Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I

Airfix 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Airfix's 1/48 scale Defiant Mk.I will be available online from Squadron.com

The Boulton Paul Defiant was a British fighter of the Second World War featuring sleek lines and powered by a single Rolls Royce Merlin engine.

It was designed and built as a turret fighter without any forward-firing guns. The Defiant was a contemporary of the only other WWII operational single-engine turret fighter, the Royal Navy's Blackburn Roc.

The concept of a turret fighter was derived directly from the successful First World War-era Bristol F.2 Fighter. However, the additional weight of the turret and the second crew member significantly reduced the Defiant's performance compared to contemporary fighters.

In combat, the Defiant was initially found to be reasonably effective at its intended task of destroying bombers but quickly became vulnerable to the Luftwaffe's more manoeuvrable, single-seat Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. The lack of forward-firing armament proved to be a great weakness in daylight combat and its potential was only realised when it was converted to night fighting.

It was supplanted in the night fighter role by the Bristol Beaufighter and de Havilland Mosquito.

The Defiant found later use in gunnery training, target towing, electronic countermeasures and air-sea rescue.*

The Defiant in 1/48 scale

The Airfix kit is not the first 1/48 scale Boulton Paul Defiant. In fact, Classic Airframes actually released two distinct generations of this turret fighter.

Classic Airframes first 1/48 scale Defiant hit the market in 1995 and was a fairly typical limited run product of its time with primitive injection moulded parts, vacform canopy and turret, and some noticeable shape errors.

In 2004, Classic Airframes released an entirely new Defiant. This represented a great improvement over its earlier cousin. The new kit featured well moulded plastic parts with crisp fine panel lines, highly detailed resin and photo-etch and accurate outlines. The clear parts were presented in injection moulded plastic this time around too.

Two kits were initially offered - a Day Fighter (Kit No. 471) and a Night Fighter (Kit No. 481). Over the next few years the kit was also released as a Target Tug (TT.Mk.I/III, Kit No. 482) and re-issued with new markings.

Construction was still more challenging than a typical mainstream injection moulded kit, but it would be nothing beyond the talents of an experienced modeller who was willing to take the time to properly prepare the parts and test fit.

The all-new Airfix 1:48 scale Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I comprises 99 parts in light grey plastic, 14 parts in clear and markings for two aircraft.

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Moulding quality is excellent. The plastic is matt in texture, and moulding imperfections are few, mainly ejector pin circles on the inside surfaces of some parts.

Surface detail on the wings and fuselage is by way of crisply recessed panel lines, raised rivets and fasteners, and really well done fabric texture.

The panel lines will be a little heavy for some tastes but I have found that Airfix surface detail tends to look much better under a coat of paint.

The fuselage is moulded as two full-length sides with a long insert in the upper fuselage for the canopy, turret and dorsal ramp. The top engine cowl is a separate part too.

The cockpit is very well detailed wth separate sidewall frames, suspended foot rests, rudder pedals and more. Harness straps are not included, and neither are the crew figures that we have come to know and love in recent Airfix releases.

The instrument panel is not quite up to the same level of detail as the rest of the cockpit, with simple raised circles for the dials and the option of a decal. An investment in an Eduard "Zoom" photo-etched set will address this slight shortcoming.

Engineering of the turret mount is quite clever with a single rigid part extending from the rear pilot's deck to the back of the dorsal ramp well. This is designed to be glued to one fuselage side, then two pieces of supporting plastic are cut away once the fuselage halves have been joined, leaving an empty round opening for the turret. It sounds odd, but looks like it will work well.

The turret itself is lavishly detailed. Optional parts are supplied to display the turret's rear access panels open or closed. The clear parts are perfectly moulded and have crisply defined raised framework.

The dorsal ramp may be posed up or down.

The pilot's canopy also features a movable rear ramp. Airfix offers the option of the canopy closed with the ramp either up or down; or the canopy open with the ramp up.

The wings have a lower centre section and two small lower outboard sections with upper wing halves overlapping the join. Ailerons, elevators and the rudder are all separate parts that may be posed to taste. The radiator flap may be posed open or closed, and the crew foot step positioned either up or down too.

Airfix provides a pair of inserts for closed undercarriage doors. Even if you are building your model with the gear down, you might want to use these inserts to mask off the undercarriage bay while you are painting your camouflage colours.

Engineering of the main undercarriage has been flimsy on some of the latest 1/48 scale Airfix releases, but the Defiant looks solid with three nice positive anchoring points per main leg.

The sprues include a second set of exhausts (flared) and radar aerials, so we are likely to see a night fighter boxing some time in the future. In fact, with an appropriate set of after market decals, you could build one straight from the box.

The instructions are laid out over 16 pages in 71 clearly illustrated steps.

Markings

Two marking options are offered – both in Dark Earth and Dark Green upper surfaces with Sky below.

Stencils and a medium grey walkway are included on the sheet.

The decals feature perfect registration, rich colours and the hint of a satin finish.

Airfix continues to impress with their new 1/48 scale Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I. This is a worthy companion to their recent 1/48 scale Hurricane Mk.I and Spitfire Mk.Vb kits.

The new Airfix Defiant is accurate, features nice surface textures and a high level of detail.

Comparison with the 2004 Classic Airframes kit is probably moot as it is long out of production, but I would say that surface textures are a tie, and that the interior detail of the Classic Airframes kit is superior thanks to its resin and photo-etched parts.

However, for most modellers, the proof of the pudding is in the building. With its locating pins, alignment guides, crsip clear parts and all-plastic 21st century mainstream moulding technology, the Airfix kit will be a far easier build with more options on offer.

There are already a number of after market accessories available for this kit including colour photo-etch and masks from Eduard and a new decal sheet from Xtradecal (reviewed previously on HyperScale).

I am really looking forward to seeing where Airfix heads with their next 1/48 scale WWII RAF release. Could we hope for that great missing link of 1/48 scale Battle of Britain subjects - the Fairey Battle? Pretty please?

Highly Recommended.

* Historical summary adapted from Wikipedia

Sample purchased by reviewer from Hannants.

Text and Images Copyright © 2016 by Brett Green
Page Created 16 March, 2016
Last updated 17 March, 2016

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