The old Airfix Bolton Paul Defiant nightmare.

[rtfoe]

The kit didn't have any leading edge lights and was just some raised lines to indicate it was there...I supposed silver paint was to be colored on the spot. I wasn't going to have this so I cut out that portion on both wings and wedged in clear plastic and sanded to shape.



The turret was a nightmare of smooth molded nearly clear transparency devoid of any panels for the framework. Good thing it wasn't very clear so the half body of the gunner with some bits and pieces passed off as the gun mount. They were painted in interior green although seeing one of these turrets at the AWM museum, they are basically all black inside.



I calmly traced the frames on the transparency from photo reference with a sharp permanent marker then cut thin strips of masking tape and followed the tracing.



Since the opening is a clam shell from the back the center line was made thicker.



In the end I was quite happy with the result....could have been a bit more sharper around the bottom edges but happy still.

Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

Okay, coming to the final part before the crazy idea of deciding on altering the nose.

Primer on and forgot to take shots of the pre-shading.



Camo on using the usual wriggly blu tac way of masking.



After this a layer of Future varnish was sprayed and decals applied.



Which brings us to this which you would have seen in the completed section...



Obviously the nose area near the prop doesn't look enough like the Defiant's probosis.



So today I started working on the nose adding a spacer to help guide the level and amount of putty needed to sculpt the nose. I locked it down with superglue/CA.



I removed the propeller out of harms way, masked the exhausts and applied two part putty...basically Magic Sculpt.



When it was semi cured I roughly sanded to an approximate shape, then wet filed. The file kept levels even and flat. Now it's been left to cure even further overnight then I'll wet sand with finer grit.



Now everything is in real time and we'll see what's next tomorrow.

Cheers,
Richard

[Jim R]

Hi Richard
Your work on the under carriage is excellent. Far better than the kit's 'sticks'. Neat painting on the gunners canopy. I would never have the nerve to tackle that nose cone alteration.
Jim

[rtfoe]

Hey thanks Jim, I hope Airfix has taken that kit off their inventory since they have the new tooling. The 'sticks' were literally sticks...no other mechanism whatsoever. The gunners canopy is basically just mapping and pasting strips over each other and using a sharp blade to cut away any tape that has crossed the frame line. I wasn't ready for the nose alteration too at the time but now have the courage to do it.

With that this is today's accomplishments...

Sanding down further and smoothed the surface with progressive finer grits of sand paper, I masked to make ready for primer. I didn't bother to re-mask the exhaust as I figured I could paint them at the final stage with a paint brush.



Gunze primer on and blemishes start to pop up. Shape too wasn't quite right.



More sanding to get the contours right



Finally I think I am satisfied with the shape, now I can scribe in the panels and replaced lost screws.



Hope you like it so far. I'll let this cure and dry while I tackle the Oxford seascape.

Cheers,
Richard

[Jim R]

Hi Richard
Looking good. A bit of a daft question :rolling: When you rescribe panel lines into filler/putty do you do it the same as scribing into plastic? Does the filler chip along the line?
Jim

[Bigfoot57]

Richard
I remember this one but when I last built this it was in a plastic bag hanging up in our local newsagent similar to this one by the way great build so far

Regards

Colin

[Steven000]

Nice work on the nose Richard, looks great :thumb2:
Steven

[rtfoe]

Thanks Guys,

Jim, yes there would be chipping if it was cellulose putty. I used Magic Sculpt so it's a bit harder but normally I would use a corner of a file to score and then only scribe with a scriber. For the curves I use a PE saw.

Colin, if its in a plastic bag chances are it's a relic and molded before I was born. Even the picture depicts the nose wrongly.

Steven, the plastic surgeon says thank you.

I've done a bit just now by scribing and adding the screw heads with sliced styrene rod...



On close up scribing looks quite roughly done as my eyes are starting to blur a little.



Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

Hi,
Today was very productive...I think I finished the correction.



Painted and matched the colours. They look lighter than rest of the plane I presume through oxidation and that I haven't applied the varnish. With the varnish its quite near.



After some post shading and stains from the exhaust I coated with matt varnish...



Bits of dust from the previous sanding attracted by static.



Calling this done with one final picture. You'll find the rest in the completed section.



Thanks for staying with me and looking in.

Cheers,
Richard