264 Sqn Defiant

[amblypygid]

For me, there's something quintessentially British about the Boulton-Paul Defiant. A misconceived oddball that nevertheless went on to find roles that the designer would never have dreamed of. Crews that, despite being outmatched, kept on fighting. I think of it as the fighter equivalent of the Fairey Battle, and I've always had a soft spot for it. So, of all the possible candidates, it seemed a good fit for this GB.

 

I had a four month hiatus from modelling from November last year. I think that helped me consider my approach: it had been all about the detail before, PE, resin. But I'd neglected some basic skills. I finally located my airbrush as well, something I'd never learned to use. So the focus now is on getting good results from plastic. This won't be my first airbrushed kit; that "honour" goes to a Spitfire PRXVII. But it will be my first attempt at camo with an airbrush. And it won't be wholly devoid of aftermarket, as I'm going to try the Eduard steelbelts (I cordially detest PE seatbelts so that could go out the window!)

 

Here's the obligatory uncut sprues:

 

The kit has two very similar marking options: PS-V of 264 Squadron in July 1940, or KO-I of 2 Squadron in September 1940. I prefer PS-V as it has a slight tie-in to my preference to build aircraft that served in bases local to me (in this case, Duxford, where 264 spent some time in 1940, though in July they were at Martlesham Heath). At the time, the squadron was resting and training after its efforts over Dunkirk, and the various photos that I can find show little fading and only some exhaust staining, so I'm not going to weather it too much.

 

 

 

Cheers,
Chris

[Grandboof]

Nice to see this one being done Good luck 

Martin H

[amblypygid]

Thanks, Martin. First impressions of the plastic are that it's a nice moulding, but I'll have a look around for reports of any likely hitches. 

 

The IWM has a good in flight picture of PS-V:

AIRCRAFT OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE, 1939-1945:BOULTON PAUL P.82 DEFIANT.. © IWM (CH 884)IWM Non Commercial Licence

 

[stever219]

It's a nice kit: I currently have two on the go.  My biggest gripe is the thickness of aileron and mainplane trailing edges, particularly the former as the rib detail on them is quite subtlle and the rudder and elevator trailing edges are commendably fine.  The other main one is the "soft" pilot's canopy framing; that on the turret seems a little sharper.

 

You may well want to scribe on some panel lines that Airfix missed, even though they're shown on the painting and stencil placement drawings(!), drill out the ends of the gun barrels and install seat straps (using the method of your choice; mine are cheap nasty masking tape).  Guess how I discovered that the radiator flap is very susceptible to being inadvertently removed during handling: it might be wiser to leave it off 'til late in the build.

 

One of mine will be in the 2 Squadron markings as 2 Squadron RFC, as they then were, flew to France from Swingate Down aerodrome, just outside Dover and not very far from where I lived, in 1915 (IIRC) as part of the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force.

Edited May 25, 2017 by stever219
Missed a bit

[TonyTiger66]

I'll be watching this with interest Chris.

I bought it last year, I had been dithering over 'Airfix or MPM'. 

 

I didn't start it as I couldn't find some Polish squadron transfers I wanted.

 

I love the Defiant; your opening description just about sums up exactly how I feel about it; the crews were nearly in as much of a pickle as those in the Fairey Battles !

 

They were exceedingly brave. Regardless of anything else, it's a beautiful aircraft and quintessentially British.

 

Good to hear you've found the airbrush; you're setting your bar high; mine is much lower; I'm going to do an all black nightfighter !

 

Looking forward to this Chris, I'll be watching and learning  .

 

All best regards

TonyT

[amblypygid]

11 hours ago, stever219 said:

It's a nice kit: I currently have two on the go.  My biggest gripe is the thickness of aileron and mainplane trailing edges, particularly the former as the rib detail on them is quite subtlle and the rudder and elevator trailing edges are commendably fine.  The other main one is the "soft" pilot's canopy framing; that on the turret seems a little sharper.

 

You may well want to scribe on some panel lines that Airfix missed, even though they're shown on the painting and stencil placement drawings(!), drill out the ends of the gun barrels and install seat straps (using the method of your choice; mine are cheap nasty masking tape).  Guess how I discovered that the radiator flap is very susceptible to being inadvertently removed during handling: it might be wiser to leave it off 'til late in the build.

 

One of mine will be in the 2 Squadron markings as 2 Squadron RFC, as they then were, flew to France from Swingate Down aerodrome, just outside Dover and not very far from where I lived, in 1915 (IIRC) as part of the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force.

