Defiant 1/48 Plans

[Olmec Head]

I am looking to build the Airfix 1/48 Defiant and I was wondering if anyone could point me at some plans for the panels and rivet pattern.  I do not want to go overboard as I am still nervous about rivetting and scribing, but the kit does seem a little bare particularly on the fuselage.

 

Any help or pointers would be much appreciated.

[Troy Smith]

10 minutes ago, Olmec Head said:

I am looking to build the Airfix 1/48 Defiant and I was wondering if anyone could point me at some plans for the panels and rivet pattern.  I do not want to go overboard as I am still nervous about rivetting and scribing, but the kit does seem a little bare particularly on the fuselage.

 

Any help or pointers would be much appreciated.

Scale Models had Defiant plans in 1979 or early 80.  These are likely online.   

This one, June 1980

 

 

A search for Boulton Paul Defiant plans turned up this

 

http://soyuyo.main.jp/defiant/defiante-1.html

http://soyuyo.main.jp/defiant/defiantside.gif

 

"Panel and rivet lines, number of fasteners on the fuselage side, upper wing and upper stab were almost defined from walkaround photos. On the other hand, underside was invisible."

 

@AndyL maybe able to add more.

 

HTH

[Olmec Head]

3 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

Scale Models had Defiant plans in 1979 or early 80.  These are likely online.   

This one, June 1980

 

 

A search for Boulton Paul Defiant plans turned up this

 

http://soyuyo.main.jp/defiant/defiante-1.html

http://soyuyo.main.jp/defiant/defiantside.gif

 

"Panel and rivet lines, number of fasteners on the fuselage side, upper wing and upper stab were almost defined from walkaround photos. On the other hand, underside was invisible."

 

@AndyL maybe able to add more.

 

HTH

Thanks very much Troy, the Soyuyo plans are ideal, I forgot about that website, I usually only associate him with Spitfires.  Having looked at their detail and thinking about my rivetting skills, the phrase: 'careful for what you wish for' springs to mind.

[Troy Smith]

4 minutes ago, Olmec Head said:

Having looked at their detail and thinking about my rivetting skills, the phrase: 'careful for what you wish for' springs to mind.

the Defiant was flush riveted... so go easy with the riveter....  Note how they only show up in the light on the roundel

 

 

from

 

HTH

 

 

 

 

[Olmec Head]

17 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

the Defiant was flush riveted... so go easy with the riveter....  Note how they only show up in the light on the roundel

 

 

from

 

HTH

 

 

 

 

The Defiant that used to be at Hendon Air Museum is the one that I am building, but in its original TLS markings when first taken on by 307 Squadron in September 1940.  Hopefully it will go with my just finished Hurricane P2617 AF-M of 607 Squadron that I did dating from the same timescale.  Hence all my previous questions around P2617.  Hopefully the Defiant won't have as many guesstimates as the Hurricane (prop type, aerial), the only issue may be the contemporary photo showing a 307 Sqn Defiant with elongated sqn codes, which the Hendon Defiant recreated.  

[fishplanebeer]

The book by Richard Franks, "The B.P. Defiant - A Technical Guide" has 48th scale plans and is still available on Amazon.

 

HTH.

 

Regards

Colin.

[fishplanebeer]

Just to add that the book is well worth investing in at around £15 as it contains period pics, schematic diagrams and lots of photos of the Hendon example  as well as the 48th scale plans plus a 72nd scale plan confirming the location of the stencils.

 

Regards

Colin.

[Troy Smith]

59 minutes ago, fishplanebeer said:

plan confirming the location of the stencils.

see pages 18-19 here

https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/Camouflage-Markings/Boulton-Paul-Defiant

 

which is free... 

 

1 hour ago, fishplanebeer said:

The book by Richard Franks, "The B.P. Defiant - A Technical Guide"

Some of his books maybe excellent,  I can categorically say his Hurricane books are not, and I have seen reviews/comments  of other titles that are less than positive,(Boomerang, early Mustangs, Mosquito) by people who do know the subject,   so I am wary of the authors other work without a review I trust. 

Which is a vicious circle, as unless the reviewer is knowledgeable enough then the high production standard of graphics and printing tend to make you think that the content will be of a similar standard..

but if a subject I know about, in this case the Hurricane,  is so full of howlers, mistakes, omissions and some absolute fantasy in places,  as to be useless unless you already know enough to know subject, that it just makes you cross seeing such cobblers,  so that is a lot of cash  for "a pretty book" with the odd nice photo....    

