De Havilland
Vampire T.22 / 35 / 55
Australia, Japan, Iraq

Classic Airframes

Reviewed by Brett Green

Classic Airframes' 1/48 scale Vampire Trainer  may be ordered online from Squadron

Classic Airframes has expanded its Vampire family to include the two-seater trainer.

Kit number 494 contains parts to build a Vampire T.22 / 35 / 55 in the markings of the Royal Australian Air Force, The Royal Australian Navy, Japan and Iraq.

Classic Airframes' Vampire trainer comprises only 45 parts in short-run injection moulded plastic, one part in clear, plus 26 grey resin pieces. The plastic is shiny and smooth, with finely recessed panel lines. The fuselage is split into port and starboard halves, with the nose supplied as two separate halves. This will permit the subtly different nose of the Vampire night fighter to be depicted in a later release.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The tail section is also new, as the fin on these trainers was a different shape to the single-seat fighters.

The canopy is provided as a single part in injection moulded clear plastic. You'll need to do some careful cutting if you want to display the canopy open, but the good news is that the plastic is very clear and free of distortion.

The resin parts are beautifully detailed. Seats are cast with harnesses in place, and the instrument panel (with integrated coaming) is very impressive indeed. The cockpit sidewalls are also noteworthy, as they have cabling detail, throttles and even the trim wheel cast onto the parts! The intakes are the same as the improved version supplied in the FB.5 "Foreign Versions" kit. The wheels on Vampires differed between variants. Those supplied were usually seen on Australian Vampires.

Some of the parts, including the mail cockpit floor, the seats and the instrument panel, are cast onto stout blocks so a combination of a good razor saw and caution will be required when preparing these resin components.

Four interesting marking options are supplied - two Australian, one Japanese and one camouflaged Iraqi machine. The decals are thin and perfectly in register. The marking guide is on black and white, but a colour version is available on the Classic Airframes website. I have also included the colour guide in thumbnail format below.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

 

 

Classic Airframes' Vampire trainer will need a little more cleanup and preparation of parts than a long-run kit from Tamiya or Hasegawa. Also, the lack of locating pins will call for extra care and dry-fitting. In other words, modelling skills are required, but anyone who has already built a Classic Airframes kit should not have any trouble coming up with a good result straight from the box.

Having already built a single seat Vampire from Classic Airframes, I can advise that there will be some work required thinning the inside of the wings to make room for the resin wheel wells, and that reinforcement of the tail booms is advisable (but not mandatory). With its large hollow nose, at least it will be easy to add plenty of nose weight to the two-seaters!

Vampire trainers served widely and wore an interesting selection of colours and markings, so Classic Airframes' kit will be warmly welcomed by a big cross-section of modellers. The kit is fairly simple, with a small number of parts but a very high level of detail.

Highly Recommended to experienced modellers.
 

Warpaint Series No. 27, de Havilland Vampire, by W. A. Harrison, published by Hall Park Book LTD.

* http://www.groundhog.org/

Thanks to Classic Airframes for the review sample.

Classic Airframes kits are available worldwide through hobby retailers and from Squadron.com

Review and Images Copyright © 2005 by Brett Green
Page Created 24 August, 2005
Last updated 24 August, 2005

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