Dave Ward's B-P Defiant - Airfix 1/48

[Dave Ward]

Steve,
yes, that's the way forward - the framing is moulded on the outside of the transparencies - so the masks should be easy to place. On the inside - no real positive locations, and a mismatch between inner & outer masks would be obvious, so the external masks are the only ones I will use.......................
Dave

[Dave Ward]

A bit of work today - the PE,not my favourite topic


The instrument panel 5 bits -looks OK


Wheel wells painted & washed - seatbelts added - AND I noticed that I've managed to knock off the control column! Not much point in looking for it, I'll have to make a new one.


Various bits of PE added to the cockpit sidewalls & a gentle wash given. There should be more PE bits, but I gave up on the tiny bits.............

Ready to close up the fuselage now - I can just about complete the airframe, including paint & decals, before I turn to what may be the main feature, the turret

[Fernando N]

Looking good Dave :thumb2:

[papa 695]

Looking very good Dave

[colin m]

Sailing along Dave, all looking very nice.

[Dave Ward]

Fuselage closed up & left overnight to really harden off. Tail completed, then the wing added

Fitted very well, just needed a bit of encouragement to close the gaps at the upper wing joint. I'll leave this to really set, then there a few areas which may need a smear of filler, but nothing drastic.
Fit is good, just edge preparation needed. I discovered that the closed undercarriage doors fit the wells perfectly - so good in fact that I'll have to destroy them to get them out, so I'm leaving them alone until after the underside Sky basecoat is applied. No masking needed.........
Dave

[stona]

Fitted very well, just needed a bit of encouragement to close the gaps at the upper wing joint.

That looks like some serious 'encouragement'

Looking good.

[Dave Ward]

Nah - only plastic clamps. If the worst happens I do have a fall back..................


Dave

[Dave Ward]

Primed overall - I'll give it a few hours, then spray the undersurfaces with Sky

The closed undercarriage doors are such a tight fit, that no further masking was needed, but I'll have to cut into them to get them out!
Dave

[Dave Ward]

Sky undersides sprayed & the undercarriage doors prised out

I used Hataka paint - 'Sky Type S' - yes, that's what it is called!
I'll leave this to harden off overnight, before masking, and spraying the upper surfaces
Dave

[stona]

Nice one Dave, you going full steam ahead on this one!

I'm looking forward to the turret, it was the whole point of the aeroplane after all.

[Dave Ward]

Only a short time at the bench today - I had to go out, first time on public transport wearing a mask! Can't say I enjoyed it, rather claustrophobic & sweaty, I'm going to avoid that as much as possible.................
Underside masked up & upper surface sprayed overall

Vallejo Model Air Dark earth. This will harden off overnight - tomorrow I'll cut masks for the hard edged camouflage, before spraying the dark green. Wings & tail are easy, the fuselage takes a bit more effort......................
Dave

[The Smythe Meister]

Great progress Dave,
The cockpit stuff sure is tiny..... brings a dead space to life mind!:thumb2:
Cheers,
Andy

[Dave Ward]

Masking time - I drew round the wings/tail on plain paper, then using references drew out the brown areas to be masked. I used wing joints, ailerons, landing lights as location datums as much as possble.
This was cut out & tried on the model, then used as a template to cut out a mask on Tamiya sheet


I could have done this directly on the mask sheet, but that is wasteful - I cut the masks out, laid out to make maximum use of the sheet - I used about 1/2 sheet of the sheet!
The wings are easy - the fuselage is a bit trickier - I used paper, wrapped around it & the camo edge drawn on it. Again the template is cut out & offered up to the model - you can make minor adjustments, or start again before committing to cutting the mask.
It's time consuming, but not brain straining - I had Peter Gabriel on Spotify to keep me entertained.
Anyway, this is the result

All ready for the dark green to be sprayed - probably tomorrow.......................
Dave

[stillp]

Interesting technique Dave, I'll have to pinch that!
Pete