Pete's Vampire T11

[Waspie]

Nice find at a nice price. Last I saw a Vampire was Arbroath late 60's. Yours is looking good.

[Guest]

Pete,
Coming along very well indeed, nice to see the older UK jets getting into the act... And yes, I have some under my bench ready to be built, but let me get the big jobs out of the way first...
Mike.

[Lee Drennen]

Pete I’m in nice start I would like to build one of these some day

[Allen Dewire]

Mr. Late as usual here, Pete. A bit too small for my peepers, but you're doing a great job so far Sir!!! Don't know much about jet wing thingy's, but the idea of the crew sitting side by side is a good one to me. A lot easier to share a sandwich or a cuppa while underway. But hey, what do I know, I'm living in 1918 right now...

Prost
Allen

[adt70hk]

Looking very good indeed Pete!

[Mickc1440]

Nice work Pete, it's definitely cosy in that office

[stillp]

Some progress; Started assembly of the jet intakes.

The next stage is to add the one-piece upper wing, but I've just discovered the first serious problem with this kit - a large sink mark on each of the ailerons.

They've had a skin of Humbrol filler, which I'll try to sand tomorrow.
It's also very noticeable that my jar of Tamiya matt aluminium has gone grainy, so I'll be opening a new jar when I start the serious painting.

Pete

[stillp]

Sanded the first layer of filler:

Just a tiny bit more filler needed, so I added some Mr Dissolved Putty. Popped into a model shop that I know sells Mr Hobby paints, hoping to find some aqueous fluorescent orange, but that's been discontinued, so I had to settle for Mr Color. If I'm using that, I might as well use their aluminium as well. (Pleased to see they spell it properly!)
Pete

[stillp]

Filling done and sanded, and wing attached to fuselage - the trouble with a one piece upper wing is that there are so many places where the fit can be a bit less than desired. The intakes could really do with being a little further back, but I might be able to sand them back a bit when the cement has set hard. In the meantime they can have a night of bondage:

Pete

[stillp]

Made a bit more progress today. The tail boom assembly looked really scary

but actually went quite well.

Needed a smear of PPP along the wing roots, but that's done now, as well as adding the main gear doors.
Hopefully I should be able to put some primer on tomorrow.
Pete

[stillp]

Most of my builds seem to involve a drama at some stage, and this one is no exception.
I don't usually clean models before painting, or prime them, but as I'd sprayed most of the Vampire with a very old jar of Tamiya Flat Aluminium which seemed to have 'gone off', I thought I'd better do both. So, I cleaned of as much of the Tamiya paint as I could using cotton buds dipped in IPA, left it overnight to dry then gave the model a spray of white Stynylrez. However the Stynylrez crazed as it dried. I thought I could sand it smooth again, but in many places it's just flaking off as I try to sand it.

Has anyone else had this problem with Stynylrez?
Also does anyone know a good solvent for it - IPA doesn't touch it.
Pete

[Jim R]

That's a really nice kit Peter. I built it in 2019 as part of the Starter Kit GB, mind I paid a lot more than you did. Looks like it's going well apart from the Stynylrez issue. I use that primer and never had a problem. I hope you can sort it.

[Tim Marlow]

Bit of a shame Peter. This was looking good so I hope you can salvage it. If IPA isn’t working you could try methylated spirits or fairy power spray. Neither should attack the plastic. I’ve used FPS without issue to take off acrylics, but obviously test it first. If that doesn’t work you could try something like Vallejo airbrush cleaner.

Edited because it needs to say methylated spirits……mentholated will just make it smell nice LOL…..

[Allen Dewire]

Wow, that's a shame Pete. All your hard work to get her together and then this. I'm sure a man with your skills can sort it out and get a nice base coat on her and then bring her to the finish line!

Prost
Allen

[stillp]

This might be a write-off.:anguished:
Fairy Power spray has no effect at all. Meths had some effect but very slow and needed a lot of scrubbing. Vallejo airbrush cleaner seemed better but again needed scrubbing. Since that worked, how about another airbrush cleaner? Spraycraft worked instantly... buy attacked the plastic underneath! Leaving it to dry now, and I'll try to sand it later but if it's gone too far the kit'll go in the bin. Along with the Stynylrez. :angry:
Pete