Jim R's Airfix 1/72 De Havilland Vampire T.11

[scottie3158]

Jim,
Given the problems you have been having this is a great result so far.

[Fernando N]

Looking good Jim, like how the office turned out with the minimal of paints at hand.:smiling:

Great to see yours has a superb fit too, at least some of the new starter sets have the latest from Airfix in them.
Neat solution for the paint application problems too.:thumb2:

[BattleshipBob]

Getting there Jim keep the faith !!

Bob

[colin m]

All looking very nice.

[Wouter]

Looking good there. And nice idea regarding the added weight!

[Jim R]

Hi all
Thanks for your continued kind words.
I have done the bit I was dreading - the upper wing and tail booms. The fit was again perfect but the upper wing was slightly warped. Normally I would simply have clamped it in place and used CA. The kit glue is quite slow drying and I wasn't going to be able to hold it in place long enough for the glue to take. Luckily the Airfix styrene responded well to a dip in hot water and then into cold. It only needed a few hot/cold treatments and the warp was gone :smiling:







Painted the canopy frame. Don't half miss a nice set of Eduard masks and the airbrush :sad: The clear plastic doesn't take paint well and my hand wasn't as steady as I thought but should look OK when all put together.



Jim

[Si Benson]

Look great Jim, I’d have put money on you making a great job of this anyway!
even so it’s all coming along nicely:thumb2:

[Neil Merryweather]

looking good Jim
just can't wait for that no 11...........:anguished:

[scottie3158]

Jim,
Looking good mate, the canopy looks none to shabby.

[stillp]

Well I hope my canopy looks somewhere near as good as that.

Pete

[Jim R]

Hi all

Construction is now done. Actually just the lower wing parts to fit and true to this kit they went on easily.
So paint time :rolling:. I know what a problem this has been for many in this GB. To be fair the main issues have been with gloss paint. Airfix said use no11 silver for the body and wings. The silver paint (no11) was very "silver" but the kit also provided aluminium (no56) which was quite dark. I mixed the two paints in the ratio of 2/3 silver- 1/3 aluminium. I also diluted it quite a lot with water. I added a drop of washing up liquid to break the surface tension. I cut the larger of my two brushes and also squeezed the ferrule flatter to try to make a broader, flatter brush. I reckoned that many very watery coats might be best. I split the model into sections and made a chart which I could use to record the number of coats. I tackled one area at a time and worked quickly so the area stayed wet and didn't drag the paint. I also tried to paint in the direction of the airflow over the plane.





Doesn't look very metallic yet but it is coming in places.



This is where I'm at



A long way to go yet.

Jim

Also one of my balls is loose!! :thinking::flushed::sad: .......... I of course mean one of the lead balls in the nose. I now have a Vampire with a rattle.

[Fernando N]

Looking good all built up Jim, nice start on the painting too.:thumb2:

Pretty neat way of keeping track with the chart, you’ll have the best painted finish of us all.:smiling:

[Jim R]

Hi all
Cheers Fernando - secret seems to be multiple thin coats and avoid gloss paint like the plague :tongue-out3:
Here we are after 4 coats and 5 on the upper wings.


Maybe one more overall tomorrow and call it a day.

Jim

[stillp]

That's looking very good Jim.
Pete

[Ian M]

Nice work with the hairy stick Jim!