Kit: No. 104
Scale: 1/72
Manufacturer: Czechmaster, available from Aviation Usk, Box 97, Usk, WA 99180, 509-445-1236
Price: $25
Comments: Cast resin, 25 parts (2 vacuum-formed canopies), decals.
While later variants of the Vampire have been produced in standard plastic kits, this is the only F.1 version available.
Czechmaster’s tan resin parts feature crisp recessed panel lines. The most striking aspect of the kit is that the upper fuselage, wings, tail booms, and tail plane are all in one warp-free resin casting. The lower fuselage half is separate and the detail parts are cast in a thin resin wafer.
The assembly instructions consist of just two exploded-view drawings, but these tell the story – there isn’t a lot of building necessary. Beautiful four-view drawings of each of the five markings choices on the decals round out the paperwork.
My sample’s castings suffered from small air bubbles. I filled them with gap-filling super glue and sanded them carefully. The landing-gear axles and the rudder pedals were so pockmarked that I substituted parts from my spares box. All locating holes for the landing gear, cannon muzzle, and shell-ejector openings had tiny resin spheres in them (caused by air bubbles in the rubber mold). I removed them carefully with a sharp No. 11 blade.
Cleaning the parts, painting the interior, and cleaning seams took six hours – not bad. You should plan to add weight around the nose-gear well; I didn’t and my model sits on its tail.
No guidance for interior colors is given. I painted mine with a couple of shades of black. You can’t see much inside, so the basic interior provided is fine.
Use sheet styrene to close off the opening behind the seat. Assembly requires super glue as plastic cements won’t bond resin. Make sure the cockpit floor upper surface is flush with the edge of the lower fuselage half. Clean out the air intakes without breaking the vanes, then glue them in place noting left and right sides. Early or late vacuum-formed canopies are excellent. My early one needed a little filler around the windscreen.
Check your references for correct paint colors as the ones given on some schemes are vague. The decal markings appear to be accurate, but mine were slightly off register so I had to closely trim the roundels and fin flashes. You get a choice of one Australian, one Swedish, and three RAF Vampires. The decals are thin and they like to fold upon themselves. You’ll have to cut a small section from the inside RAF fin flashes to obtain the correct size. I painted the struts and interior of the gear doors silver.
Once finished, the little Vampire scales accurately to the information in Philip Birtles’ De Havilland Vampire, Venom, and Sea Vixen. I spent 15 hours with this little gem. While simple for experienced builders, beginners will have difficulty with the small parts and troublesome decals. It’s a welcome addition to my collection of postwar RAF aircraft.
– Ross Whitaker