Defiant canopy question

[Jeff G]

I’ve looked around and haven’t seen much, does anyone know why some photos of Boulton Paul Defiants will have the area between the canopy and fuselage straight “up” while other times it will be at a 45 degree angle? Just curious as I’m not sure what orientation to use. I’m assuming it was just pilot preference but I’m sure there’s someone out there who knows! Thanks!

[MilneBay]

The top unglazed part, was able to be lowered inside the bottom section. This was to allow the turret to rotate as required. It's up to you how you want to position it. For convenience sake I placed the turret with the guns down and facing aft with the section raised. However in operation its position was linked to the turret rotation, as was the rear faired section, so those factors will define how you want to depict it. All the pics show these in various positions so its up to you.   

[Work In Progress]

For normal flying around, the fairings fore and aft of the turret are raised to reduce drag, and the guns aligned aft.

The forward and rear fairings are only lowered when there is some desire to move the turret, e.g. when the gunner is getting in or out, or as a precursor to using the guns.

[Space Ranger]

This explains how it works:

 

 

[Jeff G]

Many thanks all! Glad we have this community to learn from.