Part 2: The Build, Completed

Bottom Line Up Front ... Despite what I've done to it, this is a good kit. It could have been a very good kit. If it is re-released, I have some suggestions that would make it close to a great kit. I'll cover this in the summary at the end of this review. Mea Culpa, Again ... I apologize to Classic Airframes, John Noack, and the membership for the overly long time it took to get this review completed. Despite my "quick build" prognosis in Part 1, I'm a slow builder, and to that I've added contaminated paint, clogged air brush, dead compressor, lifted off paint, and a host of other issues to my usual excuses. And of course there is trying to get everyone else's review online ... To compound the problem, I evidently misplaced a few in-progress photos that would have been useful ... AMS Kicks In ... One would think that with my time issues, I wouldn't go off half-cocked into the AMS world, but I did in two areas - the target storage/deployment setup and the cable deflectors/cutters. I'll talk about the latter later on, but here's the target storage one. If you look back in Part 1, I discussed two different winches and two different methods of storing and deploying targets -- internal and external. While studying the cockpit parts, and the markings, and thinking about what I was going to build, I realized that I didn't really understand how the external storage bay worked. I also noted that CA gave me just an empty storage bay - there were no targets. Guess what is hard to find -- a good clear picture of the underside of a Defiant TT with the external storage bay !! My research lead me to The Long Drag, A Short History of British Target Towing, by Donald Evans, Flight Recorder Publications (read Paul Bradley's review here). an excellent book on the subject, but even it did not answer my questions fully. The problem is that if the storage is external then how are targets hooked on -- not inside as the sheave (part R12) is outside. One photo and only one, showed what appeared to be cables from the targets stowed in the bay running back up into the hole in the fuselage where part R16 goes. That means to put on a new target, the operator just has to fish for the winch cable, bring it in and clip to a target cable fastened inside the aircraft. You'll see all this later. Meanwhile, even though I didn't start with the cockpit, we'll pretend I did. Oh, after study, I decided to do a TT.I with external bay and windlass-winch in non-kit RAF markings. Cockpit It's really nice and goes together well. There is an error in the front office - the instructions tell you to put the stick (R10) into a block on the floorboards - wrong, it goes into the loop on the front of the seat. Bet you thought the Defiant came with a front-seat cup holder ?!? Anyway, it's pretty obvious as the block on the floorboard is behind the instrument panel. In the rear cockpit, the instructions show the rear bulkhead (R7) sitting on the floor (R17) -- but that wouldn't allow the bulkheads and floors to line up neatly with the formers and stringers. I cut a bit less than 1/16" off the rear of the floorboard and mounted the rear bulkhead against the floorboard -- then everything aligned perfectly. The windlass winch option (part R11), unlike the beautiful electric winch (R9), comes with no cable. So I wrapped some 2-lb fishing line around it, built a tiny follower, and then fleshed out the "panel" with a small piece of plastic and a gage to look like a similar installation on a Skua. The rear seat is a gem -- it is well worth your time to break out a new blade and tiny file to carefully cut away the flash between the seat supports. No seatbelts are supplied -- I dipped into my Eduard stash. Unfortunately the canopies are so thick that most the cockpit detail is wasted. Fuselage Test fit the cockpit into the fuselage -- if I remember right, it went in with virtually no problem, maybe a few swipes of a sanding stick on the edges of the front cockpit bulkhead (R1). There is an inspection window above the winch -- CA gives this to you as a solid piece (R15), when it should be clear. I tried making my own clear version but broke it at the end, so you'll see a hole instead. Given my discussion of the target stowage bay, I left off part R16 completely (it didn't look present on the one good photo I had), and left the storage bay (R19) out until later so I could make the targets. There is no hole drilled for the tail wheel so plan for that before you go too far. I also recommend you drill it for a brass wire to stiffen it, it breaks easily. I had almost no problem joining the fuselage together and had very little clean up of seams to do. The tail surfaces mounted cleanly to the fuselage without much work. I added a couple short sections of brass rod to represent the trim tab pushrods, as per 3-view drawings. They are fairly obvious & I'm surprised CA didn't mold them in. Step 5 shows the placement of wire around the tail to protect against cables, but CA just has you run it right into the elevators. 3-view drawings indicate a cable cutter is mounted on the hinge line that rides free when the elevators move. AMS kicked in and I genned up something out of brass tube and rod, then ran wires to/from that. I also added some little mount under the fuselage.

