Building the Airfix Vampire T11

[Matt H]

Along with many other people, I've started building the eagerly awaited Airfix kit of WZ507 and will post more updates on here as the model progresses.

To start, the three main sprues:





I will post a picture of the clear sprue later, as I'm keeping it in its protective wrapper for now!

The initial instructions, covering the cockpit build:



The model has an excellent level of detail and is well designed, ensuring tail booms are correctly aligned and the wing dihedral is accurate - it should go together without any problems!

I will post some more pictures over the next few days. If you would like a model for yourself, please visit the VPG website to place your order: http://www.vampirepreservation.org.uk/shop-gifts.htm

[LN Strike Eagle]

Is that a 1:72nd Matt Hampton?

[Matt H]

Is that a 1:72nd Matt Hampton?

Just possibly!

I managed to make a bit more progress today. The cockpit went together without any problems and is a very reasonable copy of the real thing. Here's the main tub, before the addition of the instrument panel and pressure bulkhead:



And the finished tub:



The sidewalls were painted to highlight the molded features:



Then the tub was fitted into the fuselage shell:



The first problem came to light - the nose needs weighting with 8g to stop the model from being a tail-sitter. However, there is not much room in the nose - I had hoped to fit two brass screws into this area but there was only room for one. Some lead shot would have been invaluable at this stage...! There is some nice detail on the model that will never be seen, such as the rudder pedals. Another area is the intake ducting, which was painted and assembled (complete with the front of the compressor) - this is almost impossible to see but does improve the look of the model - far better than just painting the intakes black!



Ducting glued together and fitted into place:



The intakes were attached to the ducting:



And the one piece top wing fitted over the fuselage and onto the intakes:



This was one area that needed some work; the fit was not perfect and needed some filler - first time that has been needed on the this model! Any comments and critisms welcome, hopefully I will manage another update tomorrow.

[Robin]

Hi Matt.

I am at about the same stage with my Vampire, quite a nice kit, I had more or less the same problem as you with the poor fitting of the upper wing section and the intakes. As I thought that the black cockpit was a little stark, I used HU32 Dark Grey with a dry brush of silver, my nose weight will be lead shot and Blu-Tac, should fit it in. As I think that there will be many copies of your aircraft made, I rather fancy a FAA Admirals Barge in blue and white. Best of luck.

Robin.

[Matt H]

I have painted the seats dark grey, with silver dry-brushing liberally applied to show areas of wear. There are a patches of colour on the undercarriage levers, flap levers and trim wheel but these don't show up very well in the photos. Quite impressed with the general impression given by the cockpit - it has a good level of accurate detail. Fitting everything together was a breeze until I tried to glue the top wing, but filler should solve any problems!

[twirl2688]

Looking real nice Matt . Can't wait to get mine started. Maybe Airfix should have printed in the box genuine 1/72 Matt Hampton included

Scott

[Matt H]

I've had an enforced break from the kit for a few days, due to being away with work. However, I'm back home now and the build has resumed!

The next stage was to glue the booms together and attach them loosely to the wings with pegs. This enabled the tailplane/boom assembly to be completed:



Before it was glued to the wings - note the positioning lugs to help get everything aligned correctly:



At this point I made a minor modification to the kit. The wheel wells are completely boxed in - if this was the case on the real aircraft, the undercarriage legs would be unable to retract...! I removed a section from each wheel well to make this area more accurate; this arrangement also means I can glue the undercarriage on at the end of the build; if I had followed the instructions they would now be attached, making them liable to become damaged and getting in the way when the model is masked.



The lower wing sections were then glued into place. Like the top wings, the fit in this area was not so good and will require filler along the fuselage joint:



One final picture for now - the clear sprue:



Like all the sprues, this is very well produced with plenty of fine detail (note the integral windscreen wiper!) and minimal plastic holding each piece in place. Sprue cutters are not really needed to remove any of the parts in this kit!

I shall continue the build today and hopefully get some paint on the model tomorrow.

[Robin]

Hi Matt.

Keeping up with you on the building, you do have an advantage over the rest of us as you have a full size model to look at. I wondered what the 'bridge' piece was in the u/c bay, presuming that Airfix had done their research, so I left them in, unfortunately, as you warned, I snapped off the port u/c leg. However, on fitting the lower wing pieces, I did not have a gap to worry about, the join with the fuselage was perfect. The lead shot and Blu-Tac worked well in the nose, no problem at all with it sitting on all legs. A question for you, do the ejector seats have a firing handle fitted to the head-box. Thank you.

Robin.

[Matt H]

A question for you, do the ejector seats have a firing handle fitted to the head-box. Thank you.

Hi Robin.

Yes they do; Airfix have actually molded two indents in each seat at the correct position. I will be making a couple of firing handles to improve the look of the cockpit too.

I'm pleased your wings fitted to the fuselage better than mine, but not sure why!

[Robin]

Matt.

Thank you for that, stretched sprue handles fitted, now out with the yellow paint.

Robin.

[Deacon]

At this point I made a minor modification to the kit. The wheel wells are completely boxed in - if this was the case on the real aircraft, the undercarriage legs would be unable to retract...! I removed a section from each wheel well to make this area more accurate; this arrangement also means I can glue the undercarriage on at the end of the build; if I had followed the instructions they would now be attached, making them liable to become damaged and getting in the way when the model is masked.

That's a useful tip Matt, thanks.

