Czech Master Resin 1/72
De Havilland Sea Vampire T.22
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History
In April of 1942, the Air Ministry ordered two prototype jet fighters
to Specification E.6/41 from DeHavilland's of Hatfield as the DH 100 "Spider
Crab". Geoffrey DeHavilland, Jr. made the type's first flight September
20, 1943. After development testing of the type, 120 planes, now called,
the Vampire, were ordered in May of 1944 with the first of these entering
service in March 1946. The Vampire was not a sparkling performer but it
was friendly, docile and adaptable to many roles: as a consequence it
sold well and served a long time.
In the late forties the RAF acquired the first two-seater Vampires
as T.11s. The Royal Navy were impressed with the T.11 and ordered 73 of
them with minor modifications as T.22 Sea Vampires. They were not carrier
capable. All the T.22s were delivered between 1952 and 1955. Initially
the Sea Vampires had the T.11's multi-framed canopy hood and no ejection
seats; later production T.22s incorporated a one piece hood and ejection
seats. Both modifications were retrofitted to the earlier planes. The
RN's T.22s served into the early sixties with a few lingering on until
about 1970.
Altogether, more than 4,580 Vampires of all marks were delivered. The
first becoming operational with the RAF in 1946 and the last being retired
from the Swiss Air Force in 1999. Not a bad life for a friendly, docile
fighter with modest performance.
The Kit
As usual with CMR, the kit is presented in a resealable plastic bag
containing:
54 parts cast in cream colored resin, Six landing gear parts cast in
an extra-strength white resin, Two vac formed canopies, A decal sheet
with markings for five different planes, Seven A-4 size sheets of instructions
and A computer-generated profile of one of the color schemes offered.
The engineering of this one is different! The lower fuselage-pod and
wings are cast in one, amazing piece, which includes the front and rear
cockpit bulkheads, cockpit floor and side walls, a well detailed electronics
bay in the nose and the nose wheel well. All of this plus a largish plug
of solid resin between the cockpit and the front spar should ensure the
finished model is not a tail-sitter.
The parting line for the opening nose is deeply recessed on the inside
of the upper fuselage casting so that it can easily be separated if you
wish to display the electronics bay open. CMR also provide the options
of flaps up or down and speed brakes open or closed as well as a pair
of optional 100 Imperial gallon underwing fuel tanks.
Even though CMR provide small spigots and sockets for the tail booms,
I would recommend largish metal pins to reinforce these joints. As usual,
the parts are all finely cast with sharp, crisp detail, really thin trailing
edges and finely engraved panel lines. Clean-up of the resin parts and
removal of the largish feed blocks will be a bit tedious but the resulting
model will be worth the effort.
The markings provide for three overall silver planes with day-glow
orange conspicuity markings; one from 727 Sqd. at Brawdy in 1963, one
from 750 Sqd. at Hal Far in 1965 and one from the Station Flight at Lossiemouth
in 1962 as well as a Blue over White "Admiral's Barge" from the Station
Flight at Yeovilton in 1967 and another "Admiral's Barge" in Emerald Green
over White from Lee-On-Solent in 1963. The multitude of small stencilled
notes found all over Vampires are included on the crisply printed, perfiectly
registered decal sheet.
As a parting shot, I just had to get out the very old Heller kit of
the FB.5 Vampire for comparison with CMR's new issue. I don't recall exactly
when the Heller kit first appeared but it must have been about 30 years
ago. Despite its age it is a very nice kit. Its negatives are: raised
panel lines, very little cockpit detail and no nose wheel well detail.
It is quite buildable and will produce a fine result. It will, however
be difficult to weight the nose adequately to prevent tail-sitting.
Conclusion
This is a very well done kit of an interesting and slightly off-beat
subject. I recommend it without reservation.
I understand that CMR are planning a whole series of Vampires. I hope
they will include the DH 108 Swallow; it's such a neat, clean little airplane.
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