Iain

I'll second Dave on this - I've had exactly the same happen to me... Iain

Looking absolutely fabulous Peter!! Iain

Fab choice - I have one here and it looks like a fabulous kit - so looking forward to seeing what you make of it! Iain

That's absolutely beautiful work Ani - very well done - something to be very proud of! Thank you for sharing 👍. Iain

It's live - try this link: https://www.airscaleprokits.co.uk/#!/1-32-Boulton-Paul-Defiant-Mk-1-Full-Kit/p/734529231 Iain

Welcome aboard! Iain

Happy Birthday Paul! Iain

Fabulous work - especially those radios! Iain

Looking good John! Iain

Beautifully done! Iain

Quick update - I'll try and do some more over the weekend, but I have a list of non-modelling jobs I need to catch up on. This is a test fit into the centre fuselage sections - again, no glue has been used at all on any of the parts so far... Into starboard side: And it's straight in! There will be some finessing needed to get everything 'home' - as you'll see further down this post. Can't quite get the two halves together - some fettling will be needed to get everything together snugly - but that's not unexpected at this stage, and shoulkd be straightforward. Blue skies, Iain

Thanks guys - much appreciated... Had to spend the day working with the day job - but did manage to get some Defiant done. Iain

Looks like a gorgeous kit - and agreed on the box art - superb! Iain

And some dry fitting of cockpit components - these are straight off the supports and with no fettling at all at this stage: 5 components in that assembly... Iain

Fab project!! Iain

Cheers Ron! Iain

Slight Plan B, rather than digging out the paint pots, I needed to free the pilot's set from the box of ABS-like parts - which actually meant release all the parts from that box... So, here they are - cut from their supports - but still needing some fine fettling with blade and file: Seat and control column: Tailwheel: Throttle quadrant: Undercarriage legs: And those Brownings: Another thrilling installment of 'Defiant, a tale in daily parts' coming to a screen near you sometime soon! Have fun. Iain

Thank you one and all for your Birthday wishes - most kind! Another year older - and still none the wiser... Iain

Spot on Thierry! Iain

BTW - in an effort to better show the detail of this kit I've started posting larger images - 1500 px wide. Indulge me, I now have a really fast fibre connection - so uploading images from out here in the sticks isn't the *very* slow faff it used to be! 😎 But, if anyone is finding them slow to load please let me know and I'll see if I can reduce the file sizes... Iain

So, I had a bit of quiet time earlier and dug out my references, which caused me to dig out the fuselage parts... Well, I couldn't resist dry fitting them together! Note - none of the joint surfaces have been cleaned up here - this is as the parts come in the kit, with the print supports removed before shipping: Given I haven't prepped the joint surfaces yet - I'm pretty amazed at how well the fuselage components go together - great engineering! Oh, and those undercarriage bays: Now those that know me, or have followed my previous build threads, will know that I usually find things to improve (and that includes Tamiya et al) - as I'm sure most of us do... So I have seen a few things I want to improve, first being the curved 'intakes' on the side of the cowlings - these are printed as raised above the surface - but they should actually be set into the surface - i.e. the same curved shape, but recessed rather than proud. Shouldn't take much work to fix that. Other areas I want to re-shape slightly are the flats on either side of the cockpit section (see top photo) - my eyes tell me this should actually have a slight curve in cross-section - and a softer blend with the cross-sectional curve below. Some filler primer and some sanding should improve that. Also, the rear fuselage upper sides may be a little 'bulged' on either side of the rear edge of the deck opening when viewed from an upper 45 deg angle - again, a little judicious sanding should improve this - if, indeed, I've judged it correctly... Please note: the kit looks great - I'm just planning some tweaks based upon Mk.1 eyeball (as I always do) - and I'm still thinking through/evaluating whether I will actually make any tweaks. Oh - and look at that print quality - see any print lines? Couldn't resist digging out an old (and very dusty) Revell Spit IIa, that's currently sat waiting its Kotare replacement, as a size comparison: And with the 1:48 Airfix kit, build a few years back by my son Cameron, when he was about 11! Now, where did I put my pot of cockpit grey-green? Iain

No - injection-moulded John! And they are quite superb. As to subject - I'm sure we can all be a little biased towards our own home-grown designs. I think the subjects you've mentioned are more likely to be injection moulded - rather than very low volume 3D printing. In fact they have been - albeit not as well as we'd probably have liked. Companies like Airscale need to be careful in choosing subjects that more mainstream kit companies might also release, and make their specialist product redundant overnight. Others' mileage *will* vary... Iain

A little more progress: Carefully snipping supports at their base - sometimes it's easier to work from the ends of the supports nearest the part - but I always leave some material between the support and the part itself. Peter has done a super job with the supports - they are nice and fine and removing them is straightforward - just a little patience and care required. Notice how thin the instrument panel parts are! Once each part in turn is removed I trim back as close to the part as I dare with the side cutters. And here we are - the contents of 'Box B' in all their finely detailed glory! And, yes, I did manage to break something - the bungee chord on the radio set (on the other side not shown in the photo) - should be a simple fix. Next stage is to do a final finesse on these parts with some files and a sharp blade, and start painting! Andy Long, who's a bit of a Defiant guru and has helped with the kit, has confirmed grey green for the 'pit. Back soon(ish)... Iain

Beautifully done! Iain

Indeed - Tolga has led the field and the build will be a very similar process - just using production quality parts. This will also be a Night-Fighter, rather than the Day-Fighter version Tolga built. Very few kits have inspired me to just open the box and 'crack on' as this one has - so the decks were already cleared in preparation... Iain