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Defiant--the return!


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Hello everyone--between holidays & business  trips, I have been WAY behind in keeping up with Britmodeller--but the Defiant is progressing.  1st, @Greg Law--absolutely spot on the recommendation with blue tac for the spinner nose cone--I used your method to paint the black band on the rear of the spinner--I didn't take a photo of that step, but trust me, I used it with great results.  I have also been following @giemme & @The Spadgent awesome builds with fascination--still look up to these masters 😎  Anyway on to my work over the last couple months on the Defiant.  

 

After the Tamiya metallic under coat dried, I used Kosher Salt to create the scuffing/chipping common to the crew areas on Defiants and the best photos I can find of PS-U (to my limited knowledge away).  I then used Tamiya's Panel Line Accent to highlight the panel lines.  I also found some great pics of PS-U linked below for those who will build it in the future.  I used them as resources for this build and will them use for weathering (apologize I was not able to get the pics to appear in the post--hopefully they work as hyperlinks to the images) 

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205212623?cat=photographs

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205212624?cat=photographs

 

 

Based on the linked pictures, Valiant Wing's books and the Airfix paint guides, I airbrushed Model Master Sky on on the underside, masked off the underside and airbrushed Model Master Dark Earth.  Tried to thin it out more than a spray can as I totally agree with at @RidgeRunner that the weakness in my builds is the thickness of the paint which prevents the lines from "popping" &/or creates a monotone color.  That said, I believe the thinned paint I used on the underside turned out a little better.  

 

I then masked with Top Notch's "Pattern B" came masks and silly putty based on references.  I know Top Notch was controversial in my F-105 build, but their Defiant masks did follow the references I had really well and at the very least provided a great point to deviate from.  After air brushing I applied a gloss coat and assembled the photo etch radiator tub and commenced decaling.  I really enjoyed using the 1/72 drawings in Valiant Wing's Defiant book.  Once decals were complete I spayed on 2 coats of Testers Gloss Coat to seal the decals.  While this was drying, I also took this opportunity to foil the oleos--I felt this was the best way to a realistic contrast between the painted aluminum on the real aircraft.  

 

Finally, I used childrens acrylic paints (black/brown and a mixture of both) mixed with a dab of dish soap and plenty of water to create my wash--I don't have the courage to use anything stronger for this step 🙂  I let this dry for about 1.5 hours and then gently rubbed off with a barley moist cloth.  I was really happy with the result--next step will be exhaust stains and an airbrush coat of flat.

 

Thank you all for your help and I apologize for being off the "net" for a while--Happy New Year & Happy New Year! Best, Erwin 

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Edited by VT Red Sox Fan
grammer
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Sorry I haven’t been keeping up with your wonderful defiant Erwin. I usually need BM to give me a poke on updates. Alas this baby has slipped the net. All caught up though. She’s looking great. 😀

The chipping looks good too. Did you use chipping fluid?  I don’t recall you mentioning. The was idea is really interesting. Was it easy to was off? As I’m sure you’re aware I use Flory and sometimes oil paint / Tamiya pin wash. But I have never used acrylics as a wash. They  seem to have worked well for you, I’ll endeavour to keep up from now on. 
ps. I know every one has a different way of modelling but I think you were right to cut the sprues/trees away when painting. When I see it painting on sprue it give me the heebies. 🤣
 

pps. Oooh I was going to mention how cool your PE looked on the wing. Do you have a bending set for PE? If not I highly recommend getting one. They make life soo much easier. It all about the tools. Ask @CedB 😉😇


Johnny

Edited by The Spadgent
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Thanks @giemme, @Greg Law@The Spadgent & everyone for following!   Greatly appreciate the feedback--& I apologize for giving folks the heebies--I promise from here on out I will remove spinners from the sprue and airbrush with blue tac affixed to a tooth pick 😎  I wish I could say I used something cool like chipping fluid to achieve the scuff marks on the wing-- all I used was watered down kosher salt to create the random effect.  In the future, I will "mask" off the area to be salted so surrounding areas do not get the salt effect--I found the salt solution was tough to control on a 1/72 scale aircraft.

 

 I used kid acrylic/water based craft paints for the wash--I got the idea from a Fine Scale Modeler article a while back--the key for me has been to mix the paints it with a little dish soap along with water to ensure the pigments get into the lines.  The best part is the acrylics  will not destroy the finish underneath to include white decals if you mess up--which certainly saved me once to twice on this build.  I think the 2 hard parts of this technique are 1) getting the viscosity the way you like it & 2) getting the cloth to wipe off the excess the correct dampness (leaning more to dry).  The tool I use for the photo etch is "The Bug" and a long straight edge--as pointed out its all about the gear!🤣😎

 

I also got the struts on, along with associated wheel bay & brake line photo etch on--thank you all for the awesome ideas on how to make me better--hope this is useful to others--best to all, Erwin

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Edited by VT Red Sox Fan
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  • 1 month later...

