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Thanks, Keith! As a matter of fact, I had already found it and I'm currently reading it through Cheers Jaime

Thanks, I've bookmarked it for later consideration, when I start researching this aircraft in earnest. Cheers Jaime

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I didn't know there was a correction needed for the tail. I still haven't researched much about the kit or the aircraft. Who sells that correction set? Cheers Jaime

Bought today in a model shop near my workplace: Airfix 1/72 Vickers Valiant BK.Mk.1 The reviews are good. I also managed to find all Eduard PE sets and masks for this kit in a Polish online store (the larger interior set is no longer available in Eduard store). I'll report back when I receive them. I already have Airfix's new tool Victor. Now it would be nice if Airfix would produce a new tool Vulcan Cheers Jaime

Thanks a lot, Joe! Your kind words are always very much welcome Cheers Jaime

Ced, Steve, Thank you very much for your interest and kind words The micro saw comes in a set of PE saws by RB productions: http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=77_112&products_id=358 They're really good. I bought them on a recommendation by Ced Cheers Jaime

Hi Mark, Excellent work on display! I was quite interested in comparing this 1/48 kit to the 1/72 kit I'm building for this same GB. By the way, I'm building mine with flaps down. Pictures of parked Defiants with flaps down are rare but I managed to find one on the bottom of this page: https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/Modeling-References/Camoflage-Markings/08-Boulton-Paul-Defiant/Boulton-Paul-Defiant-8-13-960 Cheers Jaime

Hi again, This post should bring the thread up to date. The kit has no detail for the navigation lights on the tips of the wing. However, these are quite prominent features, as shown in the following picture: The inside seems to be silver or aluminium clad and the lights are green on the starboard tip and red on the port tip. To simulate these lights, I decided to use a technique I first used in my Bf 109 G10 build, a few years ago, which consists on using pieces of transparent sprue shaped appropriately. First step, was cutting off the tips of the wings, along the navigation light panel lines. This was accomplished with a nº 11 blade: IMAG5632 Next, pieces of sprue were roughly cut using a mini saw: IMAG5633 I happened to choose a thick piece of transparent sprue, so I carved away part of the transparent plastic with a nº 11 blade: IMAG5634 As shown in the following picture, the pieces were still a bit large compared to the plastic pieces that had been removed from the wing tips: IMAG5635 So, I reduced them further, sawing them to about half the size using a mini saw. The resulting pieces had now an appropriate dimension to fit on the wing tips and still have enough material to be safely filed and sanded to shape. But before that, it was necessary to simulate the navigation lamps. For that, I drilled small holes on the mating surfaces using a 0.5mm drill: IMAG5636 These holes were filled in with transparent red and transparent green, using a nº 0 detail brush: IMAG5637 Next, the mating surfaces were painted silver and the parts were allowed to dry: IMAG5638 I used slow CA to glue the parts in place: IMAG5641 IMAG5642 The parts were, then, filed and sanded to shape using, first, a small straight metal file and, then, sanding sticks of increasingly finer grain. Work proceeded slowly and carefully to ensure the proper shape was achieved. The following pictures show the results: IMAG5651 IMAG5652 IMAG5653 IMAG5654 The parts still had to be polished to become transparent. For this I used a set of micromesh pads of increasingly finer grain, and finished with a polishing fluid. Here's the end result: IMAG5655 IMAG5656 The wing can now be glued to the fuselage and the seams and joins can be taken care of. That's all for now. Thanks for looking. Jaime

This week, from my LMS: Eduard Mask Set CX026 for the Revell 1/72 Hurricane Mk II (This is for a Portuguese Air Force Hurricane I intend to build, possibly as an entry to the Brits Abroad GB. My LMS didn't manage to get me the corresponding PE fret 73218, so I'll have to order it directly from Eduard) Eduard PE set SS214 for the Tamiya 1/72 Spitfire Mk I (also for a Portuguese Air Force Spitfire, for the same GB) Eduard PE set SS213 for the Tamiya 1/72 Spitfire Mk V (this is for a North Africa Campaign Spit, which I may enter to the MTO II GB) I'm still considering if I'll participate or not in the Brits Abroad GB and MTO II GB. I haven't finished my entries to the RAF Anniversary GB yet. If I manage, it will be the Defiant. I'll decide then about the other GBs. Cheers Jaime

