diff --git a/djangorestframework/mixins.py b/djangorestframework/mixins.py
index 4d1731787..7bed131bc 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/mixins.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/mixins.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ from django.http.multipartparser import LimitBytes
 
 from djangorestframework import status
 from djangorestframework.parsers import FormParser, MultiPartParser
-from djangorestframework.resources import Resource
+from djangorestframework.resources import Resource, FormResource, ModelResource
 from djangorestframework.response import Response, ErrorResponse
 from djangorestframework.utils import as_tuple, MSIE_USER_AGENT_REGEX
 from djangorestframework.utils.mediatypes import is_form_media_type, order_by_precedence
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@ class ResourceMixin(object):
     It provides validation on the content of incoming requests,
     and filters the object representation into a serializable object for the response.
     """
-    resource = Resource
+    resource = None
 
     @property
     def CONTENT(self):
@@ -406,24 +406,31 @@ class ResourceMixin(object):
             self._content = self.validate_request(self.DATA, self.FILES)
         return self._content
 
+    @property
+    def _resource(self):
+        if self.resource:
+            return self.resource(self)
+        elif hasattr(self, 'model'):
+            return ModelResource(self)
+        elif hasattr(self, 'form'):
+            return FormResource(self)
+        return Resource(self)
+
     def validate_request(self, data, files):
         """
         Given the request *data* return the cleaned, validated content.
         Typically raises an :class:`response.ErrorResponse` with status code 400 (Bad Request) on failure.
         """
-        resource = self.resource(self)
-        return resource.validate_request(data, files)
+        return self._resource.validate_request(data, files)
 
     def filter_response(self, obj):
         """
         Given the response content, filter it into a serializable object.
         """
-        resource = self.resource(self)
-        return resource.filter_response(obj)
+        return self._resource.filter_response(obj)
 
     def get_bound_form(self, content=None):
-        resource = self.resource(self)
-        return resource.get_bound_form(content)
+        return self._resource.get_bound_form(content)
 
 
 
diff --git a/djangorestframework/resources.py b/djangorestframework/resources.py
index 27d25ba9d..de8e1351c 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/resources.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/resources.py
@@ -165,11 +165,22 @@ class FormResource(Resource):
     On calling :meth:`validate_request` this validator may set a :attr:`bound_form_instance` attribute on the
     view, which may be used by some renderers.
     """
-    form = None
+
     """
     The :class:`Form` class that should be used for request validation.
+    This can be overridden by a :attr:`form` attribute on the :class:`.View`.
     """
-    
+    form = None
+
+    def __init__(self, view):
+        """
+        Allow a :attr:`form` attributes set on the :class:`View` to override
+        the :attr:`form` attribute set on the :class:`Resource`.
+        """
+        super(FormResource, self).__init__(view)
+
+        if getattr(view, 'form', None):
+            self.form = view.form
 
 
     def validate_request(self, data, files):
@@ -314,11 +325,15 @@ class ModelResource(FormResource):
     """
     The form class that should be used for request validation.
     If set to :const:`None` then the default model form validation will be used.
+
+    This can be overridden by a :attr:`form` attribute on the :class:`.View`.
     """
     form = None
 
     """
     The model class which this resource maps to.
+
+    This can be overridden by a :attr:`model` attribute on the :class:`.View`.
     """
     model = None
 
@@ -346,6 +361,17 @@ class ModelResource(FormResource):
     include = ('url',)
 
 
+    def __init__(self, view):
+        """
+        Allow :attr:`form` and :attr:`model` attributes set on the
+        :class:`View` to override the :attr:`form` and :attr:`model`
+        attributes set on the :class:`Resource`.
+        """
+        super(ModelResource, self).__init__(view)
+
+        if getattr(view, 'model', None):
+            self.model = view.model
+
     def validate_request(self, data, files):
         """
         Given some content as input return some cleaned, validated content.
diff --git a/djangorestframework/views.py b/djangorestframework/views.py
index cdb2ba33d..1315229af 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/views.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/views.py
@@ -31,27 +31,38 @@ class View(ResourceMixin, RequestMixin, ResponseMixin, AuthMixin, DjangoView):
     Performs request deserialization, response serialization, authentication and input validation.
     """
 
-    # Use the base resource by default
-    resource = resources.Resource
+    """
+    The resource to use when validating requests and filtering responses,
+    or `None` to use default behaviour.
+    """
+    resource = None
 
+    """
+    List of renderers the resource can serialize the response with, ordered by preference.
+    """
     renderers = ( renderers.JSONRenderer,
                   renderers.DocumentingHTMLRenderer,
                   renderers.DocumentingXHTMLRenderer,
                   renderers.DocumentingPlainTextRenderer,
                   renderers.XMLRenderer )
-    """ List of renderers the resource can serialize the response with, ordered by preference."""
     
+    """
+    List of parsers the resource can parse the request with.
+    """
     parsers = ( parsers.JSONParser,
                 parsers.FormParser,
                 parsers.MultiPartParser )
-    """ List of parsers the resource can parse the request with."""
 
+    """
+    List of all authenticating methods to attempt.
+    """
     authentication = ( authentication.UserLoggedInAuthenticaton,
                        authentication.BasicAuthenticaton )
-    """ List of all authenticating methods to attempt."""
     
+    """
+    List of all permissions that must be checked.
+    """
     permissions = ( permissions.FullAnonAccess, )
-    """ List of all permissions that must be checked."""
     
     # Allow name and description for the Resource to be set explicitly,
     # overiding the default classname/docstring behaviour.