[Matt H]

The model is progressing slowly, as spare time seems to be at a premium at the moment! The Vampire is now being painted - I had intended to do this at home using rattle cans but ended up doing this whilst away on a work trip so used a paint brush instead - not ideal but hopefully a passable finish! The painting chart provided with the kit:



I started with the yellow, using Humbrol 24. This is a matt paint but the model will get a gloss coat at the end which should improve the appearance of the yellow considerably. You can also see the firing handles in this picture, made from fuse wire, added to improve the appearance of the seats. When complete, I intend to display the model with the canopy open so the cockpit can be seen - I might even add some seatbelts!



Once this had dried, I masked off the bands and started to apply the silver, using Humbrol 11. This still needs touching up:



I had a few problems with the rear canopy section falling off when I tried to mask it. I had attached this a few days ago using Klear, which has worked well on other builds. However, it did not work for this piece of plastic, so it is now attached using standard poly cement!

One other problem I have encountered is damaging the finer detail on the model whilst preparing it for painting. In particular, the pitot tube on the tail fin had been bashed and I have also knocked off the fuel drains on the underside of the fuselage. With hindsight, I should have removed these and re-attached them at the end of the build.

The model should be painted by tomorrow and decals can then be applied, along with the last few components. The undercarriage is almost ready and is very detailed, including the struts molded onto the door and flat spots on the tyres to show weight on the wheels:



I hope to post my final update on this build later in the week. Hopefully this review has whetted your appetite and I look forward to seeing some other builds of this model on the forum soon! Please remember, if you would like to build this model for yourself it is available from the Vampire Preservation Group's online shop http://www.vampirepreservation.org.uk/shop-gifts.htm. Every model we sell via our shop helps us keep the real WZ507 flying, so please think about ordering directly from us if you would like this model - it really helps make a difference. Thank you!

[hardtarget]

Nice to see progress on this kite with some useful tips that ill take on board. Ive got mine ready to be built after my Lakenheath Mudhen. Look forward to the 1:1 scale flying this year too.
Stu

[Matt H]

Finally some pictures of the finished Airfix Vampire T11. It took longer than I expected, due to a chronic lack of spare time at the moment. The kit itself went together well and has resulted in a very pleasing and accurate model of WZ507. I was particularly impressed with the level of detail on the decals – every placard has been faithfully reproduced, including the obscure ones on the undercarriage doors relating to tyre psi and the lower registration markings as separate sections to allow them to be attached to individual undercarriage doors:



The whole model is a very detailed representation of WZ507, including the struts on the undercarriage doors, cockpit controls and intake ducting – everything is carefully moulded and really adds to the look of the finished model:



There is one glaring mistake on the model, which is entirely my fault – I misjudged the width of the yellow bands on the tail booms and made them too wide, which has affected the appearance of the decals along the booms. I decided to glue the canopy in the “down” position, as my attempt to recreate the seat belts was a bit messy – hopefully I will get them right on my next attempt, maybe add a bit more cockpit detail too and keep the canopy open!



As previously noted, I had issues with the fitting of the wing, with filler being needed on the joints with the fuselage. Nobody else has encountered this so far, so I suspect I somehow caused this problem myself… My other comment would be to remove the delicate components such as the fuel drain under the engine and pitot tube on the fin – these get in the way, are easily damaged (note the bent pitot tube above!) and would be better glued on at the end.

Despite these minor niggles, this is an excellent kit of the Vampire T11 – my thanks to Airfix for producing it and also featuring WZ507 as the variant modelled! Order yours from our online shop and help keep WZ507 flying! http://www.vampirepreservation.org.uk/shop-gifts.htm

[Deacon]

A nice build.

Well done mate.

[twirl2688]

Well done Matt that looks great. I'm sure there will be a whole load more on here , including mine

Scott

[jag636]

CRACKING Thats one of the best Vamps I've ever seen in 1/72 not to mention the long wait for it well done you and thank you Airfix for another first class kit, me thinks I will have to buy one and have a go at it

[Matt H]

Thank you for the kind comments. I'm looking forward to seeing some pictures of other builds!

[Matt H]

This new one looks excellent!

It is!

[barkin mad]

Excellent - I built the old Airfix Vampire FB.5, which was a proper dog of a kit. This new one looks excellent!

That doesn't sound good. I know the decals are miles out of register (esp the Swedish roundels ), general consensus among the modelling community is that it is a bit of gem. It is accurate. Talking of that has anyone seen the excuse that passes for the Trumpeter 1/48 one. I can see why it might be considered one though.



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[Matt H]

So has anybody else finished their kit yet...?

[ArabJazzie]

So has anybody else finished their kit yet...?

Dont think your tail band detracts too much from a superbly finished kit! But then, i dont get my hands on the real thing!

Not too far away from the finishing line. Going down the route of alclad to get the high speed silver finish with mine and all going well, i should have it done by next week. Certainly need it done before Easter holidays!
Arabest,
Geoff.

[Matt H]

Going down the route of alclad to get the high speed silver finish with mine and all going well, i should have it done by next week.

Sounds good, that should produce a great finish! Looking forward to seeing it!

[Matt H]

Hi Geoff.

Any photos yet? Looking forward to seeing your T11!

[ArabJazzie]

Hi Geoff.

Any photos yet? Looking forward to seeing your T11!

Matt,
Should be able to put some up soon but have been really busy on other things!
Arabest,
Geoff.