Orlik Kit No:009 Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I

[flying rasta]

Hello my fellow modeling family.

I am back! (sorta) and i have been in my man cave doing this model..

now i have to say that once i started looking this particular craft, i saw some camo issues and markings (damn the internet and the paying attention to details!!) so i sorta went to work in illustrator and photoshop to get it right.

well after a couple weeks i am about 90% complete...

my first Orlik kit..

[jagolden01]

Nice...very nice! Not familiar with this aircraft.

JoeG

[flying rasta]

i was trying to go for a very worn look with a lot of the paint gone form wear and tear of the machine of the 264 Squadron. Sorry for the poor pic quality and lighting.

When completed , i will ask a friend of mine to take proper pics...

i loved working on the wheel well and oleo struts. i also came to love the movable flaps, control surfaces and turret.

just a few more pics from my phone...

the hidden detail that i spent a little time on was the instrument panel. so its veeery veeeeery different from what was supplied with the kit.

i am happy with my first orlik attempt. there was a lot of lessons learned while building this..(like next time use matt varnish!!..sheeesh) and will use these when building the kingfisher (orlik again..)


cheers all.

[flying rasta]

hello jagolden01...this was almost prewar spec fighter for the RAF, they envisioned this shooting down bombers..

it did great in its debut as a bomber destroyer and fighter until the Luftwaffe discovered it didn't have any forward firing guns..so they fell like flies in fighter contested airspace. however there were quite a few aces that rode this mount..

[flying rasta]

so just to put on the landing gear door and struts..the left aileron and elevator and finally..the turret dome. still trying to figure hoe to do this most efficiently.

[Don Boose]

Very pretty shiny Deffie.

The first time I heard about this aircraft was as a kid, reading aviation stories. One account of the Defiant in battle said that the heavy turret and the lack of any other forward-firing armament put it at a great disadvantage so that after high losses they were relegated to target towing. But one story (too good to check) was that they had initial victories over Dunkirk when a gaggle of Bf-109s made a six o'clock high diving attack on a flight of Defiants thinking they were Hurricanes. Very bad idea.

Don

[flying rasta]

Very pretty shiny Deffie.

lol.

yes so true Don...thinking of building it again further down the road. i was just amazed that while building her i was busy researching the type. they did quite well in night defense role till the mossie came along.

[peter taft]

Hey...... tis my old mate back on the boards Grrrrrrrrreat to see you still keep your fingers at work my friend. This is a superb build of this aircraft.

[Don Boose]

Yes. I forgot about the successful use of Defiants in the night fighter role!

In any event, Peter speaks truth about the quality of your build. I eagerly wait for more.

Don

[peter taft]

For your pleasure.....