1:72 MPM Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.1
Discussion
By coincidence the Dornier got a mention on Radio Kent this morning. Aircraft is at Cosford and being sprayed with citric acid to break down the various sea life and debris that's attached itself to the structure. Progress appears to be good. Interesting coment about German engineering that many of the bearings and other parts still move. Also spoke about investigations into the background story of the crash landing on the Goodwin Sands. The reckon ground fire disabled one engine because bullet holes in one propellor indicate that the prop was either static or moving very slowly. Other damage looks like shrapnel from an ack-ack shell. Finally finished off by bullets from a DEFIANT. Nice that they made the effort to try and get the facts straight.
Sun or Daily Fail would probably have said "it was shot down by a Spitfire" lazy muckers.
Sun or Daily Fail would probably have said "it was shot down by a Spitfire" lazy muckers.
Roy Lime said:
dr_gn said:
Eric Mc said:
Did anybody ever successfully bale out of the turret?
I think they did. 
Fuselage halves are together now. Fit was fairly good, some filler required, especially on the underside. Unfortunately this obscured most of the nice panel lining, so I've had to re-scribe it all. The circular feature is the emergency escape/turret maintenance hatch. Strictly speaking it's not really circular, it should be slightly egg-shaped, but this proved too tricky to scribe so I went with a circle. Oh well. Also visible is the recess for the access step in the port wing root. Needs a bit of filling yet. The offset hole is one I drilled for the rear aerial mast. Obviously the aerial couldn't be mounted on top of the fuselage because of the turret, so a ventral aerial system was devised. When on the ground the rear mast retracted into the fuselage, and when airborne it was extended. All these little details were very nicely engineered...at the expense of ever more weight:
In the end I went with the 'rear fairing up' option. With the turret and guns pointing where I intend, I'm pretty sure it's valid from an operating point of view, and if not, the term 'maintenance' covers a whole host of configuration possibilities. Whatever: I like my Defiants with a bit of meat on them, and the retracted fairing option makes the aircraft look a bit thin to my eyes.
The fit of this rear deck part doesn't seem that good, I've begun to fill the join using Milliput. After a preliminary sand and flat I'll spray on a guide coat to see the real story. Pretty sure it's not far off now. Shame, the resin 'rear fairing down' option was a much better fit.
I'm enjoying this build; it's definitely more towards the "model building" rather than "kit assembly" end of the modelling spectrum.
In the end I went with the 'rear fairing up' option. With the turret and guns pointing where I intend, I'm pretty sure it's valid from an operating point of view, and if not, the term 'maintenance' covers a whole host of configuration possibilities. Whatever: I like my Defiants with a bit of meat on them, and the retracted fairing option makes the aircraft look a bit thin to my eyes.
The fit of this rear deck part doesn't seem that good, I've begun to fill the join using Milliput. After a preliminary sand and flat I'll spray on a guide coat to see the real story. Pretty sure it's not far off now. Shame, the resin 'rear fairing down' option was a much better fit.
I'm enjoying this build; it's definitely more towards the "model building" rather than "kit assembly" end of the modelling spectrum.
GJB said:
Apparently the Dornier recently recovered from the Goodwin Sands was brought down by a Defiant.
The only remaining Dornier of this type and we have the Defiant to thank for it. Am I right in thinking there's only one Boulton Paul defiant in existence?
There's an original at Hendon (just been restored):The only remaining Dornier of this type and we have the Defiant to thank for it. Am I right in thinking there's only one Boulton Paul defiant in existence?
http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/collections/b...
and a full size representation (wood and aluminium) built by volunteers from the Boulton Paul Association for the B-P factory museum (which also contained some remains of one of several Defiants lost in the Peak District):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-22...
The factory museum closed earlier this year, so the replica was moved to Cosford.
Flatted the filler now, and given it a guide coat, which revealed a few pores. After a bit more fettling and shaping, and a final guide coat, I've dotted some Mr. Surfacar 1200 (basically a filler primmer that I tend to use purely as a filler) into the flaws. When that's set I'll flat it again and start rescribing the panel lines.
Flatted the first stage of surfacer and made a start on rescribing the missing panel lines:
A few more flaws caused by the rescribing needed more surfacer which will need re-flatting. The long horizontal line along where the filler was, crosses regions of filler, plastic, glue and surfacer, so it's difficult to get a consistent depth of line. It's not far off now though.
I drilled a hole just behind the fairing for the dorsal light which I will make out of a blob of clear sprue. On the second photo you can see the wing root cut-out I filed for the access step. Hopefully tomorrow the fuselage will be ready for fitting the cockpit assembly, wing and tailplanes/elevators. Then canopy and windscreen and...paint.
A few more flaws caused by the rescribing needed more surfacer which will need re-flatting. The long horizontal line along where the filler was, crosses regions of filler, plastic, glue and surfacer, so it's difficult to get a consistent depth of line. It's not far off now though.
I drilled a hole just behind the fairing for the dorsal light which I will make out of a blob of clear sprue. On the second photo you can see the wing root cut-out I filed for the access step. Hopefully tomorrow the fuselage will be ready for fitting the cockpit assembly, wing and tailplanes/elevators. Then canopy and windscreen and...paint.
Radiator ducts now fitted and filled with Surfacer. Also a guide coat of Sky to see how my rescribing went. Answer, not too bad, but some of the trickiest compound curves need doing again, that's why there's some white Milliput is smeared around the wing joint:
Also masked and painted the inside bits of the canopy framing that will be seen when the canopy is open (if you undercoat the outside of the canopy interior green it shows as gloss when viewed internally, not matt). All canopy secions are vacform:
Also masked and painted the inside bits of the canopy framing that will be seen when the canopy is open (if you undercoat the outside of the canopy interior green it shows as gloss when viewed internally, not matt). All canopy secions are vacform:
HoHoHo said:
It's coming together and looking good dr_gn 
Ta - it's slow though.Very tempting to slap some camo on it and see how it looks, but there is a fair bit of work to do on things like the u/c doors yet. I'd end up doing two or three airbrushing sessions if I painted it now, so I'm going to wait until everything is ready.
Vacform windscreen and rear canopy fitted. Tricky to fit, but I've got a good technique sorted now:
And here it is ready for masking, along with all the other parts that need painting at the same time:
u/c doors are fitten with some stiffener plates (p/e rivets) and hinges (lead wire). Pitot tube is two diameters of brass tube slid into each other to form a step.
And here it is ready for masking, along with all the other parts that need painting at the same time:
u/c doors are fitten with some stiffener plates (p/e rivets) and hinges (lead wire). Pitot tube is two diameters of brass tube slid into each other to form a step.
Masking finished - it's a difficult one because of the turret, and now the windscreen not having any discernable framing. Started with the glazing and then the cockpit opening:
Not sure how long that aerial mast will last:
Got the underside preshaded with NATO black, and painted in Sky. I don't use a panel line wash much at 1:72 becasue I find that using a very dark preshade colour fills the panel lines and remains dark in there even after overcoating several times with the base colour:
Not sure how long that aerial mast will last:
Got the underside preshaded with NATO black, and painted in Sky. I don't use a panel line wash much at 1:72 becasue I find that using a very dark preshade colour fills the panel lines and remains dark in there even after overcoating several times with the base colour:
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