453rd BG Museum Build - USAAF Boulton Paul Defiant TT Mk I (from the Airfix 1/48 Mk I) - FINISHED

[Fritag]

Ok so.  I’m back from Newfoundland.  Which is a stunning place to visit, so I’ll show you some piccies:

 

Looking down into St John’s Harbour from Signal Hill.  St John’s is a great little city.  Been there a couple of times.

 

We were there just after the Titan submersible’s surface vessel, the Polar Prince arrived back.

 

 

Near Trinity.  About 3 hours by car from St John’s.  Next door in Canadian terms….

 

 

Icebergs at Twillingate.  3.5 hours from Trinity.

 

 

Tablelands - in the Gros Morne National Park.  5 hours from Twillingate.

 

 

And Western Brook Pond - also in the Gros Morne National Park:

 

 

And I saw some of these parked at Gander.  I haven’t set eyes on an A10 for donkeys’ years.  Came over all nostalgic…

 

 

Anyways.

 

I’d better post something  actually relevant to the subject matter of this thread or I might get in trouble…

 

Been back nearly a week now and in between trying to catch up with real work I’ve been aiming to get the Defiant ready for painting:

 

Lined the wingtip nav lights and wing landing light locations with 0.2mm plastic card, to cover wing join, and added a few details to the landing light  cut-out just cos it’s 1/48 scale and looked a bit empty otherwise.

 

 

Added coloured bulbs to the kit wingtip nav lights in the usual way - by drilling and adding a blob of paint.  The. painted the backs interior green.

 

 

 

Landing lights and covers added and all the lights sanded and polished to a smooth  fit.  I might dull the light covers down a bit with a 2000 grit sanding sponge, as the glass on the full size articles usually  gets a bit opaque over time.   I’ll see how they look after painting the beast.

 

 

 

Moveable flying surfaces added and slightly displaced for a bit of visual  interest (reference photos checked first).

 

 

 

Windscreen glued, using the printed cockpit mask as a Jig.  Windscreen was a good fit.

 

 

Squirt of interior green over the windscreen - before priming.

 

 

I’ve subsequently wicked a tiny fillet of UV cured resin around the base of the windscreen just to make what was already a neat join that bit more ‘seamless’.

 

What else?

 

Oh yes - drew and printed a canopy buck from which to vac form the target operator’s cockpit canopy.  Simple shape, quickly done.

 

 

And finally got round to drawing and printing the target swivel pulley.  The plans and photographs I have are not definitive of the details and so this is my best interpretation.  

 

 

 

And tacked in place underneath the Defiant.  Will run a fillet of UV resin around it to eliminate any small gaps.

 

Oh, and if you look closely you can see that I’ve riveted the fuselage n’all.

 

 

 

 

And there we are.  Practically ready for priming and painting.

 

Now I need to catch up on the various builds I’ve been following on BM.  I’m a couple of weeks behind…

 

 

Edited July 13 by Fritag
Typo

[keefr22]

32 minutes ago, Fritag said:

Icebergs at Twillingate:

 

They look cool (soz, )

 

I feel like I know Newfoundland really well, as the missus' all time favourite telly programme is 'Hudson & Rex' about a St.Johns detective and his German Shepherd 'partner'. She's (& by default so have I ! ) watched each episode at least twice! Stunning looking place as evidenced by your pics Steve!

 

Like that Warthog too!

 

And also very much like the updates to the Defiant which is coming along exceedingly well....!!

 

Keith

[hendie]

48 minutes ago, Fritag said:

Icebergs at Twillingate:

 

Sounds like posh drinks at a fancy restaurant. 

 

Great photos Steve. Envious? Me? Of course not.

 

For the 10 minutes you've been back you appear to have managed a decent amount of Defiance. Glad to see it's all up to the usual standard.

How long to the next trip? Or shouldn't I ask ?

 

 

[RichieW]

Wow, Newfoundland looks stunning. It features quite heavily in a project I have at the research stage. Nice to see some photos of it.

 

Wow again, this time to the Defiant. That pulley is staggering, so much detail in so small a part. Your rivet detail is beautifully subtle too. Are you teasing us about the colouring in happening soon? 😇

 

I've been using UV resin recently. The one I have is very thick and doesn't exactly wick into small gaps. Do you heat yours to make it less viscous or is there a way of thinning it?

 

Richie

[The Spadgent]

Stunning scenery there Steve. And as soon as you’re back a massive step towards paint without a spot of mess or mayhem.  It’s astonishing watching your work appear. I especially liked the  fuselage riveting. Like it was an afterthought. 😲 Sublime. 🙌🙌🙌

 

 Johnny. 

