Frog 1/72 Vampire FB.5

Goblin 2 powered single-seat fighter-bomber with clipped wings; 1123 built, including 930 for the RAF. 94 ex-RAF FB.5s were transferred to the Armee de l'Air in 1949 for operational squadrons.[ VV465 was supplied to RAAF as A78-3 in May 1949 for familiarization. Many of these were later exported to various nations, though some countries did license production of this and the later FB.6, which was identical except for an upgraded engine.

The Frog Vampire was one of the first Vampire kits tooled for the general public in this scale. This is the initial release from 1971 when it and many others came in header bags. This kit was later released by Novo when Frog went out of business and later released by Baku Toy Factory and Modelhobby. Frog also released a Vampire Mk.II in their Penguin line before this, but it was a wooden kit. Since then, a variety of kit makers have released one, all of which have greater detail.

The kit is quite basic, but of a generally good shape. The cockpit is very Spartan, but since it is all to be painted matte black, any detail will be mostly invisible under the somewhat thick single piece canopy. The fuselage is split into right and left halves and the wings have large attachment slots. You will need weight in the nose and there is sufficient room for that. Getting those wings straight will require some fiddling around.

You are provided a pair of bombs with built in pylons for each wing. There are no gear wells and the landing gear is rather basic, but serviceable. Gear doors are very thick and you are provided some for the 'in flight' option. The trickiest part of any build of aircraft like this will be getting the tail booms properly aligned.  

Instructions are printed on the inside of the header card and provide generic painting information. Markings are supplied for two aircraft. One is a Swedish plane and the other is for an RAF version from 502 Squadron. I seriously doubt if the 55 year old decals are viable and frankly, there are enough aftermarket sheets out there to provide something a bit more interesting.

I built one of these back when dinosaurs ruled the earth. That one was a Novo boxing and was plagued with sink markings. I used SAM decals for the insignia and various other sources for the fin flashes and serials. Oddly it is the only 1/72 single seat Vampire I've built, but I see no reason to not build this one as it does make into a nice model. I also got it pretty cheap from a Facebook auction site. 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Vampire#Variants

August 2025

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