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Digs progress will be posted here

Good Luck Digs!
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You must listen to what the baked potato say.....

Luke

Digs · Posted: Sun 27 Apr 2008 21:40 pm Post subject:

Now HMS Belfast is finished I can contemplate the two other builds I've signed up for. For this one, I shall be building this old feller:

Painting scheme here:

Instructions:

Sprue shot:

If I remember correctly, this may well have been the second Airfix kit I ever built, many years ago. I made a right mess of it too - I didn't read the instructions and ended up gluing the two upper and the two lower wing halves together in pairs instead of to each other (if that makes sense) and then having to prize them apart before the tube glue had set irrevocably.

Hopefully things will go better 30 years later though having test fitted the fuselage halves I'm not too optimistic... both sides are bowed and are short of plastic in various patches around the cockpit & turret holes.

The build will be OOB - I've learnt from this site that the Airfix BP Defiant is not the most accurate of renditions... And after the protracted Belfast build I need something straightforward!

Paul

morgandude1 · Posted: Sun 27 Apr 2008 22:45 pm Post subject:

Oh no!

You ripped open a Blister Pack!

I'm no collector, but those Blister Packs are too beautiful to destroy, especially as you can get the model easily in a box.

Too late now.

Hope it turns out well!

TopGun · Posted: Tue 29 Apr 2008 14:42 pm Post subject:

Models are there to be built
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Digs · Posted: Tue 29 Apr 2008 19:51 pm Post subject:

Some progress pics:

I've painted the pilot -

Put a coat of interior green on -

And then stuck some plasticard grommets in to (a) blank off a cavernous intake and (b) provide a support for filler to build up all the missing bits of plastic...

morgandude1 · Posted: Tue 29 Apr 2008 20:10 pm Post subject:

Digs · Posted: Tue 29 Apr 2008 20:47 pm Post subject:

I could have waited for the re-release, yes, but the blister pack came along and I had hoped that the moulding might have been better than a modern one...

Paul

cusack77 · Posted: Tue 29 Apr 2008 23:18 pm Post subject:

I wonder when they changed the pilot. I built an old bagged defiant that came with one of these chaps.

This is from a typhoon kit, but the defiant pilot, apart from being a much darker shade of black, is the same.

morgandude1 · Posted: Wed 30 Apr 2008 09:15 am Post subject:

Digs · Posted: Sun 04 May 2008 18:41 pm Post subject:

More progress

I found I had a spare vacform canopy for the Defiant so I had an exploratory hack & fit - it'll be a beast to fit but I'm going to give it a go. But then there's more chance of seeing the many and varied chasms that surround the pilot into all parts of the aeroplane. A top down view would be like my old mini - you'd see the tarmac beneath your feet...

So I've added some plasticard bulkheads and a floor pan - nothing you could call prototypically accurate I'm sure, just blocking out light.

And it has stumpy wings now:

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Sun 04 May 2008 20:49 pm Post subject:

That looks like fun in a particularly Airfixy way!

I think I might get one of these and a Fairey Battle too.....A pox on the naysayers!

All the best

Digs · Posted: Mon 05 May 2008 18:13 pm Post subject:

Another update - a nice quiet bank holiday Monday to myself - women off on horses and only a small amount of DIY and lab paperwork to distract.

All the main bits of the kit are together now so yesterday I gave it a coat of rattle can Hu64 as primer and this morning had a touching up session on the imperfections that were now visible. I tried some Mr Surfacer on the seams - that's the paler grey stripes visible in the photos. Not sure it was the best solution as it left some gaps but also some new edge marks of its own. So after more sanding, out came the filler and the good old standby - PVA wood adhesive.

After that, out came the airbrush for a thinned down coat of Hu33. I've left the transparencies off as (a) I have no faith that the vac forms would attach firmly enough to allow masking and (b) I THINK (hope) I've managed to trim everything well enough that a post-paint fitting followed by painted decal film frame lines will suffice.

Since then, remembering Ian's fantastic black finish on the He177, I mixed some black-green into the remaining paint and tried to add some shading to the overall. I suspect I mixed it a bit too thin for it to really work but I wanted to err on the side of caution. Anyway, everything now left to dry for a while.

Paul

Digs · Posted: Wed 07 May 2008 21:32 pm Post subject:

I decided to do the decals next, leaving the undercarriage, canopies and aerials to last. The photos show the completed topside ones, underside to do another day. The main decals are the original Airfix - a little fragile but still perfectly usable. A little on the thick side perhaps but they settled down with Klear quite happily. The stencils come from a duplicate scheme in the MPM kit. Thinner and far more prone to curling up into sausage rolls...

The photos and the shine from the Klear aren't too attractive but actually it's looking OK, I think.

Ratch · Posted: Wed 07 May 2008 22:02 pm Post subject:

Coming on nicely Paul

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Digs · Posted: Sat 10 May 2008 15:41 pm Post subject:

Another update:

Decalling finished, coated with Klear, then with matt varnish.

The main roundels silvered quite badly at the edges and even after more Klear, and painting round the edges with thinned Hu33/91 mix, it's still apparent. Perhaps not as bad as the photo shows though.

The plethora of stencils from the MPM sheet had less of such problems though:

Now for the remaining construction - so as to be able to end with the canopies, it's the undercarriage next. The kit components look a bit grim, to be honest. Missing several struts, generally ill-fitting and with some imaginary locating pins/slots in the instructions that are not apparent in the plastic. To make some cosmetic and structural improvements I added in three new struts and a trunnion per leg, working from a photo and the instructions of the MPM kit:

Digs · Posted: Sun 11 May 2008 17:56 pm Post subject:

Final update:

Undercarriage finished -

Looking at the photo, there's still a ridge down the centre of the tyres. Must be new ones!

So onto the topside.

As I was going to use vacfrom canopies, the turret base needed to be attached to the fuselage first. I cut out a slot at the back (where the gunner would be, I think) and then drilled a hole through the centre and superglued a pin in place. The pin served two purposes: firstly to allow the disc of plastic to be manouevered into place inside the fuselage (as per the rather blurry photo). Secondly, after cutting shorter, it then provides a mounting pin for the gun, which can't be glued into the vac form glass, as the kit design intended for the styrene canopy.

The gun halves, glued together as per the instructions were too narrow for the vacform and the original greenhouse. They were therefore razor sawed apart and reglued onto a rod of sprue, drilled down the centre to mount on the pin:

Not a great photo, but you can also just about see I mocked up an instrument panel from two layers of styrene with holes drilled in them to place in front of Douglas Bader.

I can hear cries of 'Bader, hey he didn't fly Defiants' (or did he?). Anyway, he's so called because it turns out my bulkheads were not compatible with anything below the pilot's knees...

Next. the transparencies were lined with bits of black-painted decal film. This took quite some time but I'm happy with the result:

And then they were stuck in place, aerial wires added and a little bit of touching up done and voila, it's finished.

Not exactly OOB as it turns out - replacement canopies, decals and some plasticard scratch building, but the kit is so old and basic I don't think I'd have taken much pleasure in building it otherwise. As it is, I'm pleased with it - it's certainly a lot better than my first effort 30-odd years ago when (IIRC) it was the second ever kit I built. I know several of you will think me mad for taking the time and effort on this subject, but hey, I enjoyed it!

Photos in the gallery etc so the rest of you can make your own minds up. Thanks for running the GB Luke!

Paul

Ratch · Posted: Mon 12 May 2008 15:49 pm Post subject:

Good job Paul

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and was Jerusalem, builded here
The new No. 2
Airfix Club 500287
IPMS 10983