Bristol Bulldog civil conversion - Airfix vintage 1/72nd

 

 (The completed model is here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2022/11/bristol-bulldog-civil-conversion-of.html

 

Being this an old Airfix kit (1969) I was expecting a somewhat crude rendition, few parts, flash, and basic/simplified/overdone surface detail. What a pleasant surprise was to arrive home and give the bagged contents a better look. Unusual parts' count, good surface detail (surprising indeed -considering the vintage- for the fuselage), a lower wing with a trailing edge thinness that many other kits would envy (the rest of the flying surfaces are not bad at all), a three-part engine that again could be the envy of scores of other later kits, and all in all a nice little rendition with some small detail threw in (nav lights, wind-driven generator, oil cooler, etc). Still, the cockpit efforts are reduced to a seat/divider and a pilot that looks extremely bored after being holding that position for the last 53 years to this date. And without a potty break!

Needless to say, this one will be converted to a civil registration, perhaps G-AAHH, G-ABBB, or G-ABAC. For that, the boomba things were perfunctorily thrown into the trash can, and a few other details will have to be attended too. A more credible interior will need to be fashioned, at least inst. pan., joystick and pedals (more would be useless for the reasons known to all). The upper wing is molded as three parts that interlock. I was fearful this would be trouble, but it isn't, one more point for whoever did the master for this one, that looks more and more like an Airfix illegitimate child, that has little to do with its contemporary siblings. Priceless is the vintage detail of a clear support (there is a rather thick clear windshield that needs replacing). Of the decals, yellow now and in the winter of their life, I will say nothing as I won't be using them.

Now, at it:

De-bagged:

The parts, a surprising number of them:

The three-part engine:

A nice wash:

A pleasant sunset:

A sight for the nostalgic:

But because nothing is perfect, the person that mastered the prop either was drunk or has never understood how a prop works (I have seen this many times in the modeling world, also with wings). The front of the blades is concave...

...whilst the back of the blades is convex. Exactly the opposite as how it should be. 

Just to remind you of that class you didn't pay attention to at school: concave is akin to "excavated" (as in: it has a "cave"), whilst you could associate convex with "swollen" or "blistered":

After the photos I re-sanded the prop to reflect reality, it's not perfect, but better than have it plainly all the way around.

The upper wing was assembled, and other parts are being readied for painting:

Some additions to the interior to make it a bit more credible. Seat to be added:

Toy or scale modeling? A question manufacturers could not solve for decades. Long ago, used to be more the former than the latter, but then demographics switched. Or the same kits became adults. Then, in order to help kids or less experienced modelers, some kit manufacturers came up with the trick of bridging the struts, to help alignment and positioning. In doing so, they created a problem for more experienced modelers, that now have to very uncomfortably deal with a compromised surface by filling the seams/gaps created by the bridge under the top wing. In this model I filled the gaps with styrene and separated the struts from that bridge, leaving the locating tips to later insert the struts. This will make gluing the upper wing and aligning it a bit more difficult, but there will be no seams/gaps to fill on the wing, and the cabane struts may help to position things a bit too:

The locating holes for the navigation lights are plugged, as the plane I am representing had none:

More painting ensues with base colors:

The rudder has a nav light and pips for control horns:

Those are both removed  (the plane I am modeling did not have nav lights), and metal control horns are installed:

Parts 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37 are all discarded as there are not pertinent to this plane.

The locating holes where many of these parts go are therefore plugged also in the lower wing:

Home-made decals:

And a vintage kit with perfect fuselage fit (dry-run). Mysteries of the Modeling Universe, and envy of dozens upon dozens of other kits. You can see that the holes for the windshield and sight will also need plugging. Behind the cockpit is a valiant effort to represent the little mast/insulator for the antenna wire coming from the fin. This will be removed and replaced with a smaller item, more to scale:

Do you think that Airfix's pilot was trying to pilot the plane? Há!, think again!

Another part that could do with a little improvement/replacement is the wheels axle. As it is, it has two inaccurate cylinders:

That on one side have the locating holes for the LG struts:

These cylinders can be sanded down:

And in fact, since in reality the axle had a fairing (making it look like a strut), a little fairing could be added, or just a new part scratched:

The prop is masked to paint the metal spinner. While some props on Bulldogs have a cover and metal guard, the one in this plane seem plain wood:

As you can see, primer has been applied to the wings to correct blemishes (and there are plenty), and other parts have been painted in their corresponding colors. Three seats are being prepared to chose the best, including a modification of the kit part which is rather basic:

Look at that cutie pie! I wish many mainstream kits would render this result:

Posters to be pasted on the outhouse walls are printed:

By the way, the disc-like feature adjacent to -and part of- the lower wing trailing edge, feared by some modelers to be a spurious detail or just a weird locating device, is actually a real feature of the plane, clearly seen in photos. I tried to identify exactly what that its function is, but so far to no avail.

Whilst I deal with the blemishes that appear here in there in the main compoonents, the outhouse is treated with oils:

It's a duty and an honor to provide adequate field relief facilities to the brave Airfix pilots, that spend decades just holding on inside those boxes, bags and blisters; and concurrently honoring the Great Bard:

The interior is glued before joining the fuselage halves:

Somewhere there is a fuselage:

As mentioned above, the holes for the windshield and sight are plugged:

There are four very small struts connecting the belly of the fuselage and the lower wing (by the way, regarding that disk, friend and fellow modeler Michael Derderian found out that is an access hatch, thanks Mike!):

These little struts can't be added after the lower wing is glued on, and could hinder painting creating dried paint dust and/or rough areas if you use an airbrush. It was decided to glue them now, and keep the lower wing separated until after painting (dry-run below to test fit, which is good):

From an ad on the Net:

More priming:

While the primer sets, more improvements are made to the outhouse: now paper is hanging from the proverbial nail on the wall for client satisfaction, and a shelf with convenient candles for nocturnal use!:

 

Curiously, the fit of the horizontal tailplanes is bad, angling backwards and upwards (yes, I reversed them, with the same result):

Much cutting and fidgeting had to be done to align them, but the vertical tail has a perfect fit:

The wings are painted aluminium. The fuselage receives a coat of gloss light grey. The metal on the fuselage will be simulated with a shinier hue, whilst the fabric areas will have the same tone as the wings. The plane represented had the usual green on the fuselage top, and a band of color on the sides, that I will paint red as some squadron had, as it looks different than the green on top:

Green is applied on the top. I have chosen to apply the colors and then mask them to airbrush the aluminium paint, as it seems easier than the reverse approach:

The green is masked, and the red on the sides applied:

Once the red is masked, the fuselage is airbrushed in polished aluminium. The "metal" parts will in turn be masked to apply a common aluminium hue on the fabric-covered areas:

Masks off:

The lower wing, landing gear and oil cooler are glued in place:

Cabane struts in place, and hopefully closer to completion:

The upper wing is on. The cabane struts will give you a bit of a headache, they don't lock or align very well with their upper wing positions. On the other hand, the wing struts go in easily, provided you refined the sockets and pegs:

I think I may leave the engine, exhausts, wheels and other details until after rigging.

Rigging and addition of the last parts ensues:

Decaling in progress:

Test pilot ready to try the outhouse:

Completed model:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2022/11/bristol-bulldog-civil-conversion-of.html