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Or a teeny, tiny triangle! Less affectionately, this was known as the Black Widowmaker. Charming. It had a short life, crashing three weeks after its first flight. Fortunately, the test pilot "Ben" Gunn managed to eject safely first (in the process gaining the dubious honour of becoming the first person to successfully eject from a delta wing aircraft). That's him on the right. Looks pretty unflappable to me. He was a Spitfire and then a Tempest pilot during the war and shot down the last V1 of the war over the South Downs so I guess you could say it figures. Also - somewhat unusually for a test pilot from the 1950s - he lived to the ripe old age of 76. He wrote a memoir which I'm trying to track down. This is the Boulton-Paul P.120, the last aircraft that Boulton-Paul designed and built and an evolution of the outwardly very similar P.111 (the main change is in the tail). Both the P.120 and P.111 were testbeds, designed to evaluate different delta wing configurations at various speeds. The P.111 was very tricky to fly because of its power-operated controls gave the pilot little feedback. This was sort of resolved in the P.120, after the controls were spring-loaded - it was a bit more docile but retained some unpredictable handling quirks that could not be ironed out. In preparation for the 1952 Farnborough Airshow this was repainted from its natural metal finish to this sharkish black and yellow livery, though it crashed and was destroyed before the airshow took place. This is the 144th.co.uk kit and it's a little beauty. Resin and removing the parts from the casting blocks takes a bit of time and care, but the overall fit is really good and it's a pretty simple build. I am ashamed to say I started this way back in 2019, and it has sat dormant in its box over various house moves ever since. The reason was that the kit does not have a transparent canopy (but it does have a separate solid resin one) and I stubbornly wanted one... so I made a smash-moulded one which I fitted earlier this week after years of procrastination. I believe it was worth the effort and am frankly delighted with the results - now scratching my head wondering why I kept putting this back in the box again. After that it was a simple question of masking the canopy and painting the whole thing black. The decals are superb - really, really nice. I think they are printed by either Cartograf or Fantasy Printshop and are very sharp and vivid. I replaced the thick undercarriage doors with plasticard and added some aerials and pitots from scratch. But that's about it. A quick build that I just took an appallingly long time over. I've started the P.111a so that should join this in - oh - 3-5 years too. Finally with another, larger British triangle... Thanks very much for looking! Angus

Boulton Paul Defiant. This is the sole surviving Defiant at the RAF Museum in Hendon. Defiant I, N1671 (displayed as a night fighter). This was one of four Defiants delivered to No. 307 Polish Night Fighter Squadron at RAF Kirton in Lindsey, Lincolnshire, England on 17 September 1940. It was passed to No. 153 Squadron at the end of October 41 and 285 Sqn in 1942. In 1954, it was identified for storage as a historical aircraft and passed to the RAF Museum in 1971. The aircraft was moved on 20 May 2009 to Rochester Airport, where it was restored by the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society (MAPS), and subsequently returned to Hendon on 6 December 2012. Pics are mine, thanks go to the staff at Hendon for allowing access to photograph certain aspects. It should be noted that when these pictures were taken certain fairings had been removed for examination purposes.

The Merlin engined Boulton Paul Balliol was an advanced two seat trainer which entered service with the Royal Air Force in 1952. The Balliol was originally intended to be powered by a turboprop engine which is why the fuselage is so deep as the jet pipe would have been routed under the cockpit. The first prototypes were powered by a Mamba turboprop and were three seaters but Air Ministry policy changed and a more conventional powered two seater trainer was decided on. A total of 162 Balliol T.2s were built for the RAF which was quite a reduction in the original order for 400 as the Air Ministry had again changed their minds and were now favouring a jet powered advanced trainer. Turboprop engined Balliol protoype Meanwhile the Royal Navy were also interested in the Balliol and so a navalised version was built which became the Sea Balliol T. Mk 21. A total of 30 Sea Balliols were built and these first entered service in 1953. The Sea Balliol which I have modelled taking off from HMS Triumph A feature of the Balliol was that all of them had folding wings, even the RAF ones, which I suppose would have made packing lots of them into the hangars at RAF Cottesmore easier. RAF Balliols waiting to be scrapped. The RAF ones had larger wing roundels than the Navy ones for some strange reason. The height of the roll-bar support is very apparent now that the canopy has been removed. I have always had a fascination for the Balliol and was excited when Special Hobby announced a 1/72 injection moulded kit. They produced both versions and I decided on the Sea Balliol as I love aeroplanes that operate in sea environments. Also I had seen the only surviving example of a Sea Balliol at the RAF Museum at Cosford and was very impressed with it. The only surviving Sea Balliol. As with previous topics of mine I took a few photos during the construction a few years ago but the majority of photos will be of the completed model which is why it is posted here. The presentation for the RAF T. Mk 2 version The impressive box art on the kit that I built. Special Hobby have a superb artist in residence. Note the substantial tail wheel and arrestor hook fitted to the Sea Balliol. Must leave it here for now as must get ready as my wife is taking me out for a birthday meal. Back soon.

Boulton Paul P.111A VT935, Pic mine at The Midland Air Museum.

Don't smile, Trumpeter is to release a 1/48th Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.1 in 2016-2017 - ref.02899 Source: http://scalemodels.ru/modules/news/img_9587_1449141028_16.jpg.html V.P.

Special Hobby is to reissue its 1/72nd Boulton Paul Balliol kit - ref. SH72356 Source: http://www.specialhobby.net/2016/12/sh72356-b-balliol-172-boxart.html Reported with decals for demonstrator and two Sri Lanka AF a/c. Release in 2017. Box art Original release in 2012 & as - ref. SH72234 - Boulton Paul Balliol T.2 "RAF Trainer" - ref. SH72236 - Boulton Paul Sea Balliol T.21 FAA Trainer V.P.

Evening all, Having shared more than a few photographs on here over the past few months, I thought it was about time I shared a model! I've spent the last few weeks quietly working away on the new Airfix Defiant for my Battle of Britain project, finally adding the finishing to it this morning. A lovely little kit with no vices at all, the only additions being some Eduard seat belts and decals from the Xtradecal 2010 Battle of Britain anniversary sheet, which I found to be a little disappointing in their application; not particularly receptive to Microsol and prone to cracking rather than conforming, particularly along the fin leading edge. I also utilised Peewit's mask set for the heavily framed canopy and turret as life's just too short! Weathering was kept fairly light, with the cowling chipping applied in accordance to the Xtradecal's recommendations. A new technique to me, I applied some liquid mask with a sponge to the cowlings and walkway over Alclad aluminium prior to painting, and was pretty pleased with the effect after removal, despite the need for a little touching up by hand. All in all, an enjoyable, simple build to ease me back into the swing of things now the airshow season is done and dusted. Thanks for looking, comments welcomed as ever, Cheers, Shaun

Sea Balliol T21 WL732 former Royal Navy and A&AEE aircraft on display in Hangar 1 as part of the transport and training collection at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford. Pics thanks to Frank.