 

Handy tips, thanks! Now, scribing, there's a world I have yet to explore, not even as far as getting a scribing tool. Gun barrel drilling is more likely, and I've hopefully got the straps covered by some Eduard new-fangled steelbelts.

Whereabouts near Dover, if you don't mind me asking? I grew up near Canterbury, and as a child the Chain Home towers at Swingate always filled me with excitement - they were the final landmark before arriving either at Dover Castle or at the ferry terminal.

 

4 hours ago, TonyTiger66 said:

Good to hear you've found the airbrush; you're setting your bar high; mine is much lower; I'm going to do an all black nightfighter

 

But all black finishes are a pain, surely? Hard to shade, hard to highlight, hard to weather...

[stever219]

1 minute ago, amblypygid said:

 

Handy tips, thanks! Now, scribing, there's a world I have yet to explore, not even as far as getting a scribing tool. Gun barrel drilling is more likely, and I've hopefully got the straps covered by some Eduard new-fangled steelbelts.

Whereabouts near Dover, if you don't mind me asking? I grew up near Canterbury, and as a child the Chain Home towers at Swingate always filled me with excitement - they were the final landmark before arriving either at Dover Castle or at the ferry terminal.

 

 

I've only just, after over 50 years plastic-bashing, started scribing panel lines.  For my first attempts I used four layers of very thick masking tape (each layer already too thick for model painting) to provide a straight edge and a sewing needle held in a pin vice as the weapon.  This initially proved acceptable but after only a few passes the edge degraded to the point where it was no longer guiding the point of the needle.  I've bought some Dymo tape for the next try.

 

i lived at St Margaret's at Cliffe, then moved into Dover itself when I started work.  The towers were very much part of my daily life, visible either from the bus to and from school or my bike up and down the A2 Jubilee Way when I started work and they're still amongst my favourite landmarks.  The plaque marking the site of Swingate Down was still beside Upper Road from St Margaret's to Dover behind the cliffs the last time I checked but that was several years ago.

[amblypygid]

Work started in the conventional manner. The pilot's seat assembly goes together easily, and there's good detail there and on the sidewalls. First coats of interior green brush painted on (Colourcoats enamel, which is new to me, and looks like it will need two coats to cover well. These are the same colour, honest. I'm no photography expert but I guess the bare grey plastic in the second photo alters the colour balance.

 

 

[TonyTiger66]

2 hours ago, amblypygid said:

But all black finishes are a pain, surely? Hard to shade, hard to highlight, hard to weather...

 

I hadn't thought of that Chris  .

 

True.

 

Forty shades of?

 

Black.

 

I may need to rethink this.

 

Good start on the interior. I'm hearing very good things about this Colourcoats paint.

 

Best regards 

 

TonyT

[stever219]

Isn't it amazing how the colour of your interior parts differs in those two photos?  I've just had a quick trawl for some Defiant images and even on black aeroplanes there's a lot of variation even in black and white photos.

 

"Night" wasn't a true black; there was some very dark blue in it, so that could be a starting point for you.  There also seems to be quite a bit of variation in sheen with some parts of the aeroplanes being quite matt but others exhibiting a more satin sheen.  

 

RDM2A Special Night may well have been applied to many Defiants and quite probably at Squadron level.  This was a very matt anti-searchlight finish with a rough surface finish.  Even applied according to the manufacturer's instructions in a factory it exhibited less than optimal adhesive qualities and, once an aeroplane was in service, required constant touching up.  Trials showed that it could come off in large areas and that under operational conditions it also "chalked" badly.

 

As you might expect wing root areas and fuselage sides below cockpit and turret exhibit quite a bit of wear and, quite probably, grot from boots and overalls so some staining in these areas will help to break up your blackness, as will some judiciously-applied exhaust staining in various shades of brown and grey.  Sadly there are no colour images that I can find of an operational Defiant so we're on our own as to exactly which shade of grot was used.  ("Fifty shades of Grot"?  Find an FS/RAL/BS/Tamiya/Gunze match for that!)

 

The exhausts themselves offer another opportunity: originally in a light steel colour they discolour with use.  I've recently seen Hurricane R4118 and the front stub has gone a dark metallic chocolate colour but the other two each side are more of a pale metallic straw colour.  Whatever you do avoid the old favourites of "rust" and "brick red".  "Bronze" has its uses though: I've mixed some dark blue in with it to try to simulate heat staining on Beaufighter collector rings.

