1:48 Boulton-Paul Defiant Mk.I wheels and canopy paint mask outside only (for Airfix 05128A kit)

The fighter that shot backward

The Defiant Mk.I came from the idea that a fighter need not have fixed armament in the wing but a rotating turret with four .303 caliber machine guns behind the pilot. It could not shoot forward at all. Over Dunkirk in May 1940 it caught German pilots out, who took it for a Hurricane from behind, but as soon as the enemy learned the lesson, heavy losses came during the summer. The two-seat machine with a Merlin engine therefore moved to night defense, where the weight of the turret counted for less in combat, and later it finished its service as a target tug.

Why mask rather than paint

The glazing of the Defiant is broken up: besides the classic canopy over the pilot it also has a long glazed cover behind the cockpit and the turret itself. Outlining that many frames by hand means hours of work with an uncertain result. The film shortens this part of the build to a few minutes: offer it up, press it down, spray over it and peel it off.

A procedure that has proved itself

First let the clear part dry thoroughly after washing, and only then lay the mask. Apply the paint in thin coats; one heavy coat likes to run under the edge. Once the shade is done, take the film off while the varnish is still fresh. The set covers the outer side, so the inner framing stays a matter of hand painting. The cut shapes come from one particular Airfix kit; with a Defiant from another brand an exact fit cannot be counted on.

If you decide on the later night finish in an all-black coat, the cleanness of the frames matters even more than with day camouflage. Matte black has no detail, so the only thing that leads the eye on the model is precisely the lines of the glazing and the outline of the turret. An inaccurate edge is apparent at once on such a surface.