jrlx Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 Dear All, This is my rendition of Airfix's 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant Mk I. The kit comes in an Airfix Dogfight Doubles boxing, which also includes the Dornier Do 17z. These two aircraft met over Britain in August 1940. The Defiant managed to shoot down the Dornier but was, in turn, itself shot down next by an escorting German fighter. This specific Defiant was based in Martlesham Heath, where BT Labs were later built. This is quite meaningful, personally, because I did my MSc. Project there in 1993-4 (on self-pulsating lasers for fibre optic communications systems, by the way). I started the build in the Summer of 2015, in the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain GB but didn't manage to finish it in time and shelved it in November of the same year. The build was resumed in June this year for the 100th Anniversary of the RAF GB. Again, I didn't finish it in time and only managed to conclude it last week. Some points of interest regarding the kit and build: The fit is generally good. The only problem were the joins between the wing and fuselage, including the wing roots I used Eduard's PE sets for detailing the interior, exterior and flaps (my first use of PE flaps). Eduard's masking set was also used. The kit is good in terms of detail out-of-the-box but the PE sets really improve it a lot The navigation lights on the tips of wings and on the spine were scratch built from transparent sprue. I used Alclad black primer on the external surfaces to provide pre-shading but it only worked well on the undersides. On the top sides it looked like the effect was killed by the dark camouflage colours, so I resorted to post-shading. I tried to not overdue the weathering, as period pictures show the aircraft in a relatively clean state: panel lines were enhanced with a dark wash a silver pencil was used to provide some chipping on the walk-way area of the wing and around the cockpit pigments were used to make exhaust stains and earth stains on the undercarriage area and elements "fresh engine oil" was applied around the carburetor The WIP is here. And these are the photos of the finished build: 1. General views IMAG5936 IMAG5937 IMAG5938 IMAG5939 IMAG5940 IMAG5941 IMAG5942 IMAG5943 IMAG5944 IMAG5945 IMAG5946 IMAG5947 IMAG5951 2. Details of wing and navigation lights IMAG5950 IMAG5955 IMAG5956 IMAG5960 3. Details of flaps and radiator IMAG5961 IMAG5962 IMAG5966 4. Details of cockpit, machine gun turret and exhausts IMAG5948 IMAG5964 IMAG5965 IMAG5957 IMAG5959 IMAG5958 5. Details of cockpit interior before closing the fuselage IMAG5565 IMAG5566 IMAG5568 6. Details of undercarriage and wheel wells IMAG5953 IMAG5954 To finish with, pictures of the real thing: I hope you like the build. All comments and criticisms are very welcome. Thanks for looking Jaime 47 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Very, very nice! I really like the restrained weathering and panel line detailing on this one- nice to see and very realistic! Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Dapple Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Lovely job Jaime, it was worth the wait Cheers, Stew 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viperchief Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Love it! Excellent build! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinnie Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Possibly one of the best Defiants I've seen here. Well done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSH Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 A really nice build and finish. Great work 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Another beautifully detailed model Jaime and a joy to behold! Very well done 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horatio Gruntfuttock Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 As a wElsh mate of mine would say, that is "blydu beeyootiful!!" Excellent modelling and painting and a credit to your skills and lord Airfix's engineering. I really like that one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Stuart Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 A beautiful build jrix, with great attention to detail Excellent 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce bay Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 That's a real beauty. I would have assumed it was 1/48 with all that detial. Really lovely colours too - my early RAF builds always look far too vibrant. You have nailed it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Excellent job, Jaime - a joy to behold! The PE details really set this off! Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinChipmunkfan Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 What a fantastic model, well done sir!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Sherratt Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Hello Jaime That looks excellent - nice work. I recently bought one of these to make, I plan on doing it in all over black. I'm sure it won't turn out this well! John S 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatFlyHalf Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Brilliant small-scale detailing. Well done, but.... I'm not sure, are the main roundels on the fuselage upside-down? I thought the straight edge cut -off went along the demarkation between upper and lower camouflage colours. I'm probably wrong, but thought I'd ask anyway. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted September 14, 2018 Author Share Posted September 14, 2018 Thank you all for your very kind comments! They're very much appreciated! 3 hours ago, bruce bay said: Really lovely colours too - my early RAF builds always look far too vibrant. You have nailed it I used Alclad Grey primer for the interior and black primer for the exterior, and the colours are Alclad metallics and Gunze acrylics. I used a combination of black primer as pre-shading and traditional post-shading to achieve the weathered colours effect. 1 hour ago, FatFlyHalf said: I'm not sure, are the main roundels on the fuselage upside-down? I thought the straight edge cut -off went along the demarkation between upper and lower camouflage colours. The fuselage roundels were applied according to instructions: IMAG5760 However, from the pictures of flying aircraft I posted above and from the scheme below, it seems they should be complete roundels: https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/Modeling-References/Camoflage-Markings/08-Boulton-Paul-Defiant/Boulton-Paul-Defiant-8-04-960 Too late to sort it out now, I'm afraid I overlooked this detail... Thanks for pointing it out, as it can be useful for future builds by other modellers Cheers Jaime 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Wonderfully well done Jaime, truly a triumph of modelling art. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire31 Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 One of the best looking Defiants in the scale I've seen! In fact, after the first couple of photos, I had to check that the scale really is 1:72nd… Kind regards, Joachim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted September 14, 2018 Author Share Posted September 14, 2018 Steve ( @stevehnz ), Joachim ( @Spitfire31 ), Thank you very much for your interest and kind words! Cheers Jaime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ c Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Superb Defiant, I had to look twice as I thought it was `48th at first 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted September 14, 2018 Author Share Posted September 14, 2018 3 hours ago, russ c said: Superb Defiant, I had to look twice as I thought it was `48th at first Thank you very much, Russ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbudde Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 That looks really great. Like it very much, especially the weathering job on that. Very realistic. Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairtrigger Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Superbly done. You have cracked the weathering spot on. Recently bought the same model and considering doing the night fighter version.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Well done on your Defiant 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dashellis Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Thats a fantastic finish, thought it was 1/48th at first. Nice back story too, I drive past Martlesham Heath everyday, some of the old buildings are still going strong, one of them is a solicitors and has some great photos of the airfields history on the walls, I was in there a couple of years ago, very nice model Darren 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcdonnell Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Hello,Jaime - Superb work as always,My Friend! All The Best,Paul.👏😉👍 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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