Wings and Wheel Wells -- Right Church, Wrong Pew ... The two resin wheel wells don't allow the wing halves to close completely. There are 4 options -- trim down the wheel wells, gouge out the upper surface, gouge out the lower surface, and, of course, any combo of the above. I said "Eureka!", grabbed my Dremel and just whaled away at the upper wing surface to make the wheel wells fit - and I did. Then I found out that I had to Dremel some of the fuselage root to clear the wheel wells, then some of the underside of the cockpit, etc. And I later found out that the gear (parts 16 & 17) would not seat in the mounting holes and had to extend them with brass rod. The right pew/answer is to Dremel out the lower wing half of each wing, carefully around the edges -- it's awful thick anyway and would look better thinned out. The instructions mention none of this. Work with the two landing lights before you close up the wing. The resin lamps (R14) and the clear covers (C2,C3) don't fit in the wing for a number of reasons, not the least being the clear parts are way too thick. I made the mistake of gluing the wing together then having to cut & fit the other parts and trying to glue in the lamps without dropping them into the wing, never to return. Fit the wing & fuselage. If you remember in Part 1, I mentioned test fit showed a mismatch and I cleaned some of it up by cleaning out at the rear of the root. I had to do a bit more of that, not very much, then I got them to fit pretty well. There is no problem at the top -- the fillet is great, but I had a tiny mismatch at the leading edge to be sanded out and the join at the rear underside needed some filler. Fortunately the radiator sits on a lot of this and it isn't noticeable. Really it isn't as much work as it sounds and like I say, the upper wing/fuselage joint is exceptionally clean. My test fits also showed a slight mismatch between the nose and the fuselage. I ran a piece of .010" strip between the top of the nose pieces (2,3) and that took most of it out. Then a slight amount of filler and touch-up along the sides was all that was necessary after the nose was glued on. External Target Stowage As I said earlier, CA gives you an empty stowage bay. I didn't want to waste all my AMS, so I made some targets out of Milliput, ran a cable from one back up through the sheave to the winch and ran the other 3 into the fuselage. When all done, I realized the 3 cables into the fuselage should have gone to the front of the opening, not the back -- oh, well, close enough. As I said before, I left off R16 -- I wasn't sure if it was cut for cables to run through it and/or hinged to swing up into the fuselage -- besides my reference photo indicated it wasn't present. Landing Gear & Doors Too many parts are heavy and crude, attached to sprue by gates inversely proportional in size to the delicacy of the parts. The instructions are too cramped to see clearly where things attach to what and in what relationship, so references are helpful. I had, as mentioned before, a problem with the main gear and had to lengthen it with brass rod to mount properly -- a good reason to Dremel out the lower surface to fit the wheel wells. This also avoids problems with attaching the various struts, some of which I had to lengthen. Paint and Markings Nothing here is CA's fault except of course the gross mismatch between aircraft version, model parts, and decals supplied on the boxart version. As I had decided to keep the external bay and didn't want to do the Vokes filter versions, I found a British TT of the right configuration and did it up in Ocean-Grey/Dark-Green over Trainer-Yellow/Night-Black. I used Mister Kit acrylics with which I have a love-hate relationship. The interior went fine, then somehow I contaminated the Night-Black - it not only sprayed poorly, it kept clogging my brush. Trying to fix that, I broke the brush and had to get a new one and of course I chose to change horses in midstream and get a better one which I then had to learn to use. About the same time, my compressor quit compressing and had to be replaced. Then the paint didn't lay down right and lifted off when I masked stripes and so on ... I have tried to take Elizabeth Taylor style glamour shots here to avoid too much embarrassment ... I was too far behind to strip it all down and start over .... Several heavy coats of Testor's Dull-Cote have done wonders to hide this ...

I used the CA decals for the national markings and they went on wonderfully, but I didn't bother to apply the couple dozen stencils that CA supplies to go on the aircraft. I made the NW-Q from my decal stash. My sole reference photo of this aircraft does not show a serial number so I took the easy way out. Summary I said at the beginning, this is a good kit and despite some of my comments, it is. The Defiant is a good looking aircraft, the target tugs have an interesting configuration with colorful and complex markings, and the CA kit will make into an excellent representation of it. To that add the fact that CA included all the parts necessary to make either a TT.I or a TT.III. But, it could have been a much better kit without changing any of the plastic. If you review Part 1 & 2, you'll see many errors in research reflected in the box-art, the kit configurations, and the supplied markings -- didn't need to be. The instructions themselves have errors in a few places, aren't sufficiently clear in others, and lack useful data and tips. Now, if Classic Airframes decides to re-release this kit, in addition to fixing the discrepancies noted above, I have two other recommendations. First, replace all the clear parts with decent quality clear, thin parts to include an open front cockpit. Second, supply a resin part to replace the external stowage bay and a picture to show the cut lines in the lower fuselage to model the bay-less version. I highly recommend this kit -- with some research and a little effort, you'll have a great model. I enjoyed this build -- despite my gripes, the corrections took very little effort. I would like to thank Classic Airframes and IPMS/USA for providing the review kit and allowing me to review it. Again, sorry it took so long - it wasn't the kits' fault.

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