[81-er]

Nice to see you've found some time to work on the Defiant between holidays, Steve  Superb work again, all of it. I particularly like the detailing behind the landing lights, not something I'd considered before. I might have to have a go now

 

James

[perdu]

Cool

 

 

 

Sorry but it's all my head can cope with now.

 

I can sincerely promise the TT Defiant I built a while back (50+ years ago) wouldn't have been allowed in the same room/planet as yours.

 

The pulley thingmy?

 

Just sublime

[PeteH1969]

Hi Steve

 

Good to see you back and that you had a good break.

 

I'm supprized that you have not printed a new cockpit canopy front frame and that you have not made a vac-forming master for the frame ot to fit over the kit one once the frame has been sanded off?

 

I know it will look great what every you do though.

 

Pete

[Terry1954]

Aha, back from your hols I see and what a stunning place Newfoundland seems to be. It's on our bucket list but Calgary has to be next Canadian port of call cos one of my sons lives there at the moment, but someday....

 

The A-10 lingers on also. I googled its first in service date - 1976! Certainly built to last in so many ways. An awesome weapon system. Don't suppose you got to fly it?

 

And a very neat looking Defiant, with a home made Target swivel pulley, so expertly modelled (of course).

 

All soon for the paint shop it seems?

 

Great update all round Steve.

 

T

 

 

[Brandy]

I do hope our friendly museum curator appreciates the sheer amount of effort going into this one.

It's going to be a stunning one-off methinks!

 

Ian 

[Biggles87]

Seconded.

Lovely pics of Newfoundland and I can tell by the painted thumb nail that you’re a real modeller, not that I ever doubted it.

 

John

[giemme]

In chronological order:

- Beautiful scenery

- Top job with the lights, the canopy and the riveting

- That pulley thing is just exquisite

- Break out the airbrush, will you??

 

Ciao

 

[bigbadbadge]

Glad you had a great holiday, wonderful photos too.

Great work on the Defiant, looks fantastic and the swivels pulley , wow.

Great work

Chris

[Dunny]

Steve,

 

Some lovely photos there - Newfoundland doesn't look bad either! 🤣 Coming along nicely - that rivetting really is worth the effort,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[Fritag]

 

On 7/12/2023 at 11:09 PM, RichieW said:

Newfoundland looks stunning. It features quite heavily in a project I have at the research stage.

 

Interest piqued   Stab in the dark - Vickers Vimy… [Added by edit - Ok Richie - just seen your new thread - I woz wrong ]

 

On 7/12/2023 at 11:09 PM, RichieW said:

I've been using UV resin recently. The one I have is very thick and doesn't exactly wick into small gaps. Do you heat yours to make it less viscous or is there a way of thinning it?

 

The stuff I’ve been using for wicking into small gaps is 3D Printer resin - which is quite a bit thinner than the craft resin.  Both types have their uses I guess.

 

On 7/13/2023 at 10:34 AM, PeteH1969 said:

I'm supprized that you have not printed a new cockpit canopy front frame and that you have not made a vac-forming master for the frame ot to fit over the kit one once the frame has been sanded off?

 

Ha.  Well I did say I wasn’t aiming for a definitive Defiant didn’t I, Pete?  Anyways, I’ve got what I wanted out of the build - which was practise at using CAD and the printer to do a conversion; and I reckon it’s time to get this one finished and handed over to Jim at the museum.

 

On 7/13/2023 at 11:03 AM, Terry1954 said:

Don't suppose you got to fly it?

 

Sadly not.  One of my squadron bosses had done an exchange tour on the A10; but tbh, back at in the late 80’s and with the naivety of youth and a cold war mentality us youngsters tended to be a bit obsessed with the ‘fast’ in fast-jet and thought the A10 was - well - rather on the slow side  Most if not all would’ve  preferred an exchange on the F16 or F18.

 

On 7/13/2023 at 4:53 PM, Brandy said:

I do hope our friendly museum curator appreciates the sheer amount of effort going into this one.

 

Hope not Ian.  I propose to be very British about it and tell him it’s just something I knocked together in a weekend - no trouble at all…. 

 

On 7/13/2023 at 5:08 PM, Biggles87 said:

I can tell by the painted thumb nail that you’re a real modeller,

 

An affectation to try and create just such a (misleading) effect, John 

 

On 7/14/2023 at 5:30 PM, bigbadbadge said:

Great work on the Defiant, looks fantastic and the swivels pulley , wow.

 

Thanks Chris.

