#kitsandbits vampiref3

[kitsandbits]

Peel the Masking

I don’t know about you guys but I love this bit, removing the masking from the main scheme and you really get the sense of what the finished article is going to look like. Anyway having removed the masking I now need to add a load more masking for the red pinstripes and tail sections!

[kitsandbits]

Vampire Rises from… the corner of the bench

So whilst this isnt quite a ressurection of the undead from beyond the grave I thought it about time we did some more work to the Vampire build. I had a few issues with the fit of the intakes, this seems to be a common issue for me and I am starting to wonder if it's the way I am building the kits.

With the benefit of hindsight I don't think I would follow the construction order given in the instructions for this if I was to build these parts again I think I would either attach the intake to one half of a wing, attach this to the fuselage then complete with the other half of the wing, or attach the intake to the fuselage first, then put the wing in place before the glue between the wing halves cures just so I can move all the parts in relation to one another to try and get the best possible fit.

However it is what it is and I have a slight step and some gaps to deal with so I go with my tried and tested method of Mr Surfacer 1000 to address this issue. Here's some photo's waiting for the 2nd coat of Mr Surfacer to cure after the inital coat was sanded.

[kitsandbits]

Paint!

Time for another quick update on the Vampire, the main colour is going on nicely, for this I am using a mix of Vallejo Green Black with a couple of extra drops of black to darken a little more. Its going on quite nice so another light coat or two and I should be done and ready to paint the red pinstripes and the tail panels.

[kitsandbits]

Preshade

Well its time for another little update on the Vampire, with all the main airframe construction complete and the Mr Surfacer all cured and sanded it was time to move towards paint so the model was primed with the ever faithful Tamiya Fine, although I will be trialling a new primer on my next build.

Now being relatively new to this preshading malarky it was time for another first for me, a multi-coloured preshade. On this occasion as part of the wings and tailbooms along with the drop tanks are going to be getting painted a yellow colour I have preshaded these parts in Orange, we shall see how this works out shortly as thats her masked up ready for the first coats of Mr Color Chrome Yellow.

[kitsandbits]

This Build Is Booming! 

Quick update on the Vampire, wingtips and intakes have been attached to the main part of the construction and I have put together the tail boom sub assembly, now to fit them together!

[kitsandbits]

Winging It

It’s finally time to get back to sticking some plastic together! I’ve been working on the Vampire again and have managed to get the fuslage shut and the main parts of the wings together. This was fairly uneventful although I have been left with a small step at one of the wing roots which I am not sure how to address without losing some of the fine rivet engraving etc. I may just have to try and reinstate this after some remedial work is carried out. 

[kitsandbits]

More Etch

Work continues on the Vampire with more etch coming together for the tiny cockpit. heres the main instrument panel almost finished

[kitsandbits]

Vampire Etch

Whilst I am waiting on another coat of Mr Surfacer curing on the MiG-27 I thought I would crack on with the cockpit on the Vampire build. I am not expecting too many issues here as the kit is MPM plastic and the etch is MPM too, so here we are making a start.