument decals in the "Maggie" so far not too many issues. And Bob, sorry, this kit has the spatted wheels, which seem to be an easy fit.

John,

And my SWMBO thought I was crazy for buying all those clamps and that I wouldn't have a use for them? Plus, don't tell her but I have another package of six of the smaller ones that I haven't opened yet!

Cheers,
--Jan

I'm going to make a late entry. Ihaven't been to this site in a while and recently decided to give campaigns a go again to see if I can actually manage to finish a model.

Let's see if I can get this built in 2 months:

Welcome back Vance.

Bob

Well what do I say? The Vampire finally has a new set of shoes or the Vampire can finally stand on its own three "feet"? Obviously the amount of weight added to the nose worked and I believe the bulk of the landing gear doors can now be installed.





Cheers,
--Jan

Again it's slow but a bit more progress on the diminutive Vampire. ALL landing gear doors and framework(s) are now in place and less than a dozen parts left on the sprues to add. Unfortunately not all the parts had fit flawlessly so the dreaded filling and sanding must now commence prior to painting. But, at least the thing is definitely looking like a plane? Here one can see all the gear bays and areas needing filling.

Vampire-S-1 by Jan Etal, on Flickr

Here we the beast standing on its own three legs?

Vampire-S-4 by Jan Etal, on Flickr

Cheers,
--Jan

Nicceeee Jan this is great stuff as I'm building the RNZAF version at some point when I unearth it from the stash LOL.