Hello everyone!  Finally getting round to posting the results of our Defiant build & I feel very happy with the results--particularly given the outstanding inputs provided by @The Spadgent, @giemme@Greg Law, @RidgeRunner , @f111guru, @fubar57, @dogsbody along with the pleasure of leveraging @Fatcawthorne, @Geoffrey Abreu, @jrlx, & @06/24 awesome Defiant builds.  I thank you all for teaching me something about the Defiant, RAF aircraft and our hobby—from aircraft radiator interior colors to airbrush techniques you guys have been there😎.  WW2 RAF aircraft in particular are out of my comfort zone for some reason, but I am beginning to enjoy building them more and more.  Next Everest will probably be the WW2 Luftwaffe and Imperial Japanese aviation. 

 

On this particular build, my biggest self-critique is ironically the culmination of what many of you have inspired me to do & what I most proud of from a building point of view—the dropped landing flaps.  I believe they came out well, even with unforgiving eye of the camera in 1/72 scale, but photographic evidence coupled with my own experience in aviation lends credence to the idea that these likely would not have been dropped when the aircraft's gear is down and crewed. I was also very happy with the salt masking to replicate wear on the crew’s boarding area, although I think a reasonable critique is that the “chips” are to large for 1/72 scale.  I am very happy with Eduards 1/72 photo etch set for Airfix’s Defiant—I think it may be out of production—maybe we can campaign for them to restart.  While the turret fit tight, I believe it looks perfect on the model.  Finally, Airfix should be commended for the overall excellent engineering on this subject--my biggest complaints are 1) the wing tip lights really should have been clear parts (an easy fix) & 2) the wheel wells should have better sidewall detail.  I hope you enjoy the pictures and your thoughts about areas to improve or strengths of my builds are always welcome!  Best, Erwin

 

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Turned out nice. In the past I used tempera paint as a panel wash and was pretty happy with the results. A few months ago I bought the Tamiya Panel Line  colours and, while a bit more effort is required, this is now my preferred method

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5 hours ago, giemme said:

Great job, Erwin! :clap:

 

Ciao

Thanks @giemme--your help leveraging your F-4C build with @Gene K during my F-4C/D build continues to be inspirational--your more shades of grades grey build is spectacular!  best, Erwin 

5 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Nice one!

 

 

 

Chris

Thanks Chris! Really appreciated

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4 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

Very nice, Erwin. It looks like you’ve got the hang of that airbrush ;)

 

Martin

 

 

Martin--many miles to go on learning my airbrushing to get close to you 🙂--really lucky to have builders like you take an interest in improving my skills--best, Erwin 

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3 hours ago, Greg Law said:

Excellent build. I'm sure you will be happy with it. You have a nice group of Battle of Britain planes there. Now it is time to do the Blenheim. 

Greg,  thank you so much--yes, there is a Blenheim on the shelf, but I have a lot of research to do before I start that build--any thoughts of where to go and build knowledge of the subject?  Best, Erwin 

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2 hours ago, fubar57 said:

Turned out nice. In the past I used tempera paint as a panel wash and was pretty happy with the results. A few months ago I bought the Tamiya Panel Line  colours and, while a bit more effort is required, this is now my preferred method

Fubar57 (love the name)--yes, I just started using the Tamiya Panel Line colors, but I haven't worked up your courage in leveraging this product for large areas yet--I am still staying in the safety zone of easily removable--that said, I do believe Tamiya provides a better result--I used Tamya's product on this cockpit and was very happy with it--thank you for all your advice--best, Erwin 

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If you do a future Blenheim build for the Battle  of  Britain  period you would be more correct to do the MKIV.  Everybody does the MKI  when it was the MKIV  that did most of the work raiding the channel ports where the barges were. Although the MKI was used  as a nightfigher during the Battle of Britain period. 

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1 hour ago, Greg Law said:

First of all you would be more correct to do the MKIV.  Everybody does the MKI  when it was the MKIV  that did most of the work raiding the channel ports where the barges were. Although the MKI was used  as a nightfigher during the Battle of Britain period. 

Greg, reference the MK vector, are you talking about a future Blenheim build?  Thanks for building my bench of knowledge--best, Erwin

41 minutes ago, ejboyd5 said:

Why criticize the choice of Mk. In a very fine build?

Thanks @ejboyd5, really appreciate the compliment--best, Erwin

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