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1/72 Defiant : Two ways


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When my son asked me to build him a Defiant (he lives on the site of the old Boulton Paul factory), I thought it would be a good opportunity to try out the latest 1/72 Airfix kit, along with some Eduard PE details, Quickboost resin exhausts and Master brass machine gun barrels. Here's the result:

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I enjoyed the build immensely, but it was 'full on' and left me with the problem of what to do with the original release Airfix Defiant kit that was now languishing unloved in my stash.

As an antedote to all the detailing, I decided to make it straight from the box, using just a sanding stick (well several actually ;)) and filler to get a result....

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One for my seven year old gradson I think :pilot: !

Cheers

Cliff

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Nice work. The new tool looks very neat and the gun barels set it off a treat. As for the original tooling...nice bit of nostalgia. Like the use of the original stand and the decal name plate. Does its turret turn though? Could never get mine to fit let alone turn :)

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Thank you folks for your kind comments. They are much appreciated :) .

One thing that I'm learning (following advice on BritModeller) is what a difference replacement gun barrels can make, even in 1/72 scale. Money well spent IMHO!

A lovely job on both aircraft Cliff. Great pics and terrific DG/DE finish, presume it was airbrushed (?). Curious which paints you used, and what you had for a camera setup.

Garethster, the DG/DE paints were Xtracrylix - airbrushed, as you say. I find that they always spray well (I thin them with Tamiya thinners), and they dry to a nice gloss finish which is immediately ready for decals. The night fighter was done using Tamiya NATO Black. Both models were finished with a top coat of Xtracrylix Flat Varnish. Camera wise, I use an old Panasonic Lumix digital 'Bridge Camera' (model DMC-FZ10). Normally I use its macro facility and just point and shoot, hand held. I am lazy though and often suffer from a lack of depth of field (I think the camera automatically goes to maximum aperture). Shutter speeds tends to be 1/20 - 1/50 second which seems to work OK hand held, thanks to the stabilisation software. One day, I'll dust off my tripod and try to use the camera's aperture priority mode - maybe ;) . The other important element is a portable home photo booth (like these). It makes such a difference.

Nice work. The new tool looks very neat and the gun barels set it off a treat. As for the original tooling...nice bit of nostalgia. Like the use of the original stand and the decal name plate. Does its turret turn though? Could never get mine to fit let alone turn :)

Tomoshenko, no the turret does not turn! It might possibly have done so when the mould were new, but on mine the turret ring was 'short shot' and the best I could do was to glue it all together and fill the gaps. Doing the two models together, it was also quite a revelation just how bad the nose shape was on the original tooling - I was aware that there was an issue, but still I was shocked! :D

Cheers

Cliff

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Two superb builds of this kit Cliff,colours of the first version look spot on I mix my own and never 100% happy with RAF schemes.the Extras

really add to the mix,Love'em!

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A beautiful build and finish and an interesting comparison. I suppose it's fair to say things have moved on in the intervening years since these two kits were produced. Actually, the old kit doesn't look too bad from the firewall aft. I seem to remember there was a resin nose replacement available from somewhere. I scrapped mine long ago but still have the turret in the spares box, just in case...

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Actually, the old kit doesn't look too bad from the firewall aft.

Apart from the tail!

Beautiful builds Cliff, the new kit is a real inspiration to get on with mine, although I doubt it'll look as good as that!

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Superb Defiant – at first glance I assumed it was the quarter scale job!

Interesting to see the old kit built up, too. The nose looks like it's housing a turboprop rather than an upright V-12. ;-)

Splendid modelling!

Kind regards,

Joachim

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Thanks again guys for all your comments and I'm pleased that a number of you are enjoying the old night fighter. I almost threw it away unbuilt!

Cheers

Cliff

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