OT the Defiant virgin ***Done***

[Old_Tonto]

This is where I will document the build of my very first Defiant. It will (I hope ) end up as an all black Defiant NF.1.

Here it is with the Valient wings resin nose.


The nose will only fix one of the kit issues but I think it is the single most noticable error with the kit.

[Old_Tonto]

I intend to get started tonight on the tea tray in front of the tv whilst watching match of the day.

The first job is to clean up he parts, chop off the nose & sand down the rivet detail. My research tells me that Daffys were flush riveted..

Next up will be to cut the VW nose & prop hub from its block of resin - all advice welcome.

I can see that the whole tail os well out so I plan to replace the rudder & build up thr front of the fin, somehow.

As for the underside, i am not sure yet. I may just blank off the wheel wells, afterall who is going to see the underside of my Defiant?

I am sure there are other issues but I will deal with them as they come to light.

[Dirkpitt289]

Sounds like a plan. I'll tell you this. The list of things I hear that is wrong with this kit is long and I'm having trouble keeping up with them. Personally I'll get what I get and I'm sure I'll miss more then a few of the issues. .

[JohnRatzenberger]

Sounds like a plan. I'll tell you this. The list of things I hear that is wrong with this kit is long and I'm having trouble keeping up with them. Personally I'll get what I get and I'm sure I'll miss more then a few of the issues. .

The good news is that no matter how few or many issues you choose to correct, it will still look very much like a Defiant.

[Dirkpitt289]

Very true.

[Old_Tonto]

Got things started today, first off here is the pile of bits.



There is quite a bit of flash to clean up.



I tapped the fuselage halves together to cut the nose off. I came up against my first problem. My copy is so poor that the panel line I need to cut along is not visible.


So I cut it off as close as I dared & will sand it back later.

Next I cut off the pins for attaching the seat & cleaned up the fuselage walls. Then I cut some strips of white tape, attached them to represent side wall framework.



A quick coat of klear to seal it in then interior green paint it looks ok.


Whilst that dries I blanked off the U\C bays. I am not bothering to box anything in, too lazy.





I think it looks ok. I will add some details but not too much, no one will ever see it anyway. I don't intend to move the radiator. I have blanked it off anyway just to prevent light shinning through.

I also glued the wing parts together. Fit is not great but I will sand everything down later.



& applied 3 coats of klear to the transparencies (if I can call them that.).

.

Not a bad start.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Good start, I like the tape detail - I have some 1/32 & 1/64 detailing tape that might save me time & Evergreen ....

[Old_Tonto]

A little bit more done last night. The fuselage halves have been joined:



I should have taken some pictures of the cockpit side walls but I forgot. All I did was add a few black boxes to the ribbing and applied a few dots of white, red & yellow to simulate switches etc. All completely ficticious but looks busy enough. Not much will be seem through the canopy anyway. The seat & cockpit floor are from the spares box whilst the IP is scratch built from an old credit card. I still need to add dials before fitting it.

I also got the wings together. Not the best fit - the top pieces are bigger than the underside by about 1mm at both the leading & trailing edges. I will fettle that with some filler & sanding. This build will need a lot of that.

Does anyone have plans to replace the rear fuselage fairing?



It is a very visable feature and not at all well represented by Airfix.



As you can see in this image it is much wider than the Airfix one, nearly the full width of the turret & canvess covered I think?

Once the glue is dry I will sort out the nose. It's beginning to look like a Defiant.

[Old_Tonto]

Finished the interior gubbings last night.



And here they are installed:





Hopefully I can attach the VW nose today & sand off the rivets.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Looking very spiffy !

[Old_Tonto]

MIND THE GAP





Looking more like a Daffy now.

The VW nose does the job. Next will be making the rudder & filling the gap at the wing roots.

[TomW]

Looking good OT I had to choose between gaps at the roots or reprofilling the wingtips, I went for the wingtips

Regards

Tom

[Dirkpitt289]

Very nice progress OT,

[splash]

What will you use for the gaps just strips of plastic?

What does the nose fit like?

Regards Splash

[Old_Tonto]

What will you use for the gaps just strips of plastic?

What does the nose fit like?

Regards Splash

The nose fit is very good, just a little sanding required. It does make a massive difference to the look of the plane.

Strips of evergreen will fill the gaps then sand to a level. Thats the plan at least.