Author Topic: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)  (Read 7354 times)

Offline Old Wombat

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Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« on: December 14, 2013, 06:06:12 PM »
The Boulton-Paul/Westland Defender Mk.IV - a cross between a Defiant & a Whirlwind.

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Back story for those who are interested:

Due to the less than outstanding success of the (relatively) contemporary Defiant & Whirlwind, the British aircraft companies Boulton-Paul & Westland partnered up to product the B-P/W Defender Mk I. Combining the best elements of their respective designs they came up with a fast twin-engine turret-fighter powered by RR Merlin III engines, armed with 4 x .303 calibre machine guns in the same turret as used on the Defiant & 6 x .303 calibre machine guns mounted in the nose.

Misguidedly tasked as a day fighter the Defender was not quite up to the job. Although it did perform much better than the German Me. 110 it was too slow to out-run & insufficiently agile to out-turn single seat fighters such as the Me. 109 with subsequently high losses. These losses led to the Air Ministry almost cancelling orders for the aircraft but a need for night-fighters caused a stay of execution as the Defender squadrons were re-tasked to this role.

This is where the Defender 1st made its mark, with the Mk I proving to be considerably better & more versatile than the contemporary single-seat fighters & converted bombers. The aircraft of Defender squadrons all bore the legend "Comrades in Arms", as a memorial to those who died early in the war flying in Defiant & Battle squadrons from which most of the original crews came.

The short-lived Mk II trialled replacing the .303 mg’s with American .50 cal mg’s (4 in the nose & 2 in the turret).

The Mk III which replaced it returned to .303 mg’s, with the usual 4 in the turret but only 4 in the nose. This was because the Mk III was fitted with an additional 4 x 20 mm Hispano cannon in a belly pack below the cockpit.

The Mk IV lost the nose .303’s & the turret. These were replaced by an airborne RDF unit & its operator. Although now limited to only the 4 x 20 mm Hispano cannon, the Mk IV was an extremely effective night-time aerial interceptor.

Later Marks were mainly improvements in RDF/radar & engines, although the Defender did spawn the highly successful “Aggressor” fighter-bomber.

The Aggressor was, basically, a single-seat late-Mark Defender armed with 6 forward firing 20 mm Hispano cannon (2 x nose, 4 x belly pack) plus up to 2,000 lb’s of bombs & 8 rockets.

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Build album slideshow link: http://s459.photobucket.com/user/GPlachy/slideshow/Defender

:)

Guy
« Last Edit: December 14, 2013, 06:13:56 PM by Old Wombat »
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Cliffy B

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2013, 02:59:20 AM »
Twin seat, twin engined night fighter in some snazzy night camo  :-*
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Offline Silver Fox

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2013, 03:09:03 AM »
Stunning!

It fights perfectly with the RAF's needs, corrects two underappreciated airframes by combining them and even manages to look like it was always meant to be in this form.

Bravo!

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #3 on: December 15, 2013, 03:26:38 AM »
Sweet
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #4 on: December 15, 2013, 04:34:01 AM »
Thanks to you all, once more! :))

:)

Guy
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline taiidantomcat

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #5 on: December 15, 2013, 05:33:13 AM »
I really like the camo, as for the rest of it I'll just say:

"They know you can do anything, So the question is, what don't you do?"

-David Fincher

Offline elmayerle

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #6 on: December 15, 2013, 10:13:37 AM »
Beautiful!!  And quite plausible; I'm tempted to try some of the back-story airframes.

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #7 on: December 15, 2013, 11:29:28 AM »
Beautiful!!  And quite plausible; I'm tempted to try some of the back-story airframes.

Go for it! :D

(I was quietly hoping someone would! ;) )

:)

Guy
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline ysi_maniac

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #8 on: December 15, 2013, 01:30:57 PM »
Outstanding job converting a single engine in twin!! :) :-*

Offline Frank3k

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #9 on: December 16, 2013, 02:14:38 AM »
That's a great kitbash - plausible and the camo looks great.  It looks like a British answer to the Me 110.

Offline Tophe

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #10 on: December 16, 2013, 02:40:58 AM »
Harmonious silhouette, a pleasure for the eyes, thanks! :-*

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #11 on: December 16, 2013, 09:56:40 PM »
Thank you, gents! :icon_alabanza:

For anyone interested (elmayerle?): My vision of the Aggressor was of the aircraft I modelled minus the spine, with a Spitfire bubble canopy & 2 Mustang engine sections, maybe with a slightly revised tail (this one's a little clunky). The RO's place would be taken by either an extra fuel tank or a slightly smaller tank with more ammunition for the belly-pack cannons.

:)

Guy
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Dr. YoKai

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #12 on: December 17, 2013, 10:39:30 AM »
 The build is beautiful, from concept to cammo. And the pilots really set the thing off.

Offline kitnut617

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #13 on: December 17, 2013, 10:46:05 PM »
That looks really good Guy, and on top of that, the camo scheme is what I had envisioned for my Twin-Spitfire nightfighter, only I'm using Glossy Sea Blue topside.  Now I can see it works  ----   :)

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #14 on: December 18, 2013, 04:44:27 AM »
That's one of the most excellent night camo schemes I've ever seen!

You have mad, enviable talent!

Brian da Basher

Offline uncle les

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #15 on: December 21, 2013, 05:24:43 PM »
..gotta build one now !   Excellent inspiration there.  :D

Offline FAAMAN

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #16 on: December 21, 2013, 08:07:14 PM »
You know Wombat, this looks like a real could've been, well done my twisted friend!! 8)
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Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #17 on: January 08, 2014, 12:58:21 AM »
Gentlemen, now that I've got internet service again, I thank you all! :))

:)

Guy
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline finsrin

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #18 on: January 08, 2014, 06:08:28 PM »
First thing that comes to mind is RAF 45.5 or 46 --- which is it  :)
Cool concept and camo  8)
Camo does just right amount of eye scrambling !

Offline Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #19 on: January 09, 2014, 02:14:32 AM »
First thing that comes to mind is RAF 45.5 or 46 --- which is it  :)
Cool concept and camo  8)
Camo does just right amount of eye scrambling !

Nothing so late. I'm figuring a 1940/41 introduction of the Mk.I with the Mk.IV entering service around 1943/44 (maybe as early as mid-'43).

:icon_music:

Guy
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Queeg

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #20 on: January 09, 2014, 04:09:56 AM »
Much goodness here ..............  :-*

Brent

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Old Wombat's Old Stuff (Pt.4)
« Reply #21 on: January 10, 2014, 09:56:39 AM »
Thanks, Brent! :)

:icon_music:

Guy
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."