1/48 Boulton-Paul Defiant

[Dave W]

I've just cut the vacuform landing lights out and glued them to the wings with 'Gators Grip'.Two spares are supplied in the kit.But I managed to cut two out without messing up.

[Guest]

This is looking good Dave

[flyjoe180]

Yep, awesome work Dave

[colin m]

What a great W.I.P Nice to see a 'challenging' model coming along so well.

[Dave W]

Tonight I've scribed the flap detail on the undersides of the wings.i marked them out with black pen first to make it easier.Then I spent ages masking the turret transparency and finally I cut out the slots for the guns.Now I'm going to cut it away from the backing sheet.

[Guest]

You are making a superb job of this. it is so good to see real modelling skills at work rather than relying on expensive kits that do everything for you.

[flyjoe180]

Really nice work Dave. Rather you than me with that turret framing though.

[Guest]

Your effort on this one, is visible on every update Dave!

Excellent work so far.

Polux

[yak face]

That masking job alone would make me shiver Dave , never mind having to cut out the gun slots and cut it off the vac form sheet!!! Keep at it mate , I think its yeilding! cheers tony

[Dave W]

That masking job alone would make me shiver Dave , never mind having to cut out the gun slots and cut it off the vac form sheet!!! Keep at it mate , I think its yeilding! cheers tony

I've cut it off the sheet now.As the plastic is thick at the base of the turret I used a razor saw.It was quite easy to do.However,The plastic is wafer thin where the gun slots are.So I haven't managed to get a very straight cut.With hindsight I should have made a wooden former to place the turret over.Then I would have had something to keep the shape of the turret whilst I cut the slots out.We live and learn.

[Dave W]

Like a lot of older kits,this one doesn't have any wing tip lights.So I've cut a piece out of each wing tip and glued on a piece of clear sprue.Then I've sanded it to shape and finally polished it.A simple thing to do.

[Dave W]

I've just brush painted the turret glass framing and removed the masking.Its not perfect but I'm happy with it.looks a lot worse in these close ups than it does sat don my table!.They say the camera never lies.....

[flyjoe180]

That's not going to be hard to clean up Dave. A bit of nifty brush touch ups and you'll have a nice turret. Super job, the nav light looks great too.

[Dave W]

I put a coat of primer on the model this morning.And despite all the filling and sanding some fuselage joins are still visible.So it's out with the filler again.Think I will use the Mr Surfacer 500.

[The Migrant]

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