Bristol Bulldog - Civil conversion of vintage Airfix 1/72nd kit

 

 

(The step-by-step building article is here:

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

 

Airfix's illegitimate child:

As I am far from being an expert in the kit industry history, I was surprised by the level of detail (especially surface detail and engine) on Airfix's Bristol Bulldog of 1969. Like most modelers "of certain age", I have built scores upon scores of old Airfix's kits during my now long stay in this aspect of reality, and my opinion of them -if fond for reasons of nostalgia and gratitude for the many, many hours of entertainment- is not obfuscated by those sentiments, as I clearly see their shortcomings. The Bulldog is nothing like my memory of the old Airfix kits I had previously built, showing a finesse not present in most of its siblings of the 60's and 70's. I wonder who did the masters for this one. Others may bring up more good examples of master-making that I am not aware of.

Still, as we know, no kit is perfect and some work is always needed, in this case the cockpit is quite sparse, and the three-part upper wing makes for quite a complicated tidying-up. Especially considering its age, this kit holds up quite well, which compelled me to build it in a civil guise. I added some elements to the interior, deleted the armament, plugged-in some locating holes that were not needed, and refined this and that detail a bit.

The decals, as they were relatively simple, are home-made. My kit was bagged, and old, but with great sharp molding. I have seen newer sprues on the Net with less definition and some flash, so buyers beware.

There are many civil-registered Bulldogs, but they differ in minor details from each other, thus, if you are tempted to build one of these (and I hope you are), look closely at photos, there are several on the Net and some others in the associated literature. 

Original photos show this particular plane without navigation lights and other accessories commonly present in series machines. Photos also show no antenna wires, although the antenna masts are still there.

 During the proverbial pit stop while on a cross-country flight: