1/48 Boulton-Paul Defiant

[Dave W]

Superb work Dave, I love seeing older/short-run kits being tamed. You probably already know this but Classic Airframes re-tooled their Defiant kits in 2004 and they came with injection moulded clear parts and lots of resin for the cockpit and wheel wells, worth searching for if you fancy another

I was aware they changed the Vacuform canopy for an injection moulded one.But I didn't realise they added additional resin for the wheel wells.That would be worth having as this ones quite bare and not very accurate.

[The Migrant]

I was aware they changed the Vacuform canopy for an injection moulded one.But I didn't realise they added additional resin for the wheel wells.That would be worth having as this ones quite bare and not very accurate.

There's a review here Dave that shows the new sprues and the resin parts, they look pretty good. CA released the kit in a few boxings including a target-tug (which is the one I'd go for):-

http://kits.kitreview.com/defiantreviewse_1.htm

[Dave W]

There's a review here Dave that shows the new sprues and the resin parts, they look pretty good. CA released the kit in a few boxings including a target-tug (which is the one I'd go for):-http://kits.kitreview.com/defiantreviewse_1.htm

Looks like a nice kit Mike.I bet it commands a high price these days.Im happy with this one though.It doesn't bother me that it's not totally accurate.Although I would have liked those undercarriage bays.I must say I'm enjoying building this one.I usually struggle with resin and PE. But so far I haven't had any problems.

[The Migrant]

I agree Dave, yours is looking superb and I for one would never notice the inaccuracies anyway. And vac canopies do look nicer and more to scale than IM ones (although I personally hate working with them).

[Guest]

You have got your work cut out their Dave, but what's life without it's challenges. Cheers Derek

[Guest]

You might find this interesting as reference material:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/V-RARE-Classic-Airframes-1-48-BOULTON-PAUL-DEFIANT-Mk-I-BUILT-Battle-Of-Britain-/261409888615?pt=UK_ToysGames_ModelKits_ModelKits_J N&hash=item3cdd3e5967

[Dave W]

The .303 Browning machine gun barrels arrived today.I replaced two of the four resin barrels so you can see how much better the brass ones are.I think they look great and are well worth £7.40.I will paint the guns black and dry brush them with pencil lead.Ive glued the PE torque links to the undercarriage legs as well.Still having trouble getting rid of some fuselage seams.Im about to put primer on my third attempt at filling them.

[The Migrant]

Those gun barrels look amazing. The carpet monster in our house would love them too.

[Dave W]

Those gun barrels look amazing. The carpet monster in our house would love them too.

They are rather good.Trouble is I'm not going to be able to build another kit that has guns without replacing them with brass now!.Well worth the money though.

[Dave W]

This evening I've been building the turret.The guns wouldn't fit into their housings.So I used a pair of tin snips to remove some of the PE so the guns would fit.Then they needed packing out with plastic card so all the guns would be parallel when attached to the turret.Ive still got to finish the housings off.Of course the transparency doesn't quite fit now.So that needs a bit of careful trimming.

[monica]

coming along nicely, just slow and steady and you will be fine good luck

[tr1ckey66]

That gun turret looks very fiddly! You do seem to be making great progress though. I can imagine that getting the glass dome to fit on top of that will present a challenge but I've no doubt you're up to that challenge.

This build is turning out great and I'm really looking forward to the finished model

All the best

Paul

[Guest]

love those guns

[Dave W]

Thanks for the interest people.Ive not made any progress over the weekend as I'm in Poland.Did a guided tour of Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps today.Pretty grim and emotional but interesting.

[Dave W]

I've had a lot of trouble getting rid of the joins on top of the fuselage.Its taken four rounds of filling,sanding and priming to get rid of them.Now the painting can start.Ive given the model two coats of Xtracolour sky on the underside.Ive also glued the vacuform transparency onto the turret.It needed a bit of carefully trimming to get it to fit.Will dry brush the gun barrels to lift out the detail.