Written by 11:07 am On the Bench

WIP : Airfix 1/48 Defiant Mk.I Pt. 4 – Finishing

I was very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the Airfix decals. The carrier film is thin and they went on very easily. Color fidelity is also very good and they reacted well with Mark Setter and Softer. I went with N1572/KO-I due to the unique placement of the KO-I. Alas I found out after I was done that this particular marking wasn’t one from the Battle of Britain.

I went ahead and added all the stencils as they weren’t that many of them.

The leading edge of the tailfin was then handpainted so the colored bands look like they wraparound the tail. I got the red from mixing some Model Color German Cam Medium Brown with Mecha Color Red. The white was straight Game Color Dead White.

I then started to add both handpainted and sponge chipping using Model Air Metal Steel.

I also chipped with the camouflage colors to show some transition between the chips and the camouflage.

After about a day I checked my work and felt the chipping looked ‘off’ so I went back in and did more deliberate chips by dotting with paint.

But now I think it looks overdone. The ones on the fuselage looks OK but I’m not quite sold on the ones on the wings. Anyway, I’m hoping they will look fine after some weathering.

Instead of my usual gloss sealing coat, I went with a satin one instead. Panel wash is then next and I used Mig AMMO Deep Brown Panel Wash as I wanted to finish it up before switching completely to regular oil paints.

I left it to dry for 30 mins and carefully wiped the excess away with a damp tissue.

I like the subtler enhancements to the panel lines with a very dark brown color as opposed to a pure black.

The same color was used for the bottom panel wash.

After a day of curing, I then installed all the landing gear, propeller, engine exhausts and the various antenna at the bottom.

The broken actuator gave me no end to problems. I really should have just kept the ends and replaced the middle that broke with stretched sprue. Anyway, it’s only obvious when you flip it over. I’ll just have to live with it.

Taking a look at the chipping again, I still thought they still looked overdone.

So I handpainted more chips on the existing ones, this time using Model Color Black Grey.

Now the chips look more varied: the darker ones show the primer layer while the silver ones are the Defiant’s metal base. I then toned everything even more using Mig AMMO OIlbrusher Dusty Earth and Starship Filth. I hit the chips and various random spots and blended into the surface with a damp paintbrush. I also added streaks at this point.

The same was done for the bottom.

For the bottom, the streaks were added using Mig AMMO Deep Brown Panel Wash and Oilbrusher Starship Filth.

While the oil paint weathering was drying, I went ahead and added the exhaust streaks with thinned Model Air Dark Panzer Grey.

I then added a final coat of satin over the whole kit and checked my work again. Some of the weathering disappeared under the satin coat so I went back and added some more fading, streaks and grime in random spots.

It was especially obvious on the bottom that the satin covered up the weathering so I added more streaks and grime here.

Last on were the clear parts on the wings and the bubble canopy for the turret. Once these were secure I proceeded to remove the canopy masking.

So a lot of issues especially at the weathering stage and none the fault of the kit itself. The kit is finally done though! And a very unique subject I might add.

Build Log
Part 1 – Cockpit | Part 2 – Construction | Part 3 – Painting | Part 4 – Finishing

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