Boulton-Paul Defiant ASR Mk I, V1121/BA*O, 277 Squadron, RAF, August 1942
The Subject
The Defiant was expected to intercept bombers and with it’s 4x .303 Brownings easily get close enough to…oh who am I kidding. It was a really dumb idea regardless what it was designed for. Strap a heavy turret onto a fighter and then expect 2 men to take it into combat.
Ultimately the Defiant found uses after being disastrously used during the Battle of Britain. Certainly the men were brave but when the RAF quickly realized the planes were outclassed, the Defiant was immediately switched to a more reasonable mission. As a night interceptor it was better suited, but eventually it was relegated to second and third line duties.
One duty was that of Air-Sea Rescue (ASR). As crews returned from Northern Europe, whether bomber or interdiction, some would end up in the Channel or North Sea. The Defiant ASR replaced less capable aircraft and was able to nominally defend itself if it encountered Luftwaffe fighters.
The aircraft was a standard Defiant but with small bomb carriers under the outer wings, each carrying a dingy to assist crew when found. Eventually these aircraft were replaced by war weary Spitfires and Thunderbolts.
The Model
This is the Airfix Defiant kit, new tooled and released in 2015. I picked up 3 kits and the Xtradecal sheet X72217 as I wanted to have the standard day fighter, night fighter and ASR variants on my shelf. I decided my first one would be the ASR.
This is a very easy kit to build, I found it had no vices and even the turret was quite easy. I sourced the dinghy packs from overseas, but unfortunately they were incorrect. While technically a dinghy pack, they did not have the aerodynamic shapes on the fore and aft ends. Obviously these were meant for a bomb bay, not under a fighter. So I scratched up the shapes from old bombs and drop tanks in my spares bin. I do have another set as I want to make the Thunderbolt ASR someday.
I used a Peewit mask for the canopy and turret, which frankly is a must. I decided to finally give my Hataka FAA paint set a solid try as in small uses the paints didn’t seem quite right, working neither for brushing or my airbrush. Eventually I determined I wasn’t mixing the paint well enough as there is a steel ball in the bottle and it wasn’t moving about. I stumbled on it when shaking the Interior Grey Green and suddenly the ball came loose..long story short once I got it moving about and tried it the paint worked well with both a brush as well as my airbrush (thinned of course).
I also cut away the wing tip lights and replaced these with clear sprue. I must say this makes the model anymore and I find myself doing this more consistently.
Summary
I’m looking forward to putting the others on my shelf. I really need to complete my Battle of Britain “set” as I’ve collected all the kits. I never seem to get past doing just one more Spitfire instead, however.
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