Dirk's 1/72 Frankin Defiant

[Dirkpitt289]

This is my first attempt at this and I have no clue how its going to turn out but I gotta give it a try. No resin parts here. I'm going to do it old school and graft the nose from another kit. In this case a Spitfire Vb.

Airfix The Kit



As you all know this kit is pretty old and this one shows it. There isn't a lot of flash but the details such as the rudder have softened and lost some detail. There is also some warping of the parts.



The Donor kit



The parts I will be using from the Spitfire will be the three pieces make up the nose



As you know there is no cockpit but I want to make this in flight with the aerials deployed so I will have to scratch something together.

[JohnRatzenberger]

I assume you got a copy of the Rimmel article from Jssel ? It uses a Spitfire nose for correction.

And,of course, now you've done it .... O_T will be sneeking snipped off Mustang noses into every photo ....

[Dirkpitt289]

The time has come to get cracking on this one



Pre-op



Post-op



While the patient was still on the table we made a few cuts to the back end as well.



Here's a comparison of the two nose sections

Profile


Nose on (Scuse the pun)



Seeing how the remaining pieces fit together



I will need to do a little more work before i will be able to get the new nose to fit. For starters I will need to thin down the fuselage.

Before



After





Thanks for looking

[JohnRatzenberger]

[splash]

That's brave Dirk, will it live?

I'm now thinking what have i signed up for, this is major work not just a new paint job.

Regards Splash

[Dirkpitt289]

This is going to be one of the most extensive builds I've done in the way of attempting corrections.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Splash, you need only do what you want and how you want.
I'm not convinced one couldn't get a decent 'nose job' just with some putty and sanding. The thing is to get it too look a bit more Spitfire-Merlinish. Fin, rudder, and tail planes are minor padding & shaping. Remember it'll still look like a Defiant.

[JamesPerrin]

Straight on with both feet, but why have you needed to thin the fuselage?

Remember it'll still look like a Defiant.

Everyone seems to say that in defence of the kit, but the Defiant itself doesn't look like any other aircraft!*


*(apart from at night, early in its career when the enemy mistook it for a conventional fighter).

[Dirkpitt289]

Moving forward with the Defiant we all know she has no interior what so ever. In my opinion going crazy without some sort of vac-form canopy would be silly but then again I've been known to be quite silly at times. I will do my best to keep such details at a minimum. Here is where I got.

I cheated a bit with the interior. I started by painting the interior walls RAF Interior green. In stead of scratching the bits I stole them from a Me109 parts kit. What I used was the instrument panel, the pilot seat and the cockpit floor.



The pilot



The pilot finished with a wash. In order to get him to fit into the cockpit I chad to spread his legs a bit. That's why he looks a little goofy



Here's how it looks. Note the IP has not been installed yet. I'm having a hard tome mounting it but I think I found a solution. I scratched a bulkhead wall behind the pilots seat. The issue with that is now the uber thick canopy wont fit. If I was to shave down the bulkhead to fit the canopy it will look REALLY silly. I'm going to table that issue for the time being.



Here you can see where more surgery took place. I removed the radio and the shelf behind the pilot. I am planning on making this in flight so I want to lower the rear part of the fuselage. OT has a great photo of this in his build thread.

http://uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=220&t=4870

Here is where we are. After looking at the photos from OT I need to widen the area a little more

[Martin R]

Dirk,

I admire you your resolve and skill - but I have no desire to emulate you on this particular kit!

regards,

Martin

[JohnRatzenberger]

I think you'll find the rear of the cockpit behind the pilot also lowers so turret can turn 360(ish).

[Old_Tonto]

That is looking very good Dirk. Glad the pictures helped.

[Dirkpitt289]

Fuselage halves joined together

[Martin R]

Looking good, Dirk!

I'm keen to see what it looks like with your Spit nose added.

regards,

Martin

[Dirkpitt289]

The time has come to attach the Spitfire nose.



Here is the new Spitfire Vb nose. The lips on the new nose will need to be trimmed down to get a proper fit due to the differences in the shape of the nose and the fuselage







This gaping hole will be filled with two part putty



Two part Putty for filling the holes





It appears I forgot to take a photo of the after shot. Oh well as the putty was drying I moved on to the wings. Note the poor fit





New rear shelf and radio installed



Installed the rear fuselage. Its hard to see in these photos but according to the photos of this area the piece does not drop down flush. It hinges down from the farthest point near the tail of the aircraft and lies slightly below the main fuselage. So at the black arrow its flush, at the blue arrow its slightly lower forming a lip.





Thanks for looking