Airfix 1:48 Boulton Paul Defiant MkI

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

I'll be building Airfix' original Defiant MkI as PS@V of 264 Sqn RAF Martlesham Heath, June 1940. Here is a nice clear photo of the aircraft (image copyright Imperial War Museum):

 

 

A shot of the box:

 

 

I'll be completing this OOB, with the exception of Eduard harnesses and masks. Here's the sprues (part painted already!)

 

 

 

The cockpit builds up nicely - I did drill out the slot to accept the harness (just visible).

 

 

After drybrushing, chipping and an oil wash:

 

 

I used the kit decal for the IP over the moulded IP. Here it is after lots & lots of Microsol:

 

 

And after picking out the instruments with Micro Gloss:

 

 

I'm not displeased with that result - it looks okay at normal scale, at least! Here's the cockpit located in the fuselage with the turret deck fitted:

 

 

 

And finally, buttoned up - all located very nicely with no awkward fit:

 

 

That's the extent of progress for now - thanks for looking!

 

Roger

[Greg Law]

Very good cockpit work Roger

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Im planning in building the 1/72 kit soon. Think I will follow you and see what i can learn about the Defiant along the way. 

[Dunny]

Next I moved onto the wings, which are of a rather unconventional part breakdown. Here's the central lower wing with the undercarriage bays installed:

 

 

Next, the port upper wing with a rather neat wing strut 'box' which accurately locates into the lower central section:

 

 

Here with both upper wing sections installed onto the lower central section:

 

 

Finally with the lower outer wing sections in place:

 

 

Although it's unconventional it works very well. The assembly of the wings onto the fuselage left no gaps, and the fit between both assemblies was exceptional - well done Airfix!

 

 

Tail feathers and ailerons added - all with beautiful fit and no gaps:

 

 

The position of the turret dictates some component choices and positions. I've elected to display the turret in this configuration:

 

 

I therefore added the masked canopy sections and the upper engine cover, which again was a superb fit.

 

 

A quick squirt of the canopy components with interior green, and that's another update done. This really has been a straightforward, viceless build to date - long may it continue!

 

Thanks for looking, 

 

Roger

[Dunny]

I had a couple of spare hours, so thought I'd get on with the masking and pre-shading. I want to try weathering a little more on this kit, so in preparation I've sprayed areas around the wing root silver for later exposure:

 

 

Whilst I was looking at photo references I realised that there is a complete lack of rivet detail on the kit, despite many photos showing such detail, such as the below example of an aircaraft from the same squadron:

 

 

Given that Airfix have done such a great job of the engineering of the kit, including beautifully simulated fabric surfaces and fastener detail, I think it's a real shame they didn't incorporate what they have done on so many other kits. Or maybe I should just shut up and buy a riveting tool...

 

You can see from the next photo that I sprayed the underside Sky (also note the use of the 'closed' undercarriage doors as perfect masking fodder). I do not get on well with AK Interactive's Sky - I find it clogs easily in the airbrush and has a tendency to spatter. This happened on the starboard wing, so I've cleaned up locally in preparation for a re-spray. Happily I also picked on a fuselage seam which was still visible, so cleaned that up too.

 

 

 

That's all for now - thanks for looking!

 

Roger

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looking good so far, I will probably go for a similar pose on my canopy set-up. Though i don't think that one is open at the rear ? 

[Dunny]

14 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Looking good so far, I will probably go for a similar pose on my canopy set-up. Though i don't think that one is open at the rear ? 

Thanks @Corsairfoxfouruncle - not sure if the 1:72 kit has the 'open turret' option? This kit has the ability to show the turret 'clamshell' doors open...

[dogsbody]

42 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Thanks @Corsairfoxfouruncle - not sure if the 1:72 kit has the 'open turret' option? This kit has the ability to show the turret 'clamshell' doors open...

 

Yes, the 1/72 kit gives you that option, too.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Dunny]

7 hours ago, dogsbody said:

 

Yes, the 1/72 kit gives you that option, too.

 

Chris

Thanks for that Chris. Do you get the option to position the turret on the beam? All the options shown above appear to be aft-facing...

[stever219]

The turrets in both 1/72th and 1/48th Airfix Defiants can be positioned at any point in azimuth.  They are both tight fits into their locations so should not drop out should someone misguidedly pick up your models and turn them over: in fact the fits are sufficiently tight that any accumulation of paint on either turret ring and/or decking edge may prevent the turret from seating properly.  For gunner ingress/egress the turret was rotated so that the guns were at 90^o to starboard.

[Dunny]

49 minutes ago, stever219 said:

The turrets in both 1/72th and 1/48th Airfix Defiants can be positioned at any point in azimuth.  They are both tight fits into their locations so should not drop out should someone misguidedly pick up your models and turn them over: in fact the fits are sufficiently tight that any accumulation of paint on either turret ring and/or decking edge may prevent the turret from seating properly.  For gunner ingress/egress the turret was rotated so that the guns were at 90^o to starboard.

Steve - that sounds like the voice of bitter experience! I'm sufficiently tempted by the open turret to bodge up a gunner in his Rhino suit. Milliput anyone???

[stever219]

3 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Steve - that sounds like the voice of bitter experience! I'm sufficiently tempted by the open turret to bodge up a gunner in his Rhino suit. Milliput anyone???

Sadly Dunny it is.🥴🙄. I’ve had to resort to producing a “specialist tool” using a broad strip of medium wet n dry rolled into a tube to very tepidly ream out the hole for the turret: you’ve got to get rid of any mould seams and remnants of the bridging bars once the decking’s installed.

 

I’ve had similar ideas concerning a gunner for one of mine and Milliput appears to be the least-worst option.  One (or more) of the figures from the “Ready for Battle” set is probably going to be my starting point.

[Dunny]

4 minutes ago, stever219 said:

Sadly Dunny it is.🥴🙄. I’ve had to resort to producing a “specialist tool” using a broad strip of medium wet n dry rolled into a tube to very tepidly ream out the hole for the turret: you’ve got to get rid of any mould seams and remnants of the bridging bars once the decking’s installed.

 

I’ve had similar ideas concerning a gunner for one of mine and Milliput appears to be the least-worst option.  One (or more) of the figures from the “Ready for Battle” set is probably going to be my starting point.

I feel your pain - nobody enjoys a tepid ream 🤣

[stever219]

2 hours ago, Dunny said:

I feel your pain - nobody enjoys a tepid ream 🤣

Aaaaaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhh!  That should have been “trepid”, as opposed to intrepid!  But I do take your point, tepid reaming?  NO,🤣🤣🤪🤪🤪🤪😖😖😖

[Dunny]

12 hours ago, stever219 said:

Sadly Dunny it is.🥴🙄. I’ve had to resort to producing a “specialist tool” using a broad strip of medium wet n dry rolled into a tube to very tepidly ream out the hole for the turret: you’ve got to get rid of any mould seams and remnants of the bridging bars once the decking’s installed.

 

I’ve had similar ideas concerning a gunner for one of mine and Milliput appears to be the least-worst option.  One (or more) of the figures from the “Ready for Battle” set is probably going to be my starting point.

Steve,

 

I have the very same, and he looks perfect for the job (if a little oversize, as famously are the rest of the figures in the kit). This will be an enjoyable diversion at the end of the build!

 

 

[stever219]

That’s a lovely bit of figure painting you’re showing off there Dunny, I wish I could do half as well as that.  I’ll have to dig  one of my sets out to remind me which figure I’m going to inflict serious indignities on to produce that “all in one” suit.  Thanks for the warning about the figures being over-scale: I had contemplated positioning the gunner in his turret but bearing that in mind I think I might have him standing on the wing or waiting to climb up whilst his driver, airframe, straps in.

