Classic Airframes Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I -1/48 Scale

Continuing the Battle of Britain 70th anniversary theme in 1/48 scale here is my Boulton Paul Defiant. As a day fighter it was less than successful, only two Defiant squadrons, No.s 264 and 141, played any part in the battle before being withdrawn when its shortcomings became apparent.

This model was built using the first issue from Classic Airframes which has a number of inaccuracies, but none-the-less, with a some rectifications, builds up to look like the real thing.  The main shortcomings relate to the fuselage cross-section and the shape of the nose, the latter was relatively easy to dear with by using Milliput to re-profile the area around the engine deepening the curvature on the underside and broadening the top so that  it would 'contain' a Merlin engine. The rear fuselage would require far more radical surgery to correct and I decided to leave this as it is, while the result is the finished model looks a little on the plump side it isn't too much of a distraction.

Another part of the kit that has often been criticised is the turret's internal details, however once assembled little can be seen (especially as it is all black) so any extra effort would tend to be wasted in this area.


The model was finished as PS-A serial no. N1535, flown by S/Ldr P Hunter with air-gunner Sgt F. King the aircraft was shot down on 24th August 1940.

The paint was Aeromaster acrylics and the decals were from the kit, the oil bowser trolly came from the Revell ground equipment set.


This work by Roland Turner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

Classic Airframes Bristol Blenheim Mk.If - 1/48 Scale

With the various 70th Anniversary commemorative events currently taking place I thought it might be apt to have a look at one or two of the less well known types, in model form, operated by Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain.

The first subject is the fighter version of the Bristol Blenheim Mk.I built from the Classic Airframes kit.

As with any short run kit it does not go together with ease of the likes of Tamiya, Hasegawa, etcetera's offerings but requires a few more skills and is not for the inexperienced modeller. Classic Airframes have issued the kit twice and made some improvement, particularly the resin wheel well inserts, the second time around. This was necessary as the inserts in the first issue simply did not fit properly inside the nacelles being rectangular boxes in shape they were far too deep at the rear for the space available. In the later issue they were replaced with inserts that have sloped top sides allowing them to be accommodated within the wing/nacelle mouldings.

Needless-to-say it was one of the first issue kits that I used for this model and soon encountered difficulties with the wheel well inserts. Despite sanding the tops of the resin mouldings to the point where they were so thin that they became transparent the top and bottom wing halves would still not meet along both leading and trailing edges. I then resorted to thinning the plastic (From the inside) of the upper wing/nacelle, as with most limited run kits the material is quite thick so this improved matters considerably but still did not completely solve the problem. In the end, having first secured the inserts in place in the lower wing halves I glued the leading edges together with superglue (Cyanoacrylate) leaving the trailing edges unglued with a small gap between top and bottom surfaces. Once the glue along the leading edge had fully cured I then glued and clamped the trailing edges together which worked quite well but the knock-on effect was that the wings were now deeper in chord than the inset wing roots of the fuselage which then required enlargement to accept the wing sub-assemblies.

While this was going on I was also working on the fuselage, for the most part this was problem free, the cockpit and turret interiors are nicely detailed and fitted well only requiring a few minor additions such as a pilot's harness from etched brass and instrument decals from the Reheat range. However, once the transparencies were in place it became evident that there was a fit problem with an appreciable step down from the clear parts to the fuselage sides and top. To remedy this I used two part epoxy putty (Milliput) which was easily spread with a wet spatula to blend the contours of the fuselage into the profile of the canopy having first protected the transparent areas with a double layer of masking tape. Once set (I usually allow 24 hours)    the Milliput was sanded smooth, any minor pitting or blemishes filled with "Green Stuff"  and re-sanded, panel lines were then re-scribed and the rails for the sliding access panel of the canopy on top of the fuselage which had been obliterated in the process were replaced with fine rectangular section plastic rod.

The tailplanes (stabilisers) as supplied in the kit are intended to be butt jointed to the fuselage which I felt would result in a weak joint prone to break at the slightest knock and it would also be difficult to adjust their alignment. I therefore drilled a pair of small holes in each of fuselage root areas and into end faces of the tailplanes, carefully measured to correspond with each other,  into these holes I inserted brass wire pins. The pins reinforced the joint once the tailplanes were glued in place and because the wire was thin and bendable it was possible to adjust the alignment so that both sides were perfectly horizontal.

The kit's resin engines are beautifully moulded in one piece but have separate exhaust pipes from each cylinder to the Townend ring which proved to be a problem to get them to fit properly and connect at both ends. In the end I decided to leave them off as once the cowling is in position they are barely visible anyway.

The undercarriage and final detailing presented no significant problems, the model was painted using Aeromaster acrylics for the upper surfaces and my own acrylic mix for the 'Eau-de-Nil' under surfaces. It was finished in the markings of No. 604 (County of Middlesex) Squadron, based at Northholt in July 1940 using Xtradecal roundels, codes and serials the narrow finflash came from an Almark 1/72 scale decal sheet.

This work by Roland Turner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

Dassault Mirage IIICJ 1/48 Scale

This model was built from the Heller kit with added cockpit detailing using the etch brass set produced by Airwaves for the "Hi-Tech" version of the kit. At the time E.D Models (The then proprietors of Airwaves) were selling off the unused, surplus sets, so I acquired a quantity which I am still using. The ejector seat is from Neomega.

The metallic finish was again achieved using Alclad by masking around the larger panels and airbrushing them with different shades. The smaller panels were replicated by using sections of silver decal sheet cut to the correct size.

Aeromaster's "Desert Mirages" set was used for the marking with model finished as an aircraft of the Israeli Air Force's 'First Jet Squadron' during the Six-Day War in 1967.

This work by Roland Turner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.