Overview
Although arriving too late to see service in WWII, the Vampire was the second jet aircraft, following the Meteor, to enter service with the RAF. In 1947 the Admiralty of the Royal Navy ordered the development of the Vampire for use by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). To meet this requirement the wings, air brake, and landing gear of the Vampire FB.Mk.5 underwent extensive modifications. Most notably, an arrestor hook situated in a fairing above the tail pipe when retracted, was added for carrier operations.
Initial trials of the new Sea Vampire F.20 were favorable however a more powerful Goblin engine was fitted due to complaints of sluggish take-off performance when launched without a catapult. The Sea Vampire remained in front-line service from 1948 to 1954 at which time it was relegated to training operations until its retirement in 1968.
Sources: Wikipedia and various internet sources, Warpaint Series No. 27 DeHavilland Vampire
Remarks
I have long admired DeHavillands' twin-boom beauty. In the mid 90s while volunteering at Seattle's Museum of Flight restoration center I had the opportunity to examine a Vampire airframe. I was surprised by the cramped cockpit that nonetheless afforded excellent visibility with the canopy closed. In addition, the extensive use of wood for most of the fuselage structure was surprising; a clear connection to one of it's predecessors the DeHavilland Mosquito. And, yes, I strapped in and made vroom-vroom and rata-tat-tat noises; who wouldn't.
Having built the old Heller/Airfix Vampire more years ago than I want to admit, I was quite jazzed about this new injection molded Vampire. This model has many nice features and the fit is excellent. However, there are issues that will have to be dealt with if you wish to produce an accurate Sea Vampire from this kit. Let's take a look.
The Kit
This kit is based on the FB.Mk.5 Vampire by Cyber-Hobby previously reviewed by our intrepid editor. The kit is molded in light gray styrene and features crisp, well-executed details that are flash-free and clearly the result of slide molding. The decals by Cartograph are nicely printed and in good register. Markings for three schemes are provided all with Sky colored lower surfaces and Dark Sea Gray uppers. The engraved panel lines are just about perfect for this scale.
The most striking feature is the upper and lower halves that comprise the fuselage-wing assembly; nice engineering here. The fit of these parts is excellent. However, there are numerous panel lines below the canopy and around the nose that are completely inaccurate due to the use of wood in this area on the actual aircraft. These will have to be filled in.
The nose wheel bay (that is entirely too shallow) fits into the lower half of the fuselage and over this the cockpit tub is installed. Here is where the discerning builder will be let down: the cockpit or what serves as such in this kit. The cockpit tub has a very nicely molded right console, however there is no left console and no instrument panel; not even a decal—nada, nothing. The control stick fits into a hole on the left side of the cockpit floor. What the heck? The instrument panel hood is best described as an angular protuberance completely inaccurate in shape that projects to high relative to the front windscreen framing. With the wealth of information and photos of Vampires so easily available to anyone who can work the google-machine, mistakes of this degree are truly astounding. I suspect aftermarket replacement parts will soon emerge to deal with the cockpit issues.
The canopy is provided as a two-piece affair so as to be posed open should you desire. The canopy parts are clear but thick causing a fair amount of distortion. Perhaps this is part of a master plan to deal with the ridiculous cockpit--just a thought. The rear portion of the canopy is slightly wider than the runners on which it is supposed to rest and will be a challenge to fix.
The dorsal section of the fuselage, complete with the arrestor hook fairing, is nicely molded and, as with most of this kit, fits very nicely. The tail booms and fairings that connect them into the trailing aspect of each wing are nicely detailed and fit well. The tail pipe provided isn't actually a tail pipe. I don't know what it is. You'd be better served by scratch building a replacement. The ventral portion of the fuselage is provided as a snugly fitting insert complete with the cartridge ejection chutes represented as raised details? Once again, I found myself wondering if the kit designers have ever been close to an actual Vampire; the kind without fangs.
The rest of the build seems straightforward with nicely detailed drop tanks, hard points, nose gear, and wheel wheels. Of note is the shape of the main wheel wells which appear to short in length and too small overall compared to the Heller kit and schematics in the Vampire Warpaint book. Unfortunately, the inner gear door and main gear are molded as one piece that looks rather clunky. A nice inclusion is a separate set of gear doors to be used should you want to build your Sea Vampire with the gear retracted.
The Fuselage Profile
The cockpit is fixable. The spurious panel lines on the nose are fillable. The shape of the nose however will also require some reworking to get an accurate outline. I borrowed the excellent 1/72 Vampire by Czech Master Resin from the extensive collection of our editor and along with my old Heller/Airfix Vampire made some comparisons to the Cyber Hobby offereing. When compared to photos of Vampires available online (hear that Cyber-Hobby) the rather blunt nose of the Vampy is captured nicely by both the Heller and CMR kits.
In contrast, the Cyber-Hobby Vampire has a nose that seems both too long and too pointy. Moreover, there appears to be a subtle ridge on the dorsal aspect of the Cyber-Hobby nose that confers an elliptical cross section rather than a more round shape as seen with the other two kits. In addition, the cockpit seems to be positioned too far back; perhaps due to the elongation of the nose. Most notably, the top of the fuselage is curved including the canopy rails while this area on the actual aircraft as well as the Heller and CMR kits is straight. So, if you opt to fill in those crazy panel lines on the nose, you may want to use the course sanding stick and do a little re-contouring as well.
Conclusion
Well there you have it; a real mixed bag this one. Finely detailed with excellent fitting, crisply molded parts combined with a fictitious cockpit and a misshapen nose. And, I still don't know what's going on with that tail pipe. If you really want a Sea Vampire and can look past the nose, go for it. The fit of this kit is nothing short of excellent and should fly together with a minimum of fuss. I suspect that most builders won't mind the slightly pointy nose with its aberrant panel lines. When built up this kit should look every bit a Sea Vampire.
If, however, you wish to build an accurately shaped Sea Vampire, you may want to ante-up for one of the beautiful, but pricey, resin Sea Vampires by CMR or commit yourself to some extra work to get the Cyber-Hobby Vampy up to snuff. I can recommended the Cyber-Hobby Vampires only if you know what you are getting and don't mind the extra work. My thanks to Dragon USA for the review sample.