1/32 Boulton Paul Defiant - new kit design?

[airscale]

Hi everyone

 

I haven't been making models for about a month... but I have been modelmaking

 

It has always been a little dream of mine to use airscale to make my own kit and take a tiny weeny bit of the power of what gets released and when from the big boys..

 

So, I started making my first kit in 3D - something I toyed with in 1/18 and I think is an interesting subject - the Defiant Mk1. Before I go any further I will justv say that this is a project that I thought might be interesting to share - I have no idea of what I am doing and there are some significant practical challenges to overcome on the way, not least of which are:

 

Transparencies - I want these to be Injection moulded - If I can find clear parts on a toy in the pound shop, I must be able to get something made - if that fails then maybe resin but that is very labour intensive, failing that maybe 3D has advanced enough, and as a last resort vacforms

 

Print dimensional accuracy - I have faces that are within a micron of each other on screen, but when printed have quite a bit of deviation - I expect this is a lot to do with the orientation & support placement, but for detailed surfaces you are kind of pushed into limited options

 

Print time - All the parts for now are printed at the lowest, but fastest quality @ 60 micron layers, I usually print in 22 microns for my AM parts - but this speeds up the prints - even then, on 60 microns it takes about 9 hours to do the wing parts so each kit will take days to print at the proper resolution

 

I think it's worth a shot, but for now can't say if, or when it might be available, or how much it would be..

 

Anyways, enough of the negative waves man, let's have a look at progress so far - this is the Mk1 but I also have a MkII nose and prop..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

..the kit currently breaks down like this..

 

 

..and the first prototype prints - I primed and painted it because I wanted to see how the surface detail held up - should have painted it a lighter colour though..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, I am quite pleased with how some of the parts came out, others clearly need work.. thats why it is here as a WIP as I want you to come on the journey with me. I also want to get some feedback along the way and although I will do my best, this won't be a Tamiya quality kit so I hope if it ever does come out you can help me not get it rubbished by the critics

 

next up will be the gear bays, then surface detailing the wings & fillets and unlike every other model I have ever made, last of all will be the cockpit. Oh and by the way and drawings or reference pics are always welcome - just PM me

 

TTFN

 

Peter

 

[dennismcc]

The Defiant is one off my wishlist kits, so I will watch closely.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[mozart]

This will be very welcome Peter, what a great choice of subject! I don’t doubt it will sell really well despite there being no price point yet. 
 

 

PM inbound! 

[Tolga ULGUR]

I would like to get one

[monthebiff]

Excellent subject choice Peter and I do hope this project does make it to kit form as I'm sure it would be very popular as it's a subject a lot of us would love to build in 32nd scale.

 

Regards. Andy 

[Landrotten Highlander]

56 minutes ago, dennismcc said:

The Defiant is one off my wishlist kits, so I will watch closely.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

x 2

[Shoggz]

Wow, how exciting! 

 

I'd definitely be up for one of these.

[Steve Eagle]

Veeerry interesting! As Schultz would say. 

[Artful69]

I'm in ... It WILL be expensive by the nature of the medium ... That's life ... package it well (Instructions, decals, multi media etc) similar to Jetmads ... and you'll have a winner. 

 

Rog

[JayW]

Wow!  What a great subject here!  And this idea of 3D printing an entire kit, to sell to others.  You and I have heard that one before! 

 

I don't know where to start.  How about this for starters -

 

-  What will you do to the LG struts to make them robust enough?  Is that not a problem at 1/32 as well as 1/18?

 

Good luck on this most interesting project.  Judging by the smaller projects you have offered up on Airscale, this will end up being a real gem.

[firefly7]

Outstanding, looking forward to buying one.   

[europapete]

Colletion round!! Collection round!! mail your pre-order payments to... ( Peter, insert address here)

[Zola25]

Very nice - I am in

[Martinnfb]

This proves one thing, everything that Peter touches turns to gold.  

[thierry laurent]

Wow ! That turret is incredible!!! 👏

1/18th is impressive but this will ask ages to print parts. 1/32th would be probably more attractive and you can also consider 1/24th to go with the existing Spitfires, Hurricane, Mosquito and Typhoons.