Boulton Paul Defiant NF.1 Airfix 1:72

[flundstrom2]

Another brush-paint practice kit. The goal for this one is to see if I can get rid of the white streaks that I've gotten each time I've put the finishing matte varnish on. Unfortunately, this kit has roughly a gazillion elevated rivets that undoubtably will make it even harder to get a good finish.
But anyway, it's an odd aircraft anyway, being one of UK's only turrentfighter. At some 30 parts or so, building is quick, and there won't be much to show.

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Hmm. No mouth? An eyes?

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Gotten to the point of priming the fuselage and painted its underside. Next up is adding the first layer of the camouflage, which in this case will be brown.

[Kevthemodeller]

I made this kit or the 70's version when I was a kid, it didn't come out too well as I remember some of the fit was quite poor and I didn't know about filler and such like back then.

What's the fit like on this kit?

[flundstrom2]

The fit is bad, but not awful - at least without the wings attached (I haven't gotten to that stage yet). The air intakes/exhausts on the bottom are a little messy to get ok, and there seems (if I didn't screw up removing it from the sprues) to be some plastic missing on the "fin" behind the turrent. However, there are quite a lot of flesh and some really thick excess plastic where the wings are attached i.e. a pain in the a*** to get to and remove. There are also a lot of elevated rivets that may disappear during sanding.

Sanding and filling is mandatory for a decent result. All in all, it's quite a boring build with no cockpit or turrent pit details.

[Kevthemodeller]

It sounds like it's the same kit as I had all those years ago, back then just about every kit I built was airfix and there earlier stuff wasn't the best but they did introduce a lot of kits in the mid 70's that were really quite good. Looking here https://www.scalemates.com/kits/109302- ... fiant-nf-1 it would appear it is and it has been changed 1960's - 1988 .

That said looking further on the above link it would appear they've now at last up tooled the kit https://www.scalemates.com/kits/636182- ... fiant-mk-i which I would hope be much improved

[flundstrom2]

Seems you're right. I've got the old box, and it has rouhly half the number of parts compared to the new-tooled kit. Could be an interesting exercise sometime in the future to compare, just for fun....

[Kevthemodeller]

Or you could up scale https://www.scalemates.com/kits/956819- ... fiant-mk-i gets a good review.

[flundstrom2]

What's the fit like on this kit?

After gluing the wings, I have to degrade this kit from "bad", to "awful" fitting. The underside of the wings trailing edges extend more than 1mm longer back than the upper surface, large gaps between the different wing surfaces etc. But, hey, it is an old mold.

Unfortunately, my paint job turned out quite bad as well.

[Kevthemodeller]

That sounds just like what I had all them years ago!

I've started using Scale Mates to check kit reviews and kit history, hopefully I'll avoid all these bad kits

[flundstrom2]

After binge-watching the TV-series The Night Manager with Hugh Laurie (definitely recommended!), followed by ESC (bad decision, I should have chosen the PSG match with Zlatan's final apperance at Parc-du-Prince instead), I didn't do anything yesterday. I had intended to paint some camouflage, but ...

Anyway, due to the awful fitting of the parts, I had to put clothe-pegs at every single mm to get the wings at the proper angle:

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But, as can be clearly seen on this close-up, the underside was really much larger than the top sides:

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After removing the excess plastic with a knife and sanded the edges, the result became decent. However, I don't bother filling, since that would require a lot of repainting, which isn't the purpose of this exercise.

[flundstrom2]

Anyway, starting to come together now. I've also taken the mandatory close-up shot to compare the result with and without the final layers of matte varninsh, since that's the main purpose of this model. My bad paintjob is also visible, but it isn't as bad as on other models. After doing the first 3 layers, I switched to a newly purchased 16 (!) flat brush that really helped getting a more even paint, but that was a little late.

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2016_05_15 12_15_56 EOS 760D 04348-resized.JPG

[flundstrom2]

And the second color is on. Much better than previous models, way better than I had anticipated with basically no bleeding whatsoever - really surprising considering the gazillion rivets. There are some parts that I didn't get to, but that's done with a little touch-up. Still, as can be seen on the close-ups, there are small ridges between the green and the brown colors, but considering I've really attempted to keep the green (upper) layer thin, I don't think it's possible for me to get away with less.

So, in conclusion: I'm more than satisfied!

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[flundstrom2]

Yesterday was an evening of gloss varnish after some touch-up. The gun-turrent is now unmasked and - lo and behold: Not a single drop of paint had gotten stuck on the transparent part! I was a little stressed doing the third layer, since I had a friend coming over for some football, so I was a little concerned it wouldn't be good. But it turned out ok in the end - and so did the match.

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I've deliberately chosen the exact same angles for comparison.

And the close-up shows no brush-strokes or any traces of white. Good, since I tried using my largest (a number 16!) brush to make application smoother. However, that turned out to soak the model with varnish, so I essentially had to use another, moist, brush to wash the excess varnish away before it dried! I need to contemplate on how to apply the varnish on the next model. And what to do with the flat varnish, which is the real problem for me and the purpose of this build...

All in all, yesterday's work turned out as I had hoped.

Up next: Decals followed by flat varnish.

[flundstrom2]

Completed!

I think this one has become the best so far, in terms of paintjob. Since the fuselage and wings are littered with rivets, I expected big problems with the decals, but I had surprisingly little silvering issues.





I also experimented a little with Tamiya Weather Master kits; soot for exhaust and upper surface rain residue, and mud for lower surface water and sand residue caused by movement on wet runways.







As can be seen, the matte varnish turns into a white, milkyish, layer on top of the paint. This time, I was really careful to ensure the varnish was evenly distributed, so I got (almost) no brushmarks, but nevertheless, the white coat still appears. On the next model, I'll try Vallejo paints and varnish instead.

Lessons learned:
* Put a layer of varnish on top of the decals prior to weathering, or the decals will be torn apart.
* Now is a good time to change paint manufacturer.
* The Tamiya Weathering set are easier to use than dry-brushing.
* I need to improve my decalling skill, so I don't accidentally tear them apart!
* Tamiya masking tape is waaaay better than household masking tape!
* And I feel that I am in control of the painting process now.

[Avgas]

Your modelling skills are coming on in leaps and bounds Fredrik.

[Cymru]

I'm guessing, but you have used a matt coat that contains chalk? Try wiping it down with a moist cloth, this will remove any chalk residue.
Nice job BTW

[flundstrom2]

Thanks both of you!

[Kevthemodeller]

Hay that looks great