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Airfix 1:72 New Tool Boulton Paul Defiant *Completed*


FZ6

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I have never built a Boulton Paul Defiant but have wanted to for years. I never fancied the original tooling and never got round to getting an MPM one. When Airfix announced their new Defiant last year I was excited to hear this and when I saw one in Antics on Monday I snapped it up and the parts didn't stay on the sprues long after I took the photos shown in this thread. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234974956-airfix-boulton-paul-defiant-sprue-shots/

First job is the interior. It is really well detailed for what you can see through the small opening but I feel there is scope for detail to be added. I plan to keep it as it is and just make up some seat belts or add the pilots.

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Airfix 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant by Marks CVS, on Flickr

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Airfix 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant by Marks CVS, on Flickr

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Airfix 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant by Marks CVS, on Flickr

I then assembled the wings. The wheel well is nicely detailed although I bet there is scope for some detail to be added.

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Airfix 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant by Marks CVS, on Flickr

The only thing I don't like about this kit so far is the trailing edges. I think they are a little on the thick side. This would be tricky to sort out. I've never had much success at sanding the inner faces of the wing to thin the plastic down. Also the ailerons moulded solid to the lower wing so thinning them would mean losing detail. I'll live with it I think.

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Airfix 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant by Marks CVS, on Flickr

The three photos below show the different configurations you can choose to display the canopy and turret fairings.

Canopy closed, Fairings raised.

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Airfix 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant by Marks CVS, on Flickr

Canopy closed, Fairings lowered.

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Airfix 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant by Marks CVS, on Flickr

Canopy Canopy Open,

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Airfix 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant by Marks CVS, on Flickr

Some of you may notice the turret loses a gun barrel between shots. They are very fragile and need handling with care. Fortunately I had already decided to replace them with Master gun barrels. Just two mins with a pin vice and a 0.5mm drill bit and the new barrels are a perfect drop fit and are a massive improvement over the kit ones.

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Airfix 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant by Marks CVS, on Flickr

Here is a shot of the kit dry fitted together. I would say the fit is close to perfect on this one so far.

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Airfix 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant by Marks CVS, on Flickr

I also thought I'd share a diorama base idea I have. When I was in B&Q the other day I noticed they had some very cheap pine corner shelves and I thought they were perfect for displaying 1:72 WWII fighter aircraft and from first impressions it looks like it might work.

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Airfix 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant by Marks CVS, on Flickr

Next up painting the interior.

Regarding colour schemes I'm spoilt for choice. I have the two nice kit schemes along with the Xtradecal sheet on order. I think I am going to go with a night fighter. I remember seeing a classic airframes Defiant built in a night fighter scheme that was so battered a lot of the original dark green/dark earth was showing through. Not sure if that one was artistic license or if they did get that bad....

Edited by FZ6
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Bloody fantastic on all fronts so far FZ. I did the same and brought replacement gun barrels and might do some scratch building in the turret to make the guns seem fuller. It looks like it fits great and all the options for the canopy and rear decking are a fantastic step forward with Airfix. What a gem.

I ordered the starter set and will be sticking with kit decals for YD-B; as it's gunner was a Kiwi and the plane is covered in Ospreys Defiant, Blenheim & Havoc aces of WWII.

I expect to fee a few WIPs pop up for the Defiant as it's been long awaited.

Edited by Tempestwulf
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Nice work FZ6. The metal barrels look good and enhance what looks like a splendid kit.

How on earth can Airfix be out-of-stock of the standard kit already ????

I though the Defiant wasnt a popular subject ?

Maybe they thought so to. ;-)

(Edited to get names right.)

Edited by Beard
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How on earth can Airfix be out-of-stock of the standard kit already ????

I though the Defiant wasnt a popular subject ?

From my earliest modeling days, I always thought the Defiant was one of the coolest a/c out there, what with its sleek lines and that wicked-looking 4-gun turret. And I'm an American, for pity's sake! Of course it's popular. It's just the that the original Airfix kit put a lot of people off. Can't wait to get my hands on at least two of them... :lol:

Edited by Byron Boyd
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Cracking out the popcorn with this one! Good luck with it :)

How's the glazing? Any sign of the infamous flaws?

I'm sure it wasn't that long ago that Airfix moulded the wing halves of their 1:72nd fighters unequally, such that all of the trailing edge sections (ailerons, flaps etc) were either on the top or bottom half of the wing and so could be moudled nice and thin. I wonder why they stopped?

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How on earth can Airfix be out-of-stock of the standard kit already ????

I though the Defiant wasnt a popular subject ?

Easy, they way underestimated demand. The owner of my LMS said that all he has been doing since he received his large delivery is wrapping up and posting Airfix Defiant kits, and has had to get a second order in already! Clearly the Defiant is a popular subject.

Martin

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I suspect that the reason for not moulding the flying controls in one piece is because of constraints on the production of thick parts without sinkage. However, it is a different design team then and now: it would be interesting to know their reasons.

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I suspect that the reason for not moulding the flying controls in one piece is because of constraints on the production of thick parts without sinkage. However, it is a different design team then and now: it would be interesting to know their reasons.

Also, they seem to be using a somewhat more brittle plastic which fractures easily, especially on smaller, more delicate parts. Many (including myself) have experienced this phenomena. I shudder to think that this should happen on a (scale) razor-thin trailing edge!