 

I've experimented with a very heavily thinned coat of Humbrol 33 matt black applied over Humbrol 69 panzer grey which gives an off-black finish.  Varying the amount of black over the grey breaks up the final finish a bit: on a Lancaster, for example, I've laid the black on thicker on the undersides where it would be less likely to fade due to the action of sunlight on the pigments.

 

i hope that this has helped and that I've not been trying to teach you to suck eggs but, like you, I've nothing but admiration for the men who flew and flew in these aeroplanes and helped to stem the westward march of the Third Reich, and doing something to perpetuate their memory is worth doing.

Edited May 26, 2017 by stever219

[amblypygid]

I've only ever painted one "night" scheme (a shelf of doom Halibag), but I felt that a bit of chipping and some staining with grey pastels goes a long way to breaking up a monotone finish. I'll need to practice; I have a few Bomber Command subjects in the stash and a 100 Group decal set that I want to get through.

[amblypygid]

4 hours ago, stever219 said:

The exhausts themselves offer another opportunity: originally in a light steel colour they discolour with use.  I've recently seen Hurricane R4118 and the front stub has gone a dark metallic chocolate colour but the other two each side are more of a pale metallic straw colour.  Whatever you do avoid the old favourites of "rust" and "brick red".  "Bronze" has its uses though: I've mixed some dark blue in with it to try to simulate heat staining on Beaufighter collector rings.

 

100% agree, Steve. I think in the past I've mixed a little bronze in with some Vallejo Smoke to try to get that heat discolouration, but I'm not convinced it was that successful. Very light/thin coats of some of the jet exhaust colours might be an option, too.

[amblypygid]

OK, a little more progress made last night, though priority is being given to completing other models. I thought I'd play around with a bit of cockpit griming & chipping, safe in the knowledge that it'll all be invisible once closed up:

 

 

 

The grot is Ammo/MiG's streaking grime, which I laid on a bit thick, but it gives a quite pleasing granular effect that I can't capture on the camera.

[Col.]

Nice start in the 'pit.

Having seen the Airfix box-art for the new issue with night-fighter decal options I'm tempted to buy it for that alone 

[amblypygid]

Thanks, Col. I thought I'd always do a NF Defiant but I'm not sure it merits the space for two 1/48 models, so I'm more likely to do that in 1/72. I can say that this is thus far proving to be a very well engineered kit. I've run into a problem with the fit of the wing roots which is down to my having put in the engine firewall a little too low, so there's been plenty of plastic being thinned as I try to improve the fit. The only other issue I've seen that I can't trace back to my building is the wing tips, which are both ever so slightly out in the horizontal plane. That might require some work when it comes to adding the ailerons.

 

What else? Ah, the Eduard seatbelts. I find them infinitely easier to handle than the older PE efforts as they are far less springy. They don't fit well on this kit as the construction leaves no space behind the seat, but I've got them in with a slight wiggle. It would have been far easier to have bent them to fit before the 'pit went into the fuselage; silly mistake.

The IP decal is excellent, btw. Fit and settled down very well over the relief of the part, with the limited visibility it looks good. Apologies for the poor picture quality; I have real difficulties with getting light as the nice people that built this cottage 400 years ago didn't believe in big windows, so it's usually too dark or too bright for photographing models.

 

 

Back to work today, after a two week break. Yay.

[amblypygid]

One step further last night: wings finished and attached. The wells are quite nicely detailed; I'm not one to pick up my model and inspect the wheel wells too often, so I just gave them a wash with some Lifecolor oil and then picked out some raised detail. Couldn't find any photos of the real thing to folow, though!

 

 

You can perhaps make out another seam with a poor fit, but it will be covered by the under nose oil cooler so I'm not too concerned. There's also a distinct gap between the wing halves that shows up in the landing light recesses, so they got a good slosh of putty. Airfix would have one paint the light bays in aluminium but the Swedes (http://www.ipmsstockholm.se/home/boulton-paul-defiant-in-detail/) have theirs in interior green, and I think I'll go with the green.

 

The sanding and paring got a pretty decent fit in the end, just a smidgeon of filler needed that is barely visible in this photo (and this was the poorly fitting side)

 

 

 

I also realised that I'd misaligned the fuselage halves such that there was a slight step towards the rear, but that sanded out very easily. Next step is I think to assemble the tail and the various underside accoutrements before the turret goes together.