Hi again, Continuing with the updates. The transparent parts for the wing lights were bathed in Aqua Gloss, to improve brilliance and transparency and left to dry for a few days: IMAG5601 Then, they were painted silver in the back and interior green on the sides: IMAG5639 This was done so to simulate the real thing that can be seen in this photo: The transparent parts were glued in place. Fit is not too bad: IMAG5640 There are PE parts to install around the lights: IMAG5643 These PE parts were bent to shape and glued in place: IMAG5644 To be continued. Thanks for looking. Jaime

Hi again, A lot of the PE detail goes in the wheel wells, to improve their walls: IMAG5617 It should be noted that the instructions show PE parts 44 and 45 wrongly positioned. These parts should be glued with their tapering following the tapering of the well walls, so the narrower end goes near the gear leg and the holes on the parts go near the area where the wheel gets stored: Parts 54 and 55 are also shown upside down, as shown in this picture (look for the 4 screw heads on the bottom of the panel, just above the well door): Here are the front panels already glued in place: IMAG5618 The side panels: IMAG5620 Here's the tool I used to bend the curved parts. These parts were first roughly bent to shape and then glued by sections in order to get the final shape: IMAG5621 IMAG5623 The straight panels were are glued in place: IMAG5624 The mechanisms to be installed on these straight panels are made up of a PE part like this: IMAG5625 This part was bent to shape in two steps, as shown in the following two pictures: IMAG5626 IMAG5627 Finally, the parts were glued to the panels: IMAG5628 The work on the wells was concluded with the bits around the gear legs: IMAG5629 IMAG5630 The gear legs are not glued in place yet and still need to be cleaned from moulding marks and excess plastic from the sprue gates. I finished this phase of the build by carving away plastic from the wing edge were the step board recoiled: IMAG5631 The corresponding PE part will be painted on the fret and glued in place in the end. To be continued. Thanks for looking. Jaime

Hi again, The Eduard PE set for the Defiant comes with a fret full of exterior details (grids, wheel well and undercarriage detail and some other bits). Here it is, with some parts already off: IMAG5615 The missing parts were grids for the radiators: IMAG5602 IMAG5603 These parts with grids go inside the radiator housing (plastic part C1). The radiator flap in plastic should be replaced by PE parts 50 and 43: IMAG5604 First, I marked the cut lines with a nº 11 blade: IMAG5605 This area of the part was cut off with a mini-saw. The PE parts were also cut off the fret and bent to shape: IMAG5607 The parts of the inner mechanism of the gun turret were glued together and the corresponding PE detail for the gunner's seat was cut of the fret: IMAG5645 Result: IMGA5646 To be continued. Thanks for looking. Jaime

Hi again, It's time to bring this thread up to date, since I've been slowly progressing since the last post. With the wing parts glued together it was time to glue the fixed part of the flaps. Here is the wing just before gluing the flaps, while I was carving away plastic from the flap actuator markings on the undersurface. PE flap actuators will be installed later: IMAG5600 I spent some time thinking about the best way to glue the flaps. CA glue would harden too fast, allowing too little time for corrections. So, I decided to use 5 minute-Araldite: IMAG5608 Here are the instructions: it allows 5 minute working time, hardens in 20 minutes and reaches maximum strength after 2 hours of curing time: IMAG5616 Here are the fixed flap parts ready for glueing. IMAG5609 Before glueing the flap parts, I had to do some additional filing of the inner surface of the top wing parts, since after glueing the wing parts the flaps became again slightly proud of the wing undersurface. After glueing, this was the result: IMAG5611 IMAG5612 There are still a few gaps to fill in and the damaged ribs were later repaired. To be continued. Thanks for looking. Jaime

Hi greggles! Welcome back! It's great seeing this superb build being resurrected! Cheers Jaime

Following a recommendation by Tony ( @TheBaron ), I ordered the following and it arrived today: France 1940 : Defending the Republic, by Philip G. Nord Cheers Jaime