DH Venom, Vampire & Swallow

[JayBee]

For some reason I've a (possibly imaginary!) memory of one of the Australian after-market companies doing one?

Yes indeed, High Planes did as an addition to one of their earlier kits, the F4U-5N Corsair, which had the parts for an "Elephant ears Vampire" as an extra.
I used them to make my Vampire T-35C.
The thread is on the forum way back however the original photos are with Botophucket, but here are some to show you what I am talking about.

[TallEng]

The Highplanes conversion kit is what your looking for probably.
See here: https://www.hpmhobbies.com/high-planes-plus-dehavilland-dh-100-vampire-fb-31-conversion-1-72/
I'm assuming your working in 1/72?

Regards
Keith

[The Wooksta!]

You can get away with using a pair of Spitfire mk 9 intakes and grinding back the exhaust a bit.  A mate is bang into Aussie stuff and that's what he did.

[Knightflyer]

Thanks Gents for your help.

Wooksta - I did think they looked like something else - I shall have to see if anything in the spares box is good enough for Government work! 

[PR19_Kit]

Jim, that's one EVIL looking Vampire! 

Not to be met on a dark night, that's for sure!

[The Wooksta!]

Thanks Gents for your help.

Wooksta - I did think they looked like something else - I shall have to see if anything in the spares box is good enough for Government work! 

The large Aerovee intakes or the ones from underneath the Heller 16 are ideal.

[Mossie]

A simple conversion would to use the major parts from the Heller Mistral for the Nene and swap the intakes and main wheels from the Vampire.  Add the elephant ears as Lee mentioned.

[The Wooksta!]

That would be a bit easier.  And Mistrals aren't that difficult to find either.

I think there's two different placings.  Early ones had them underneath, the later ones had them on top - or is it early top, late bottom?  And I think there's a Sperry autopilot bulge ahead of the windscreen too.





I'm wrong, as going off those photos Griffon intakes look to be the correct shape.

Sperry autopilot blister



Possibly reshape the strike camera blister from the Beaufighter?

Useful list of serials for RAAF Vampires

Useful photos too
http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/DH-Vampire-A79-1

Oh, I was right about the intakes being underneath too:


You also need to fill the holes on the airbrakes on the Heller Mistral and replace the bang seat in it with something closer to a Vampire bucket seat.  A Spitfire one would suffice at a push.

ANd the RAAF had long and clipped wings too:


Steal the spares from the Special Hobby/Revell/Xtrakit vampire and do that as an FB5.

[The Wooksta!]

What I meant Lee was what do you plan on using to make the rest of the DH.116 ---  the wings look very similar to the outer wings of the Sea Vixen and the rear fuselage looks like an early Hunter, so along with the Sea Venom forward fuselage you've got most of it covered.  If I was to build one I think I'd use all the middle and rear fusealge of a Hunter T.7 and then modify it a bit.

IIRC, I looked at using some or all of a Matchbox Hunter fuselage and I have plenty of Frog/Novo Sea Vixen wings in the spares box. I did blow up the three view from the BSP Fighters book and played around with bits but didn't get much further than that - some of my projects are glacially slow and it's only four years since I had the idea for a Lancaster/Lincoln/Shackleton hybrid, the Avro Lanchester, that I've actually done any real work on it.

I'd recently remembered I'd considered this build.  I think I'd planned on using the Vampire T11 for the front as it matched the blown up drawings from the first BSP volume.  May start looking at it again when I get the decks cleared of other things.

However, I may start with the abortive Blackbear Hawker P.1067 fuselage (few gash ones as the mould never worked), said Vampire pod, plastic card for the intakes and wing roots and possibly a reshaped Ho 229 for the wing.  If that's done right with splices and wedges and that, it could well fit.  I'd have to think further as there's a few other options for the wing - a Matchbox Hunter one reshaped could work as the intake shape is similar and the plastic is thick enough to withstand some judicious sanding.  I was also reminded that I'd planned on doing a Hawker P.1030 Super Fury, and I do have all the bits sitting there to do it.  And I know that's an easier build.

[Mossie]

early top, late bottom? 

Yep. I'm sure I read somewhere that the lower intakes were adopted after it was found the upper ones could be occluded at certain angles of attack resulting in several accidents.  Can't find my reference though.

ANd the RAAF had long and clipped wings too:

The long wings were F.30's, the clipped FB.31's.  They also took some Goblin Avon FB.9's from the RAF for use in Malaysia.  Two aircraft were trialed with larger intakes and ejection seats similar to the Mistral. This would have been the FB.32, but it wasn't adopted.

[The Wooksta!]

Mistral in RAAF Markings with standard Vampire wheels (fill the airbrakes) and an MB mk 2 bang seat.  In service mk 32.  Simples.

[PR19_Kit]

Avons in a Vampire? 

I've never heard of that before, I bet they went like stink!

[Knightflyer]

They didn't have Avons did they? only various versions of Goblins ? Nene's in the Mark.II ?

[Mossie]

Whoops, been thinking too much about post war aircraft recently. Mind said Goblin, fingers said Avon! 

[Knightflyer]

Whoops, been thinking too much about post war aircraft recently. Mind said Goblin, fingers said Avon! 

There's a teas-made / make-up joke in there somewhere, but it's tenuous and I'd don't know how many would get the references