1/72 Airfix Boulton Paul Defiant NF1

[dirkpitt289]

The History

The Boulton Paul Defiant was the first RAF fighter in service with a four-gun turret. The prototype, K8310, made its initial flight on 11 August, 1937 and the two-seat all-metal monoplane, with forward-facing pilot and rear-facing gunner in a hydraulically operated turret, was soon snapped up by the Air Ministry. With a fully retractable undercarriage and powered by the Rolls Royce 'Merlin' engine, it was fairly speedy at 313mph and had a reasonable performance when compared with other British single-seat fighters like the Hurricane and Spitfire.

The Defiant Mark I was designed as an attempt to overcome the need to not only point the nose of a fighter at its target in order to bring the guns to bear, but also to relieve the pilot of trying to simultaneously fly the aircraft and concentrate on his target. Instead, the rear-facing gunner would do the attacking, relying on the pilot to put him in a position that could do the most damage to an enemy aircraft. In theory, the Defiant would intercept enemy bombers from below, the gunner firing from all four .303 Browning machine guns into the belly of the target. However, communication between the pilot and gunner was somewhat limited. Despite this, the Defiant went into active service soon after the 'Phoney War' went 'real' and the British Expeditionary Forces were sent to France to combat the advancing German occupation.

Of the 1.064 Defiants built there is only a single surviving complete example N1671, on display as a night fighter at the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, London. Major parts of at least two other Defiants survive and they are both Mk 1


The Kit

The Parts

Paint Possibilities

Here are some options for different paint schemes. I've already decided this will be an all black night fighter.

141Squadron1940

2Squadron1940

264Squadron1940

307PolishSquadron1940

277Squadron1942

125Squadron1941

151Squadron1941

255Squadron1941

410CanadianSquadron

410CanadianSquadron194

96Squadron1941

Now before I break spree I have some questions. I'm looking for some interior photos of the defiant. There's not much to work with but I would like to try and jazz it up somewhat. I also need to know the colors used in RAF planes such as the interior, wheel wells etc.

If anyone has any insite, photos or anything else to add please feel free to do so.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Great choice - always loved this plane inspite of it's records. It's not much but here is what I could find:

(Boulton-Paul Defiant Mk.II/TT Mk.I)

 

[B-17engineer]

Very cool Dirk!

 

[ian lanc]

I love the side picture which shows the 'shark teeth'.

 

[Wayne Little]

Sure Terry will have a wealth of information to share.......maybe?

 

[dirkpitt289]

Sure Terry will have a wealth of information to share.......maybe?

He said he did.

Thanks everyone, This being an Airfix I'm going to need all the help and inspiration I can get. Thanks for the pictures too

I love the side picture which shows the 'shark teeth'.

I do to. I think today I will scourer the web to see if I can find a decal set for this bird. The only thing is I like the Black bird with the silver letters over the red. No big deal. Let me see what I can find

 

[Airframes]

Nice cockpit shots! As you can see, the overall finish is the normal Cockpit Grey Green, with black panels, consoles etc.
I'm in the process of assembling plans, cutaway drawings, correction and build details etc, and will e-mail them within the next few days.
The chances of finding the decals you want are slim, but they might be out there. Probably easier to adapt another shark's mouth decal, or hand paint it.
There is another complete Defiant in the UK now, built as a full scale detailed replica, but incorporating parts from an original.
Rememeber this is a 1950's kit, and is not particulary accurate, has the type of mouldings of the era, and might take some work to get right. But, when done, it looks like a Defiant, and can be quite nice. I just wish there was a mainstream kity in 1/48th scale, to complete the BoB lineup.

 

[A4K]

How's this Terry? Classic Airframes 1/48 B.P. Defiant, previewed by Scott Van Aken

Nice project Dirk, more than a few corrections to make though, especially in the nose.

 

[Airframes]

Yep, saw the C.A. kit a bit cheaper than 'current' prices at a web-site I use for OOP etc kits. Still a tad pricey for something which still needs work though. Might be tempted some day, when there isn't as much month left at the end of the money!!

 

[Tony Hill]

Looking forward to watching this one progress. I always thought the Defiant got the short end of the stick...


Darryl

 

[Airframes]

Yep, a couple of forward firing guns might have made a bit of a difference.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Night Fighter... I'm all ears.

 

[dirkpitt289]

I'm still not ready to start this project yet but I'm two steps closer thanks some information supplied by Terry and this Heller Spitfire Vb I just purchased from EvilBay (FeeBay). It will donating its nose and some other parts for this build.

 

[Tony Hill]

Looking forward to seeig the "nose job"

 

[Bullo Loris]

Nice last year I started to do this kit of Airfix but there is a lot of work to do ...there are no details on this kit, the cockpit is hard to do, there is only the pilot, I hate this kit one of the bad kit done by Airfix...but the plane its great

 

[Airframes]

The kit was normal for the time it was released, in the 1950's. It's totally inaccurate, but then, the currently preserved Defiant was not then available for measurements etc, and the kit was produced, I believe, by comparison to available basic drawings and photos.

 

[dirkpitt289]

This one's about to get kicked off. Can anyone show me a diagram of the proper shape of the Defiant's wing and ailerons?

 

[Airframes]

I should have a scale drawing somewhere, but might take some time to find it, as it's not in my scale plans files.
From what I remember of the kit, the wing plan is fine - the main inaccuaracies being in the area of the nose, and the retractable fairing.

 

[dirkpitt289]

From what I've read there are several including the Nose. Other points are the Ailerons are undersized. The tail is two short height wise and the angle to the fuselage is to short. Also the rear stabilizers are not wide enough. Probably more issues but that's what I can think of off the top of my head

Scale drawing would be the cats a** if you could get them 8) 8)

 

[Airframes]

Found them Dirk!
Send me a PM with an e-mail address, and I'll scan the lot and send it to you. It's a complete article on how to build the Airfix Defiant, illustrated and with the scale drawings, which originally appeared as part of a series on Battle of Britain models, in 'Scale Models' magazine in 1982, and then published as a complete book, covering 12 aircraft types, all in 1/72nd scale. I still have a couple of the magazines, but also have the complete book.