 

 

Cheers,

Chris

 

 

[amblypygid]

This really is a virtually flawless kit (thus far, fingers crossed...), at least in respect of engineering. I can't comment on accuracy, the best I can do is say that it looks like a Defiant.

 

With the fuselage complete, I continue to follow the Airfix sequence and find that it's time to build the turret. For something that is going to be painted black and then buried inside the fuselage, Airfix put a lot of effort into this. Again, fit is immaculate and (without meaning to), the guns are positionable. This is the "below decks" part, hard to make much out but anyone peering into the finished turret with a flashlight will see some black pedals and black flasks.

 

The turret is a pretty tight fit into the fuselage, it took some effort but it pops into place and rotates easily. The rear deck is another tight fit, and it looks to me as though it will be hard to remove the turret once the deck is in place, so the turret will need to be masked off before priming/camo. The kit comes with open and closed options for both canopy and turret, which makes life rather easier.

 

 

 

 

And talking of masking, some time spent last night, but I must have got confused and started cutting with a duller blade on the turret, so that'll need to be redone (that's the more complex glazing as well, d'oh!)

 

 

Rapidly approaching primer, I think.

[Col.]

Tidy work on the turret assembly there. Perhaps a good dry-brushing with progressively lighter coats of progressively lighter greys could help bring some of that otherwise hidden detail to light? If it's not too late and everything is closed up that is.

[amblypygid]

No, not too late. Some of that detail is visible in normal light but you're right, it might benefit from some assistance. Everything is masked up right now, waiting for the heat and humidity to ameliorate before I start spraying camo.

[amblypygid]

No pictures yet, but some basic paint is on. First was some Lifecolor Dark Earth, but I didn't much like it; quite possibly I overthinned it as it was very watery but it seemed to be clogging the airbrush as sometimes I could only get the paint to flow for an instant as I opened or closed the trigger. So I changed to Vallejo Air, which I find easier to work with, and it went on very nicely indeed, I think. I resorted to brush painting the undersides with Humbrol 90, since just about everything I have read warns against trying to airbrush Humbrol acrylics. Normally, I love 90; it goes down thin and smooth even straight from the pot, as long as it's not cold. Not this time; after two coats the coverage is still poor. I wonder whether that's an effect of the primer (I normally paint onto the plastic as I've never found a primer that I can brush paint effectively). And, since I discovered that my stock of dark green is low (my wife thinks this is hilarious given the number of shades of dark green that I have), I thought I'd give Vallejo's Sky shade a go at the same time. Both should be arriving tomorrow, so soon I'll be giving white-tac masking a go for the first time.

[amblypygid]

OK, first weekend modelling job was to lay down some Sky. Vallejo Sky is somewhat cloudier than Humbrol Sky:

 

 

Other than the distinctive tidemarks on the starboard wing (left side in the photo, of course), the camera washes out the difference, but it's far more perceptible IRL, so it'll get another coat once we've been to the school summer fete.

[amblypygid]

Ah, cripes. I just laid down Sky coat #2, put it down to rest, and there was a rattling sound. Can't see anything obvious missing, but neither is it keen to drop out of the fuselage, whatever it is.

[TonyTiger66]

The sky looks good Chris  

 

I can vouch for Humbrol acrylics being tricky to airbrush. I've written (actual letter) to them requesting advice. I also enclosed two 'plastic pots', that although sealed and new, when opened were dried up .

 

I'll let you know if they write back with any hints on thinning etc.

 

Sorry to hear about the rattling. Fingers crossed it's something minor .

 

Best regards 

TonyT

[amblypygid]

Thanks, Tony. I only have four pots of Humbrol, and the only one I can recall using is 90. My paints are dominated by Vallejo, largely because I'm a clumsy oaf and I hate waste, so I appreciate their dropper bottles  

 

Second coat much improved, I think, though the finish is a bit rough.

 

 

And the rattling turns out to be the "prop shaft", which I had carelessly left after checking the fit of the prop assembly. Extracted now!

 

[TonyTiger66]

That's a really nice shade Chris, gone on a lot more nicely than many paints I've tried.

 

I just got my second bottle of Vallejo. I've read that they're good for brush painting too.

 

The best one I've used (apart from Tamiya) for airbrushing is Agama. Obscure, I know, but a finish like the one you've got there, and a very wide colour range. I'm only a year into airbrushing, so not very good, but knowledge of 'kind' paints is very helpful at this stage  

 

Note to self; try more Vallejo .

 

Glad it was the prop shaft and not something like the seat.

 

Best regards

TonyT