 

On 7/15/2023 at 2:50 AM, Dunny said:

Coming along nicely - that rivetting really is worth the effort,

 

Copied the idea off some bloke… 

 

On 7/14/2023 at 12:45 PM, giemme said:

Break out the airbrush, will you??

 

You’re wish is my command, G.

 

Now - cos it’s so long since we’ve been away; we’ve just spent a couple of days in the Peak District doing some walking and sampling some fine pub-grub… But we got back early enough today for me to get a primer coat on.

 

But before that I re-profiled the rear of the lower hatch a bit, to make it a squarer shape.  I realized looking at the last set of photo’s I posted that it was too round at the rear.  Small job, swiftly done.

 

 

And the finished off the masking and gave it a slightly marbled coat of Tamiya Nato Black as a primer.

 

 

 

One of the reasons for the black was that I’m next going to spray some Alclad Aluminum over the nose, wing roots and leading edges etc. and use a chipping technique again.

 

I’ve since given the surface a gentle polish with a scrap of old cotton t-shirt to smooth the matt paint and I’m pleased to say that there don’t seem to be any defects needing remedial attention.

 

 

 

Edited July 17 by Fritag

[hendie]

54 minutes ago, Fritag said:

Now - cos it’s so long since we’ve been away; we’ve just spent a couple of days in the Peak District

I knew I shouldn't have asked. 

 

It's all coming together in a union of unified... ehrr... black splatters carefully mottled surfaces

 

 

[Terry1954]

7 hours ago, hendie said:

I knew I shouldn't have asked. 

 

I did wonder if your original comment was a tad hasty, given who we are dealing with Alan, and let's not forget we have a full two weeks of July left yet, so who knows where our intrepid explorer could venture before the end of the month?

 

So we have paint, and very nice too Steve. Way ahead of me on the museum build front of course 🙄

 

T

[Fritag]

11 hours ago, hendie said:

 black splatters carefully mottled surfaces

 

The former is more accurate   It just needed a bit of paint on as an undercoat for the aluminium but it wasn't worth laying down enough paint to get an even coverage.

 

So some Alclad Aluminium followed by a coat or two of chipping fluid over selected areas. 

 

 

Followed by some white and brown splatters to help produce a patchy topcoat; altho' most of the patchiness will be done with oil filtering (maybe with some post shading first).

 

 

 

That can dry for the rest of the day now.

 

Properly into the painting now G...

 

Edited July 17 by Fritag
typo

[RichieW]

15 hours ago, Fritag said:

Interest piqued   Stab in the dark - Vickers Vimy…

Not for a 1/32 modeller with a small house.😂

 

Thanks for the tip on the 3d printer resin. That needs investigating!

 

Glad to see you have found your airbrush and the painting has started. Looking forward to seeing the camo on. 

 

Richie

     
 

    

 

[giemme]

3 hours ago, Fritag said:

Properly into the painting now G...

 

Indeed!     Very much looking forward to the effect you are going to achieve!  

 

Ciao

[TheBaron]

Icebergs, rivets and mottling.

 

Not sure I'd trust them as a firm of lawyers but a characteristically rich couple of updates from your good self Steve. As G. says:

1 hour ago, giemme said:

Very much looking forward to the effect you are going to achieve!

Continued best of luck with the next phase.

 

 

[Fritag]

 

Got bored with work this afternoon.  Not an awfully uncommon occurrence.  

 

Started with well thinned colourcoats RAF/FAA yellow.

 

 

Carried on slowly to this point.

 

 

Should possibly have taken it out of the oven a couple of minutes earlier, as it's maybe a tad overdone compared with what I was aiming for; tho’ the pre-flat coat shininess does hide the tonal variation and rivets somewhat for piccie purposes.

 

Anyways, it's only the underneath  I'll call it practice - and think about what post shading and oil filtering can do.

 

Oh, and the black diagonal stripes of course.

 

 

Edited July 17 by Fritag
formatting

[hendie]

3 posts in less than 24 hours?   What's going on?    Bored with work, or suffering from a guilty conscience?**

 

 

She does look rather spiffing in her new clothes, and seems perfect for grubbying up.

 

 

 

 

** I shall leave it to the reader to decide.

 

 

[giemme]

Oh my, this looks so good already!  

 

Now I'm gonna have to lay down, my head is spinning after what Alan pointed out - 3 (three!) updates in less than 24 hours????

 

 

Ciao 

[RichieW]

So much colouring in going on in one day, who'd a though it? 

 

I don't know what you were aiming for so it just looks lovely to me!

 

Richie