[Crimea River]

Good looking build so far Roger.

[Dunny]

20 hours ago, stever219 said:

That’s a lovely bit of figure painting you’re showing off there Dunny, I wish I could do half as well as that.  I’ll have to dig  one of my sets out to remind me which figure I’m going to inflict serious indignities on to produce that “all in one” suit.  Thanks for the warning about the figures being over-scale: I had contemplated positioning the gunner in his turret but bearing that in mind I think I might have him standing on the wing or waiting to climb up whilst his driver, airframe, straps in.

Thanks for the kind words Steve! Just to give an indication here's our friend next to an Airfix pilot from my recent Mustang IV build. It shows the marked difference between the two:

 

 

Being an inquisitive sort I then measured two of his more 'upright' colleagues, at roughly 38mm, representing 1.8m or 5'10" at full scale:

 

 

Although this is probably a little on the large side for the average 'erk', it's not beyond the realms of possibility, I therefore suspect that Airfix (and others) make their pilot figures under-scale, as they are a hard piece of plastic fitting into a confined space, as opposed to an articulated meat-sack! The short answer is that each will look fine of themselves, but do not mix & match!

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

Today's progress. Repaired the underside paintwork - nice!

 

 

I pencilled in the camo profiles in order to provide a guide for spraying the Dark Earth.

 

 

I then applied some liquid mask to the wing roots to cover the silver:

 

 

The underside was then masked in preparation for top camo colours:

 

 

AK Interactive Dark Earth applied. In a schoolboy error I reversed the DE application to the starboard wing. Luckily I realised so just sprayed the whole wing - no biggie! I then mixed in a couple of drops of Mid Stone to the DE in order to provide some shade variation.

 

 

Masking was then applied for the Dark Green. As the demarcation line between DE/DG was hard (see earlier aircraft photos), I elected to use paper masks on the wings, with Blutac wiggly worms for the fuselage. 

 

 

Dark Green applied - again, a couple of drops of Mid Stone were added to the DG to provide some modulation.

 

 

I then removed the masking after a suitable drying period. 

 

 

The usual minor repairs and touch-ups required, but no significant overspray issues...

 

 

Using a cocktail stick I carefully scratched away at the liquid mask to expose the silver beneath - quite happy for a first go!!

 

 

Next a gloss coat prior to decals:

 

 

And the aforementioned decals - all in register, and went down without any major issues with Microsol:

 

 

Another gloss coat, and then Flory wash on:

 

 

And off again - and that's magic!

 

 

Finally I applied a flat coat and removed the masking elements once it had dried:

 

 

 

Next I shall be turning my attention to the turret, but that's a job for another day! Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Wow ..Great looking paint. 👍🏻

[Dunny]

29 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Wow ..Great looking paint. 👍🏻

Thanks Dennis!

[DJJunis]

Dunny,

That is turning out very well indeed. Well done.

All the Best!

Don

[Dunny]

13 minutes ago, DJJunis said:

Dunny,

That is turning out very well indeed. Well done.

All the Best!

Don

Thanks Don!

[Dunny]

Hi all,

 

Now it's time to tackle the turret, which is a small kit in itself. First up I masked the glazing:

 

 

The assembly process was relatively straightforward, but needed lots of touch-ups along the way. I stole a couple of instrument decals from a recent build. Here they are flat coated and then picked out with Microscale Gloss:

 

 

Here's another view of the finished assembly with guns & glazing in place following drybrushing:

 

 

Next I airbrushed the exhaust staining with black first and then a lighter grey:

 

 

Final touch-up and fiddly bits - here you can see the wing lights with red & green detail picked out, which was then backed up with a cost of silver:

 

 

Finally I rigged the antenna wire using Uschi line:

 

 

Aaaand - I'm calling this one!

 

 

I will add more photos to RFI - thanks for looking!

 

Roger

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Very good work on the whole thing. ... Thanks for letting me tag along.