The Defiant was one of the more unconventional aircraft of the early war years. Rather than forward-firing guns, it carried all its armament in a power-operated dorsal turret with four .303 Browning machine guns — the idea being that it would attack bombers from below or alongside, outside the arc of defensive fire. The concept worked briefly against unsuspecting Luftwaffe pilots over Dunkirk, but once the Germans adapted their tactics the Defiant suffered heavily as a day fighter and was reassigned to night fighting, where it actually performed rather well.

When Airfix released their 1:48 kit in 2016 I didn't hesitate — it's simply too unusual a subject to pass up. I wanted to build the night fighter version and sourced aftermarket decals accordingly, only for Airfix to release exactly that variant the following year. Timing. This is also one of my earlier builds after getting back into the hobby in earnest, and the weathering reflects that — the paint chipping has a certain enthusiastic quality to it. The turret, though, I suspect would still give me trouble today. It was genuinely difficult to get together.