I'd be interested to know @AndyL  opinion on the above book, as he has been researching the  Defiant for quite some time.

       

[fishplanebeer]

Rather harsh to dismiss this book without having viewed it.

 

The plans are by Caruana, it has a plethora of pics, both period and of the Hendon example, plus many/most of the diagrams and schematics are taken from the actual Defiant manual itself so should be accurate.

 

Regards

Colin.

[Peter Roberts]

2 hours ago, fishplanebeer said:

Rather harsh to dismiss this book without having viewed it.

 

The plans are by Caruana, it has a plethora of pics, both period and of the Hendon example, plus many/most of the diagrams and schematics are taken from the actual Defiant manual itself so should be accurate.

 

Regards

Colin.

 

Not sure Troy has dismissed it, but rather has raised concerns about it based on the authors previous works and his own observations/subsequent reviews. The camouflage and markings book Troy refers to is very good IMHO.

Edited July 3, 2022 by Peter Roberts

[brewerjerry]

Hi

    The only one i bought was the first edition of the whirlwind book

 

  sadly quite a few errors, captions, history statements etc

 

     which i hope they corrected for the 2nd edition

 

  thus i haven't bought any others 

 

  now the old ducimus C&M books i like and those ' vets ' i spoke to who read them agreed with what was written in them 

 

   cheers

      jerry 

 

 

    

   

Edited July 3, 2022 by brewerjerry

[Olmec Head]

I was looking at silver for the undercarriage doors, but this photo suggests that the inside were Sky:

 

Its not 100% clear, but the inner and outer doors seem very similar.  I am presuming the wheel wells, hubs and legs are silver as in the kit instructions (with the exception of the black struts).  

[AndyL]

I’d say from a modellers point of view, the Franks Defiant, A Technical Guide is good. Decent plans in 1/48 and an awful lot from the AP Manuals too. Minor errors when writing up the history of the type but it’s ok.

[fishplanebeer]

I'm not in the process of, or considering, building a Defiant but picked up the book very cheaply to add to my library as us modellers tend to do. I just suggested it as it had the 48th scale plans that were being sought plus it has lots of period pics and pics of the Hendon example plus extracts from the aircraft manual so thought it was worth mentioning in an effort to try and help.

 

I appreciate that this author has a reputation for getting details wrong or completely missed as I also have his books on the Lancaster, Typhoon, Tempest and Griffon Spitfires which bear testimony to this but they are still very helpful as long as you cross reference with another source. This is something I tend to do when referring/using any book that I have including Shacklady, so 'never trust a profile without a photo' could also read 'never trust any reference/book without corroboration'

 

Regards

Colin.

[fishplanebeer]

This probably explains why my library is continually expanding and why I have multiple books on many aircraft and theatres of operations, but even so I still use this forum to double, double check and also consult DUCIMUS for anything RAF related.

 

I very muck look forward to seeing the Defiant in due course even if I model in 72nd scale.

 

Kind Regards

Colin.

[AndyL]

On 7/3/2022 at 12:11 PM, Olmec Head said:

I was looking at silver for the undercarriage doors, but this photo suggests that the inside were Sky:

 

Its not 100% clear, but the inner and outer doors seem very similar.  I am presuming the wheel wells, hubs and legs are silver as in the kit instructions (with the exception of the black struts).  

Door inners, legs, wheels, and the undercarriage bays should be in silver/aluminium. If depicting a machine post 11th August 1940, it should have roundels on the undersides of the wings. The above crop is from the series of images held by the IWM and were taken at Kirton in Lindsey on 6th August 1940. When I pull my finger out and get back to modelling, there are several unknown Battle of Britain Defiants that I plan to build, both from 141 and 264 Squadrons.

[Olmec Head]

7 hours ago, AndyL said:

Door inners, legs, wheels, and the undercarriage bays should be in silver/aluminium. If depicting a machine post 11th August 1940, it should have roundels on the undersides of the wings. The above crop is from the series of images held by the IWM and were taken at Kirton in Lindsey on 6th August 1940. When I pull my finger out and get back to modelling, there are several unknown Battle of Britain Defiants that I plan to build, both from 141 and 264 Squadrons.

Thanks Andy, that sounds like a plan!