Airfix 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant

[Douglas skipper]

Hi All,

I am wanting to detail the Airfix Boulton Paul Defiant NF Mk 1, I am aware this is not the greatest kit in the world, but would like to have a go at it anyway. Do any of you have any hints and tips about what I should be looking at and fixing? I have had a search on the Internat and found very little in the way of detail sets, either Resin or PE for this kit so assume a lot of the work needs to be scratch-built. I do however have several books on the defiant, mainly the Mushroom models book, Warpaint and profile publications covering the Defiant.

I would be grateful for any help.

Doug.

(If we could avoid the obvious such as "Don't do it", "Throw it in the bin" and "Life's to short to tackle such a project", I would be even more grateful)! Lol.

[peebeep]

If we could avoid the obvious such as "Don't do it", "Throw it in the bin" and "Life's to short to tackle such a project", I would be even more grateful! Lol.

If you insist!

This was the subject of an article in Scale Models many years ago in the Battle of Britain series. From memory the nose was replaced with one from a suitable Spitfire kit and spacers provided between the fuselage halves, as the whole of the fuselage is seriously under nourished. The prop was replaced and a new turret scratch built. The fin/rudder and tailplanes had plastic card additions as they are too small. The wings may have had some work done to them, but I cannot remember if this was actually the case. I think the wing chord is probably insufficient. The wheels need replacing and the undercarriage wells are gaping voids, as is the cockpit.

If you really want to go ahead with this project I'd recommend that you try and find an early issue of the kit as the tooling is now pretty well shot. I've also noticed that with builds from recent issues the fuselage appears to adopt a curious banana shape. You would find a set of the Model & Allied Press drawings pretty useful, they can still be obtained I believe.

peebeep

[theplasticsurgeon]

This was the subject of an article in Scale Models many years ago in the Battle of Britain series.

I was lent a copy of that publication to assist building this Defiant:

Unfortunately I can't find the copy right now - but will let you know if it turns up.

As PeeBeep say, the article recommends a LOT of work - which I didn't do.

About all I did do was clean up the wing/fuselage joint, and falsify another joint around the wing where it starts to taper.

This is visible on the boxart above the O of Boulton, and was achieved with a thin band of Tamiya tape.

[Douglas skipper]

I was lent a copy of that publication to assist building this Defiant:

Unfortunately I can't find the copy right now - but will let you know if it turns up.

As PeeBeep say, the article recommends a LOT of work - which I didn't do.

About all I did do was clean up the wing/fuselage joint, and falsify another joint around the wing where it starts to taper.

This is visible on the boxart above the O of Boulton, and was achieved with a thin band of Tamiya tape.

Hi Tim,

Considering you did very little work the kit looks rather good, well done.

Doug

[peebeep]

If you're looking for drawings then Argus Books 'Aircraft Archive Vol 1' has some drawn by Pat McCaffrey. ISBN is 0-85242-939-8.

peebeep

[Douglas skipper]

If you're looking for drawings then Argus Books 'Aircraft Archive Vol 1' has some drawn by Pat McCaffrey. ISBN is 0-85242-939-8.

peebeep

Hi Peebeep, oddly enough I used to work for Argus Press, but was into jets then so have all the jet volumes but none of the WW2 books! Will look out for this one though, thanks for that.

Doug.

[Patrick_Nevin]

Doug:

Heller Spitfire Vb nose, new ailerons, fin and horizontal tail plus detailing of cockpit and wheel bays.

HTH - Patrick

[Troy Smith]

Hi All,

I am wanting to detail the Airfix Boulton Paul Defiant NF Mk 1, I am aware this is not the greatest kit in the world, but would like to have a go at it anyway. Do any of you have any hints and tips about what I should be looking at and fixing? I have had a search on the Internat and found very little in the way of detail sets, either Resin or PE for this kit so assume a lot of the work needs to be scratch-built. I do however have several books on the defiant, mainly the Mushroom models book, Warpaint and profile publications covering the Defiant.

I would be grateful for any help.

Doug.

(If we could avoid the obvious such as "Don't do it", "Throw it in the bin" and "Life's to short to tackle such a project", I would be even more grateful)! Lol.

Hi Douglas

This old rogue has been the subject of disscussion on Hyperscale's Airfix Group build.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/578046/thre...ons+from+George.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/578046/thre...fiant+questions

http://www.network54.com/Forum/578046/thre...+you!?p=644

I put up a link to the very useful walkround, and someone put up some plans.

