The Defiant IV, the scourge of the Panzers.

[PR19_Kit]

You may recall that my eldest daughter gave me an Airfix Defiant kit for Father's Day, and it's been sitting here waiting for Whiffing inspiration to strike.

Well it did, so I started work on the Defiant while waiting for the Prototype GB to kick off later in the week. It'll probably hang fire while my GB models are under way, but it's something to keep me off the streets. 



While the kit's from the same generation as Airfix's wonderful fabric wing Hurricane I found it anything BUT as easy to build the cockpit section. It's very fiddly indeed, and while all the bits fit eventually, there are 3-4 different ways they'll go together, and I found the instructions not all that useful in that respect. Anyway, it's together now and I've also got the other half glued on too by now.

You may notice the odd item missing, like the rudder pedals. They pinged off into orbit when I was cutting them off the sprue, but it's a deep cockpit with complex canopy framing so it'll be difficult to see they're not there.

Oh, the engine you say? Well yes, I thought the Merlin would be a tad boring so I did away with it and I've got a nice resin alternative to go in its place. 

[PR19_Kit]

Having said all that, the rest of it went together very well indeed. Not a sign of PSR needed with a little judicious filing and sanding.

Still no engine though............ 

[tigercat]

Centaurus ?

[PR19_Kit]

Centaurus ?

It has one characteristic similar to a Centaurus................ 

Maybe two.............

[The Wooksta!]

Twin row radial or a Sabre?

[PR19_Kit]

Twin row radial or a Sabre?

Close, but no banana. 

It doesn't help that I invented the engine, it just looks like something else. And I think you gave me the resin Lee. 

[The Wooksta!]

I'd have to see it to identify it - I know I've moulds for Centaurus (Brigand), Hercules, some US engine that I did for Tony O'Toole, Perseus, Mercury, Griffon (Spitfire, Seafire and Firefly 7), Dagger, RR Eagle (Tempest), two stage Merlins for Mosquito, Merlin 85s, plus a small civvie engine that I think is from a Proctor.  I've also got the front for the annular Sabre and a copy of the Magna Superfreighter engines. 

Doesn't help me narrow it down though...

[PR19_Kit]

The resin engine is in that list, and if I posted a pic you know it INSTANTLY. 

But I've scale-o-rama'd its internals so it's a lot more powerful. 

[buzzbomb]

Very interesting

[Caveman]

Will it have sleeve valves?

Also, assuming that these tanks are operating near sea level I assume you'll be reducing the wing span in order to improve roll rate for all that low level manoeuvring?

[PR19_Kit]

Will it have sleeve valves?

Also, assuming that these tanks are operating near sea level I assume you'll be reducing the wing span in order to improve roll rate for all that low level manoeuvring?

No, LOTS of poppet valves, according to the backstory anyway. So it's not a Sabre. 

I hadn't thought about reducing the span, no. Actually I'm not at all sure that I CAN think about reducing wing spans. 

But I have done two models which didn't have ANY span, the BAe Stand and the Vought Double Pancake.

[PR19_Kit]

Here's the Defiant IV with its engine installed.

It's a Napier Epee, a larger version of the Dagger, and smaller than the Sabre (see what I did then?  ) and was also a 24 cylinder 'H' engine, but with a capacity of 25 litres and with 4 valves/cylinder and a two stage supercharger. The Epee produced 1100 bhp at 4000 rpm, but more importantly it was air cooled, which was ideal for the Defiant IV's tasks, namely anti-tank ground attack.

This build was inspired by Doug K's anti-tank Defiant entry in the RAF Centenary GB a year or so ago, thanks Doug  but I wanted to give it an air cooled engine as it would have made the aircraft less vulnerable to low level AAA fire, so it doesn't have a radiator either. Needless to say it will have a pair of those lovely 40 mm Vickers S guns like the Hurricane IIDs, and just as Doug surmised, the four Brownings in the turret would dissuade the tank crews from running too far away from their punctured vehicle! 



The engine is a resin Dagger moulding that I was gifted by a nice man from the North  some while ago, and I've been waiting for something to come along which would suit it, and it has. The rectangular Dagger cowling is actually totally the wrong shape for the upside down pear shaped Defiant fuselage, but it's nothing that a big file, some wet and dry paper and LOTS of PSR won't put right, I hope......

And I just invented the Epee, as Napier should have done if they hadn't been so obsessed about getting 2000 hp out of the Sabre!

[The Wooksta!]

I had a feeling you may have used the Dagger.

Does the Epee retain the unliked qualities of the Dagger ie sounded like a knitting machine on speed, overheating on the ground and undercooled in the air?

Those with a long memory may recall my single seat Defiant with S guns.  Think it was at Huddersfield a few years back.  I used the same Dagger cowling on a Hurricane, here:
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=30648.msg471485#msg471485

Never did get round to some finished shots...

[PR19_Kit]

I had a feeling you may have used the Dagger.

Does the Epee retain the unliked qualities of the Dagger ie sounded like a knitting machine on speed, overheating on the ground and undercooled in the air?

Those with a long memory may recall my single seat Defiant with S guns.  Think it was at Huddersfield a few years back.  I used the same Dagger cowling on a Hurricane, here:
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=30648.msg471485#msg471485

Never did get round to some finished shots...

Well you gave it to me, so I figured you'd guess it correctly. 

No, the Epees didn't suffer from the Dagger's overheating as Napier used different materials for the cooling fins which dispersed the engine's heat much more efficiently. But they did still rev like demented Kenwood Chefs, max power coming in at 4000 rpm!  (Kit's 2nd law applies....)

It amazes me that the Dagger is such a physically big engine, that cowling is larger than a Merlin, and yet it only shoves out about 75% of the Merlin's power. But then maybe the air cooling ducts inside take up lots of space?

I'll be adding some air exhaust flaps on either side at the rear, some engine exhaust manifolds on either side, and maybe a couple of intake filters as well. Anything to make it look different to a stock Dagger.

[Captain Canada]

Oooooh looking forward to this !