The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Well, I finally got one, care of Bobcatfish, who spotted one in his LMS. I've made a start and here are some sprue shots to be going on with. Early impressions are very favourable. There is one issue with the box art / decal scheme though. 255 Squadron didn't fly the aircraft until the end of 1940 and were not operational until 1941. As soon as they were up and running, they converted to Beaufighters. I'm probably going to do this in an all black scheme, but using the same decals. Does anyone have a dated photo of this particular aircraft?



More photos here.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/23594891@ ... 043296260/;

That looks a big improvement over their old kit.

Regards Splash

Boy, that's a bit of a gaff, eh?

Here's the relevant page from Fighter Squadrons of the RAF by Rawlings.



Click on the pic to get to a larger version.

Rather sad, on several levels. I can appreciate the desire to offer some different markings, but this is a stretch ....

Good info page, Paul. I can only guess that the aircraft were supplied in day camo from the factory and repainted at squadron level.. The finish doesn't look factory fresh.
Neat cockpit, but with big decal instruments.

I removed the pin from the front of the cockpit so that the upper surfaces joined without a step.

As it's going to be an all black night fighter from Feb 1942, I decided to crack on and just assemble it complete.
Perfect fit and absolutely no filler required. The only thing that you need to watch is the wing to fuselage joint. Best idea is to cement it along the starboard side and let it set and then cement the port side using pegs to nip the fuselage a little. I reckon it's about 0.015" too wide. Nip it in and it fits fine and no filling required.

I'll finish the turret later and drop it in. No glue required.

The whole underside is black including most of the undercarriage. Quick spray job coming up.

Chuck E wrote:Neat cockpit, but with big decal instruments.

The pilots in 255 were elderly ...

What options do you get for the up/down of the front/rear turret fairings ?

For aft of the turret you get an 'up' piece, and a 'retracted' piece; for forward you get three cockpit sets, one with canopy closed and section up, one with canopy closed, section retracted, and one with canopy open, and the section is 'up', the open sliding canopy piece covers it.

Hi John,

There are two rear fuselage fairings to go with a single glazed turret transparency. The cockpit canopy comes in 3 versions. Full canopy with a raised rear section. Full canopy with lowered rear section. A three part canopy with a raised rear section. This gives you plenty of options. Other options are for a wheels up model. The undercarriage doors come as a complete piece to make this easy.

All in all, a very good kit. Only the issue with the colour scheme. Still, paint it black and you're back in business. It certainly looks like a Defiant now.

Thanks, Fred & Chuck - that's great ...

The Defiant is featured in this months copy of SAM.

Thanks for showing this Chuck. I just picked up the dogfight double with Defiant & Do17 from Wonderland models for £20. Seems like a bargain to me.
https://www.wonderlandmodels.com/produc ... -dogfight/

The decals in this edition represent L7005 of 264 Squadron which fought over Dunkirk and in the Battle of Britain. Code letters P SB. I am thinking of doing it for a BoB GB.

Looks to be a nice kit! Thanks for sharing!

Complete, but no weathering.

Nicely finished.