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Hang on - I thought Airfix were being criticised for their softer plastic? Brittle failure is a new comment to me. I haven't had it happen, admittedly on a smaller number of the new kits than some.

The softer plastic also tends to be brittle - it's a very strange plastic. This, combined with the somewhat heavy sprue gates generally seen in the current generation of new-tools has made removal of some of the smaller parts more than slightly dicey. There are no lack of builds that mention of how easy is is to break the the control sticks on the A6M2s for example, and I believe the same comment has been made vis-a-vis the P-40. The antennae and horizontal stabilizer braces on the Bf 109E have also been identified as difficult to detach. At least one modeler has indicated his opine that it is virtually impossible to detach the braces intact. On mine, I took a brand-new #11 blade and carefully whittled down the sprue gates until I was able to successfully detach them. I cleaned them up with the greatest care, and was just starting to pat myself on the back before one of them snapped in two while I was attaching it to the fuselage. It is soft to cut, but it will break instead of bend every time.

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Thanks for the comments guys. The standard Defiant boxing may be out of stock on the Airfix website and Hannants but both have the dogfight double and the gift set available. I wonder if the Gift set will be in Aldi at Christmas this year?

My guess is that Airfix may have sold out the ones allocated for website sale but I wonder if they have more in their main warehouse?

I find the plastic Airfix use is soft but it doesn't have a lot of give and I have damaged a few fine parts trying to remove them from the sprue. Having said that I dropped the fuselage part for my Gloster Gladiator WITH the cabane struts attached and I managed to stand on it but the struts bent back ok! I use one of those JLC fine razor saws to remove parts from the sprue. I have found I end up doing a lot less damage to the parts and therefore less clean up as there is less damage to the parts due to the large attachment points. I would go as far as saying that the JLC razor saw is probably one of the best items I have in my tool box and wouldn't be without it!

Well the Xtradecal sheet came today and I'm spoilt for choice on Defiant colour schemes now. I'm definitely going to do a night fighter with this one but there is also markings for N1527 "KO I" of II (AC) squadron used for Army Co-Operation trials based at RAF Hatfield South Yorkshire. I'd like to do this one as it is fairly local so that's another Defiant definitely to purchase! Interestingly there is a modeller note next to this aircraft stating that T4052 had the later six stack exhausts! There is no other reference to T4052 on the sheet. My guess is that it was intended to be on the sheet but removed at some point.

Google tells me that T4052 was coded "ZJ H"

I'm trying to keep the momentum going on this build. The interior is primed and the model is due to get a coat of HU 78 and black for the turret.

How's the glazing? Any sign of the infamous flaws?

The glazing appears to be spot on as far as I can see on my example. There is a very fine one on the turret but I only spotted that because I was looking for mould flaws. I don't think this one would bother me enough to ask for a replacement.

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Still plenty available on Ebay.co.uk at reasonable prices, I assume lol

I've been impressed with how clear and shiny the clear parts have been on airfix kits and haven't had to Future coat them as I would normally do in the past.

Why is the Defiant so popular? It's ungainly, it's trying to be a Hurricane, it's trying to be a bomber with it's turret and it just has that mistique that grabs your heart strings.

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This kit is well overdue, I built the original many years ago and it was....well, it was old Airfix!

Shame about the trailing edges and control surfaces, I'd sand the upper wing down to get the sharp edge and re-scribe the panels if needed - they tend to be way too overdone anyway and could use being reduced. Looking forward to seeing this come together!

Ian

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FZ6 wrote

I use one of those JLC fine razor saws to remove parts from the sprue. I have found I end up doing a lot less damage to the parts and therefore less clean up as there is less damage to the parts due to the large attachment points. I would go as far as saying that the JLC razor saw is probably one of the best items I have in my tool box and wouldn't be without it!

I couldn't agree more! Since I got the JLC razor saw, I have never used a knife or scalpel to remove parts from the sprue. Couldn't do without it!

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I couldn't agree more! Since I got the JLC razor saw, I have never used a knife or scalpel to remove parts from the sprue. Couldn't do without it!

I agree with that It's one of the few tools I can't really do without. I think I'll pick up a spare from Little Cars at Huddersfield next month.

Here's some more progress.

Last night I masked up the canopy as it;s a job I hate. Some of the framing is not as defined as it could be and I struggled to figure out where the framing started and the windows ended in some cases but managed it in the end. The curved section on the turret fairing behind the pilot on the port side is particularly soft and tricky to mask off. Don't know if this shows in the pictures.

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Airfix 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant by Marks CVS, on Flickr

There are some useful pics of the canopy on this site.

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/1997/08/stuff_eng_detail_defiant.htm

I forgot to add this part to the rear turret. When I first saw it along with all the canopies I wondered if a Target Tug was on the cards but it turns out that that it is the gunners footrest. You either use this part or the gunner.

16403950726_0b5091ab5e_b.jpg

Airfix 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant by Marks CVS, on Flickr

The interior has had a coat of HU78 I'm old school and still using enamels so need to wait for it to dry before I give it a wash and detail painting can start.

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Airfix 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant by Marks CVS, on Flickr

Also I just noticed the back of the radiator has been marked up so you know which is which when removed from the sprue. Nice touch!

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Airfix 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant by Marks CVS, on Flickr

Edited by FZ6
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