Also worth searching for is Ducimus Camoflage and markings No 8, The Boulton paul Defiant. Pdf's are online if you search. Lots of good photos plus official camo specs.

Scale Models did a build in June 1980. This is mentioned in one of these posts.

The Airfix Group build lot are friendly and helpful, but a careful read of these will answer many of your questions....

HTH

T

[Denis]

Hi Douglas !

you are a brave amongst the braves !!!

Some other brave (a frenchie...) did an amazing job on that oldie , if you dare reading french, you may find the thread here :

http://fighters.forumactif.com/vos-montage...ghlight=defiant

The pictures should be a help anyway... The guy did not notice the top cowling problem at first, he corrected it later in the build.

Good luck....

Denis

[The Loggie]

G'Day Doug. Curious, but I'm 98% into an Airfix 72-scale Defiant NF and I built it largely OOB. Now, I dunno about the tail - I used the kit parts and didn't re-do the fin/rudder and tail planes. From nose to tail, here is what I've learnt (& what I did/didn't do).

Spinner - hole drilled in tip as per box-art.

Nose - kit nose is conical where-as it should be more of a cylinder about the sides and top. The recommencation is to steal a nose from a BOB Spitfire. I didn't. I did put 4.8mm wide Evergreen runners along the inside of the nose (for later). The top edge was level with the exhausts.

Cockpit - needs something to replace the nothing there-in. I essentially copied a Hurricane cockpit. I put a floor up under the bottom of those runners. I also put-in an IP by cutting across the nose at the right level and inserting a thin sheet of plastic card. I scratch-built a seat and gave it seat belts.

Cockpit canopy - I removed the rear half as per the box-art and the painting guide. I used a Falcon part which is thin and fragile.

Hump on the spine between the cockpit & the turret - I added a wedge of thick plastic card to build it up to seal the back of the cockpit canopy as per the painting guide. This failed, so I elected to open the canopy (to cover the hump).

Gun-turret - I made it a drop-in item (to enable later painting) by drilling-out the turret ring with drill-bits (working-up to a 15/32" bit). I inserted a 16mm-long length of thin-walled 15/32" brass tube. I used the kit bubble (Falcon was too fragile), kit turret base & guns. The base was sanded a bit till it socketed into the brass tube. The raised areas were to the sides, and the sunken area was cut away (with the back) so that I could place-in a thin piece of plastic as the gunners back-rest/pad. Dunno if the gunner had one.

Spine - raised section was cut-off and the gap filled (square it off then place-in a piece of Evergreen strip). It was lowered in combat anyway.

Tail wheel - thin leg was cut-off and replaced bt a wire that went all the way to the top of the inside of the fuselage.

Antennas - replaced by wires and rigged with EZ-Line.

Radiator - Thin the lips fron & back. A piece of trimmed sponge was inserted to replicate the radiator. Painted black & dry-brush with silver. A ring was added on the front, as per a Hurricane radiator. I put a thin-card roof over the radiator.

Nose intake - poorly moulded. I replaced it with a piece of trimmed square tube.

UC well - the cockpit floor roofed the UC well. Throw-in some detail (stringers, pipes, wiring, boxes etc - have fun). Trim the upper wing tabs above the wheel wells for a better look. Scrape the underside edges back at 45-degrees for a thinner look. box them in if you want. I didn't.

Under-wing central section - trailing edge (TE) too short of the upper-wing TE, so I cut it off in order (refer to flaps on the painting guide) to replace it with card (to be sanded to shape later). There was a gap between the upper & lower parts to be filled which I was to do with a vertical piece of card. Then I thought, and used the piece of thin card (bent and trimmed) to close the gap AND form lowered flaps. I threw-in an 'actuating mechanism' from some silver strips and wire.

UC doors - shaved the sides back at a 45-degree angle to make them look thinner. I used the kit wheels and legs (fragile).

Wings - reinforcing rib of plastic attached outside where wing-tips bend upwards, as per box-art.

Lights - carved notches in wing LE for landing lights, as per box-art, and in wingtips for port/starboard lights as per painting guide. Fill them with paint (for colour) and Krystal Kleer (for clear bits).

Ailerons - used plastic card on the sides to widen them to fill their assigned cut-outs.

I reckon that a NF should have had shrouded exhausts (as per a Lanc & Mozzie) and/or glare shields (as per a NF Hurricane) - but no references to support my logic.

Geez - did I do all of that? This is such a poor kit. The next one'll be a day-fighter. Good luck, have fun, and don't take this model too seriously. George, out..........

Edited January 15, 2010 by The Loggie