| |
Czech Master Resin 1/72 Vampire F. Mk. 1, F.3, and FB.5 |
|
|
|
Overview
The de Havilland Vampire was one of Britain's first jet aircraft, and arguably its most successful, when one figures in all the derivative variants over the years. The twin-boom design was stable and easy to fly, making it an excellent transition aircraft for pilots moving from propeller aircraft to jets. From single seat fighters to two seat trainers and night fighters, the Vampire line saw extensive service within the RAF and FAA as well as worldwide export service. In one form or another, the over 3,000 Vampires served in the air forces of Austria, Australia, Burma, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Canada, Chile, Dominican Republic, Egypt, England, Finland, France, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Katanga, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, and Venezuela. This extensive and widespread usage made the Vampire a common sight in the skies around the world for dozens of years following the end of the Second World War.
The Kits
Given its enormous popularity in the early jet period worldwide, it is surprising that there are so few kits available of this famous aircraft. In 1/72 scale, the only real game in town for many years was the Heller kit. While not a bad kit, it does show its age with raised panel lines and minimal detailing in the interior. For those wanting to have a highly detailed Vampire, or wanted to build a Vampire in a different variant other than the FB.5, even more work was required. In steps Czech Master Resin with this new line of impressive Vampire models. CMR has released quite a few Vampire variants recently, including some of the two-seat versions. Their latest batch covers the single seaters, and as one might expect, there are quite a few common parts between the F.1, F.3, and FB.5. As such, I'll review them together and highlight the differences where appropriate.
As we have come to expect, these kits are molded in that classic tan resin of other CMR kits, and feature petite recessed panel lines, highly detailed interiors, pre-painted photoetch, canopy masks, and impressive decal sheets that cover a wide range of marking options. The instruction sheets are impressive, with clear drawings of the actual construction, plus several pages of detail photos and comprehensive painting and marking diagrams.
Starting with the interior, the assembly here is pretty much identical across all three kits, save for some small detail differences on the right sidewall. These differences are all contained in the photoetch, with the F.1 requiring a bit more folding of pieces. The cockpit is a solid mix of resin and photoetch (in fact, most of the photoetch ends up here), and the end result will be quite impressive. The F.3 kit comes with two different fuselages, one with a nose cutout that has a clear portion and the other solid, like the F.1 and FB.5. There is a small cavity for nose weight above the nose wheel well, but this might not be enough space and I would recommend adding some additional weight underneath and behind the cockpit. The canopies are the same in all three kits, with the F.1 having an additional canopy for the original unpressurized version. Two of each are provided, so there is a spare should you make a mistake in trimming one out.
With the fuselage together, the remaining assembly is pretty straightforward. The wings are molded as one piece, with separate air intake pieces. The F.1 and F.3 have the same wings, with rounded wingtips, while the FB.5 has squared off wingtips. For the intake pieces, these contain a good representation of the ducting, with separate photoetch vanes. The tail booms are separate, and also cast as solid pieces. The F.1 kit has the original squared vertical tails, while the F.3 and FB.5 have the more classic triangular tails with the base bullet fairing. The stabilizers are identical across all three kits and feature separate mass balances.
Flipping the plane over, the landing gear assemblies are identical across all three kits. The nose gear has photoetch details for the wheel well door attachments. The main gear also gets some photoetch details in the form of main gear oleo scissors and wheel hub details. The gear struts are cast in a stiffer resin than the other kit parts, which should help support the finished model (all those solid resin parts will add quite a bit to the finished weight). All three kits provide separate flaps and air brakes as well, with some delicate resin and photoetch parts that will really enhance this area.
All three kits come with the underwing 100-gallon fuel tanks. For the F.1 and F.3, these are the only stores provided, and indeed were the only ones carried by these fighter variants. For the ground attack FB.5, though, there could be quite a few alternate underwing stores. The kit provides an impressive assortment of that weaponry, including bombs and rockets that combine resin and photoetch for some nicely detailed weapons. For the rockets, this kit provides 25lb AP, 60lb HE/SAP, 60lb concrete practice, and 25lb concrete practice rockets. These can be fitted with resin fins or photoetch fins, the latter coming with a photoetch fin alignment jig. For the bombs, the kit comes with 1000lb, 500lb, and 250lb HEMC freefall bombs. With this plethora of underwing stores, you can outfit your Vampire in any variety of ways, and have quite a few leftover weapons for your spares box.
Moving on to the decals, it is here that you will undoubtedly run into your first major problem: choosing just one of the available options for your model. The F.1 and FB.5 both come with six options, while the F.3 has nine. The decals are nicely printed and include lots of stenciling. Below is a listing of the options provided in each kit.
Vampire F.Mk.1 (all RAF)
TG/311, ZY-O, of No 247 Squadron, 1946. Camouflaged Dark Green and Ocean Grey over Medium Sea Grey.
VF301, RAL-G, of No 605 "County of Warwick" Squadron, 1948. Finished in Medium Sea Grey over PRU Blue.
TG/385, J5M, of No 3 Squadron, 1948. Finished in Medium Sea Gray over PRU Blue.
VF/279, J5T, of No 3 Squadron, Gutersloh, Germany 1948. Finished in overall silver.
TG345, RAL-P, of No 605 Squadron, Bovingdon 1949. Finished in overall silver.
TG/102, ZY-Y, of No 247 Squadron, 1946. Camouflaged in Dark Green and Ocean Grey over Medium Sea Grey.
Vampire F.3
VT871 of No 601 "County of London" Squadron, RAF. Finished in overall silver.
VT821, L, of No 601 "County of London" Squadron, RAF. Finished in overall silver.
VT864, H, of No 54 Squadron, RAF. Finished in overall silver.
074, SL, of No 442 "City of Vancouver" Squadron, RCAF, Sea Island, British Columbia, 1948-56. Finished in overall silver.
062, SL, of No 442 "City of Vancouver" Squadron, RCAF, Sea Island, British Columbia, 1948-56. Finished in overall silver with bright red wingtips and tailplane.
031, SL of No 402, then No 442 Squadron, RCAF, 1956. Finished in overall silver with bright red wingtips and tailplane.
021, GO, RCAF. Finished in overall silver.
P42459, PX-H, No 336 Squadron, RNoAF, Norway 1951. Finished in overall silver.
P42459, B-AH, No 336 Squadron, RNoAF, Norway 1949. Finished in overall silver.
Vampire FB.5
WG833, flown by Wing Leader of Nos 603 & 612 Squadrons, RAuxAF, early 1950s. Finished in overall silver, with 603 markings on one side and 612 on the other.
WG833, flown by Wing Leader of Nos 603 & 612 Squadrons, RAuxAF, 1954. Camouflaged in Dark Green and Ocean Grey over Medium Sea Grey. Marked similarly to previous scheme.
NZ5754, No 75 Squadron, RNZAF, 1963. Finished in overall silver.
NZ5770, No 75 Squadron, RNZAF, 1969. Finished in overall silver, "Yellow Hammers" display team.
201, South African Air Force, 1950. Finished in overall silver.
210, AX-A, of No 1 Squadron, South African Air Force, 1950. Finished in overall silver.
Conclusion
These are without a doubt the ultimate in 1/72 Vampire kits. Given the huge range of colorful markings worn by the Vampire over the years and across the continents, there is no shortage of attractive schemes for the type, and I expect we will see future releases from CMR providing even more alternatives for the modeler. My thanks to Czech Master Resin for the review samples.
|
|
