Airfix White Box 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant NF1

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pmmaker
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Airfix White Box 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant NF1

Post by pmmaker »

Well, since this is the Unofficial Airfix forum, I figured I'd share an actual Airfix kit I've recently built. I was given this old, open box kit as a gift from a friend of mine who was thinning out his stash.

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The box was open, and unfortunately, the clear canopy pieces were missing. The kit was in the old Airfix style with the rivets, near empty cockpit, and the simple "pogo stick" style landing gear struts. Luckily for me, I recently purchased the new re-engineered Airfix Defiant kit. That kit gives you two different canopy configurations, including the one I needed for this build. So I decided to use the new canopy part with this old kit and do a quick build.

As stated, this kit is old school Airfix - not much detail and a rather easy one to quickly put together. It needed a bit of putty for the wing join areas as the fit was not very well engineered. Other than that, this old kit goes together rather nicely. The newer canopy wasn't an exact fit, but using white glue, I was able to "fill in" the places where a small space existed due to shape differences. I also decided to build this one in flight. As I wanted it to look like it was flying, I used a piece of clear plastic film cut in a circle shape to make the propeller arc.

As for painting, since I had a can of semi-gloss black just sitting around, I decided to build my kit as it is shown on the box. I built it as a NF1 (night fighter) from 256 Sqn., RAF Catterick, December 1940. So I gave the entire model a coat of black, added the old (but still usable) original decals, and then gave the entire model a coat of semi-gloss clear. The result didn't turn out too badly in my view.

pmmaker

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Re: Airfix White Box 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant NF1

Post by Gregers »

Great work on this classic kit. Very nice build and finish.

All the best

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Re: Airfix White Box 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant NF1

Post by Migrant »

One of the few Airfix Series 1 kits I never built, for some reason. You've done a really nice job of that PMM, the new-tool canopy parts make a big difference.
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Re: Airfix White Box 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant NF1

Post by pmmaker »

I usually would not have built it either Migrant - it isn't in my general interest zone. But our joint friend M. Marra gave it to me as a gift so I felt compelled to build it as best as I could. I look at it as sort of a tribute build. ;-)

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Re: Airfix White Box 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant NF1

Post by Lone Modeller »

For a kit of that age you have done a super job.
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Re: Airfix White Box 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant NF1

Post by Old_Tonto »

Lone Modeller wrote:For a kit of that age you have done a super job.
Agreed, nice work.
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Re: Airfix White Box 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant NF1

Post by splash »

Excellent work on a very old kit, I like what you did with the exhaust stains.

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Re: Airfix White Box 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant NF1

Post by Clashcityrocker »

That has come out looking very nice.

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Re: Airfix White Box 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant NF1

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

'pmmaker' - when you have some time do a search on this site for 'prop blurs'; one of our members James Perrin has had some success making them and many here have borrowed the technique. Or perhaps someone can point you directly.
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Re: Airfix White Box 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant NF1

Post by Migrant »

jRatz wrote:'pmmaker' - when you have some time do a search on this site for 'prop blurs'; one of our members James Perrin has had some success making them and many here have borrowed the technique. Or perhaps someone can point you directly.
Unfortunately all of James's printable files were Photobucket images so are no longer visible, unless he's since posted them from a different hosting site. If he hasn't, perhaps he could be persuaded to: they are really nice images and very useful. :grin:
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Re: Airfix White Box 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant NF1

Post by pmmaker »

That's okay. I usually don't do prop blurs anyways as almost all of my builds have empty cockpits and sit on their gear. The only models I ever display in flight are my die-cast models. When I photograph them in flight mode, I just give the prop a quick flick to send it spinning. :roll:

The only reason this one was modeled this way was because the prop was missing a blade so I tried something a bit different. I occasionally "experiment" with new techniques and skills on builds just to see what I come up with. This was one of those times. I will probably never do this again. ;-)

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Re: Airfix White Box 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant NF1

Post by iggie »

Very nicely done indeed, and a kit and type I've never built either..... something I really need to correct!
Best wishes

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Re: Airfix White Box 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant NF1

Post by Crashpilot »

Really looks nice!
I have to admit that I used to have this kit, but it shocked me in such a way, that I binned it.
Maybe you were more lucky with the plastic, in my kit, it was very brittle, and warped, and badly moulded, too.
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