Interesting Defiant variant (and new model)

When I started building models all kits were covered in raised panel lines and rivets like saucers and all Luftwaffe right up to the end of the war were finished in 70/71 greens. The appearance of the 81/82/83 green was a revelation like Paul Lucas’ recent research on the post war RAF de/lsg/msg desert scheme so I won’t turn my nose up at a CA kit – Instead I just read the reviews first and don’t generally buy sight unseen!

and people are still making WW1 models and matt finishing them!

Blimey – thought I’d landed on Hyperscale for a minute………..

Where are you Brett and Jules………..

AM are still around – a SB2U (?) Vindicator is apparently on the way

We all know that CA as limited run kits don’t fall together like a Tamigawa kit and you buy with that in mind but then I doubt if either of them would produce a range of Meteors, DH Hornet, Sea Hawk or Wyvern in 1/48th.

When I started building models all kits were covered in raised panel lines and rivets like saucers and all Luftwaffe right up to the end of the war were finished in 70/71 greens. The appearance of the 81/82/83 green was a revelation like Paul Lucas’ recent research on the post war RAF de/lsg/msg desert scheme so I won’t turn my nose up at a CA kit – Instead I just read the reviews first and don’t generally buy sight unseen!

Hi Damian
well, Trumpeter have arrived from China and are producing some very nice stuff now after a shaky start.
I really like the stuff they produce–especially their 1/350th scale ships (sadly not relevant here) but the 1/32nd scale Corsair and Wildcat kits are very nice.
The Wildcat as originally released had some fuselage and wing shape problems, so they took it off the market and completely re-vamped the kit.
It’s fine now. They also do a 1/32nd scale F-105, which I’m told is very good.
Parrafin burners don’t do much for me though.
Cheers
Andy

Defiant Replica in 1/1

In response to a query earlier in this thread: there is a replica Defiant at the Boulton Paul Museum north of Wolverhampton. They only open on occasional Sundays but the place is a real Aladdins cave run by hard-working enthusiasts. They have a website if anyone wants to find when the next Open Sunday is. The replica Defiant is not perfect but provides an example of how to treat aircraft of which there are few or no examples around. Perhaps one day we might see a Whirlwind replica…

Hedgehogs have fur in England? Our’s are prickly. 😀

Wouldn’t this old-fangled quarter scale have been awfully confusing with 1/4 scale – which is a popular scale for r/c modellers? I’d never heard of that term before, so my apologies. But then NZ went Metric in 1967, and I wasn’t born till 1970. It wasn’t till I joined the RNZAF in 1989 that I learned all about the Imperial system because we were expected to work of very old aircraft that were built in the much inferior Imperial system.

Yes, the standard of models has risen dramatically in the past ten years and people seem to think it’s a crime now to have to fill seam gaps when we’ve become used to the tight fits of Tamiya, AM and Hasegawa. The thing I find very interesting is most of the big opposing companies who produce all the best kits get their tooling done by one firm in Korea. I think it is down to their engineering that models went from Airfix style junk to 21st Century quality, but a few companies have taken a while to catch up, and some are not quite there yet.

As far as the Hudson kit goes I plan to spend a very long time getting it right, and I don’t mind if it does take a lot of work. It is much better than having to scratch build it, which is what I was considering (in fact making the Contrail kit look right WOULD be scratchbuilding it!

I love the Accurate Miniatures Avenger kit, it is fantastic. It’s really odd how they went bust, when they were so good. But it is good that they are back again and still producing. Another of the greatest manaufacturers, Trimaster, didn’t return.

Hey guys,

I have a few CA kits, having built the MB.155 and it made up into a nice plane, but you have to work a bit to get to your results!

JDK, I know what you mean, they are a bunch of a$$holes, but I buy their kits at the cheapest price I can find, and believe me I get them cheap.

AM folded once because they announced a Beaufighter and Tamiya zipped right in front of them with theirs. While it is true that the AM Beau would have been more accurate than the Tamiya one, it would have been more difficult to build.

I built the AM SBD-4 and I’m going through a B-25 right now, and I hate those kits, but when they are finished on the shelf, they really look the part.

Here is my MB-155.

But the fur gets stuck between your teeth. Very irritating!

No, you bake them in mud and then when you crack the mud off them it takes the fur with it–or is that Hedgehog? Doesn’t matter, it all tastes like chicken. 😀 😀 😀 😀
Cheers
Andy.

So you collect bats instead now, Andy? Do you breed your own, or get them from a pet shop? 😀

I always breed my own bats. They take like Chicken. 😀 😀 😀

Er, I don’t like to be really nasty, but I’m afraid as kits, all CA kits are nicley presented junk. I wouldn’t touch them with a pole made of barge. If they really withdrew kits because of criticism, their catalogue would be a great blank notebook.

Accurate Miniatures were (arguably) the best; some of their kits beat Tamiya hollow. The Tamiya Swordfish is a cracking model but an AM version would have been better. Sadly AM weren’t so hot on the economics of this game and had to quit.

Defiant. We’ll never know, and Moggy’s point about the 4 x .303 punch is a good one, but I’d guess the single seater would be (almost) as good as a Hurricane… A lot better to take on a 109E than a P-11c, Morane 406, and a Caudron 714, but not as good as a Spitfire, etc…

Well done James.
I thought I was the only one who thought CA kits were complete clart!
Cheers
Andy

I’d guess the single seater would be (almost) as good as a Hurricane… A lot better to take on a 109E than a P-11c, Morane 406, and a Caudron 714, but not as good as a Spitfire, etc…

Oddly enough I blasted two pairs of Moranes out of the (IL2) skies last night in my lone Hurricane 🙂

Moggy

And this new release is a complete retooling after a release last year that was slated for innacuracies. So at least they listen to their critics and fix the problems.

Er, I don’t like to be really nasty, but I’m afraid as kits, all CA kits are nicley presented junk. I wouldn’t touch them with a pole made of barge. If they really withdrew kits because of criticism, their catalogue would be a great blank notebook.

Accurate Miniatures were (arguably) the best; some of their kits beat Tamiya hollow. The Tamiya Swordfish is a cracking model but an AM version would have been better. Sadly AM weren’t so hot on the economics of this game and had to quit.

Defiant. We’ll never know, and Moggy’s point about the 4 x .303 punch is a good one, but I’d guess the single seater would be (almost) as good as a Hurricane… A lot better to take on a 109E than a P-11c, Morane 406, and a Caudron 714, but not as good as a Spitfire, etc…

I have to admit not yet, but the two I have kicking about do look lovely in the boxes 😀 The Battle trainer looks especially good, though I’ve no idea when or why I bought it! Must get round to building it – or any of the other 80-odd kits I have ‘stored’ – some time soon…

That’s the shame of it Damien, they look like a great product. Good box art, good decals, nice resin, great subjects etc etc. They just don’t fit together.
I think they know that compared with the total number sold, the number actually built will be tiny and they’re actually catering for the kit collectors market rather than the model builder. I myself have in the past been guilty of kit collecting rather than model making as the twenty Tea chests of books models and associated accessories that have left this house for E-bay land in the last eight months may prove!
So far they’ve paid for a trip to the States for self and Mrs AIB and a very nicely re-modeled batroom.
I’ve still got three lifetimes worth of 1/350th resin ships and all my Great War stuff (and Putnams) so I’m not too hard done by.
Cheers
Andy

I wonder how well this Defiant variant might have fared in battle…

With just four rifle-calibre machine guns?

Hope it was a lot quicker than the two-seater – for running away purposes.

Moggy

Sorry, I meant Classic Airframes but somehow typed AM. I agree that AM make lovely kits, possibly the second-best quality only after Tamiya. But some Classic Aiframes kits are ok.

This Defiant is 1/48th, not quarter scale bu the way. And this new release is a complete retooling after a release last year that was slated for innacuracies. So at least they listen to their critics and fix the problems. I have not yet built a Classic Airframes kit but I have their Hudson and have had a good study of it. It’s not as crisp as Tamiya, but with a bit of work will make a lovely kit. I’m just a little scared to start it. I’ve waited 20 years for a decent Hudson kit, having previously had the appaulling Airfix 1/72nd (40,000 oversized rivets flying in formation) and the much worse Contrail vacform kit – which was obviously just vacuum formed over a dead fish as it is inches out for innacuracies. I junked it without even attempting to waste my time building it. The Classic Airframes kit is however ‘right’ as far as accuracy goes. I believe that the new Defiant is meant to be pretty good too. The link has some lovely photos at least.

Hi Dave
Quarter scale is the old term for 1/48th scale–as my friend Mike J say’s, Quarter inch=1 Foot, hence quarter scale.
He and I are are a similar vintage so perhaps that’s where it comes from–the past.
I don’t want to disillusion you about the Hudson kit, but have you got any Milliput in the house?–you’ll need it.
Especially around the engines I’m told.
Good luck–I might say, you’ll need it.
Andy

Sorry, I meant Classic Airframes but somehow typed AM. I agree that AM make lovely kits, possibly the second-best quality only after Tamiya. But some Classic Aiframes kits are ok.

This Defiant is 1/48th, not quarter scale bu the way. And this new release is a complete retooling after a release last year that was slated for innacuracies. So at least they listen to their critics and fix the problems. I have not yet built a Classic Airframes kit but I have their Hudson and have had a good study of it. It’s not as crisp as Tamiya, but with a bit of work will make a lovely kit. I’m just a little scared to start it. I’ve waited 20 years for a decent Hudson kit, having previously had the appaulling Airfix 1/72nd (40,000 oversized rivets flying in formation) and the much worse Contrail vacform kit – which was obviously just vacuum formed over a dead fish as it is inches out for innacuracies. I junked it without even attempting to waste my time building it. The Classic Airframes kit is however ‘right’ as far as accuracy goes. I believe that the new Defiant is meant to be pretty good too. The link has some lovely photos at least.

Hi Andy,
You are right about the respective manufacturers. Having had dealings with CM offering correct info and been ignored, it’s a bit of a waste of plastic.

The a/c depicted is the trial single seater. Not needed as Spitfire and Hurricane production made it, and the Miles M-20 unrequired. The prototype was always in silver when it was without the turret.
Cheers!

James
you beat me to the post.
Cheers
Andy

Thought CA kits were alright myself – need some work but lovely resin details and subjects few others, if any, bother with.

Hi Damien
I agree with what you say but have you tried building one? I ask because I’ve built three and although they look OK in the box. That’s about it.
Our resident colonial ‘Shagbat’ fan had a few pithy things to say about the Walrus too.
I actually think they’re overpriced junk.

The one’s I have experience of are:-
Goshawk
Helldiver
Battle
MS 406
Hudson.

Hi Andy,
You are right about the respective manufacturers. Having had dealings with CM offering correct info and been ignored, it’s a bit of a waste of plastic.

The a/c depicted is the trial single seater. Not needed as Spitfire and Hurricane production made it, and the Miles M-20 unrequired. The prototype was always in silver when it was without the turret.
Cheers!

I wonder how well this Defiant variant might have fared in battle…

Hi Dave
The new quarter scale Defiant is from Classic Airframes, not Accurate Miniatures–sadly!
Accurate Miniatures make rather nice injection moulded plastic kits that make up into reasonable representations of the aircraft they intend to depict.
Classic Airframes do not.

As far as the picture you posted goes. Is it the Defiant prototype.
Cheers
Andy