Bristol Bulldog by Danstream - Airfix - 1/48 - PLASTIC

[Danstream]

Dear all,
after long time spent in my home country, I back home and I am again here for posting a WIP about a new Airfix kit, i.e. their recent Bristol Bulldog in 1:48 scale. The subject is a classic British biplane which was produced and flew during the inter-war period. 

This is a little kit which is quite known by now and this is its box with its rather nice box art:

You might find reviews on the web concluding that this is a nice kit and indeed the level of surface details is very nice:

However, in my opinion, one drawback is the quality of the plastic which is a bit rubber-like, hence difficult to cut and sand cleanly. I started with the cockpit which renders the internal truss structure and few other details rather nicely. I replaced the seat with an Eduard resin, not because the one of the kit is not good, but because I wanted to buy their p.e. harness which came with a resin seat.

The cockpit assembly had to be painted black and once included in the closed fuselage, very little can be seen from the cockpit opening. I also painted the inner sidewalls of the fuselage with two colors to represent the metallic panels and the fabric covered part:

I replaced the instrument panel of the kit with a Yahu one which is quite nice:

Finally, the complete assembled cockpit is placed inside the fuselage. From the dimension of my fingers you can see that this is really a tiny model:

Once the fuselage was closed, the distinctive fairings of the cylinder heads were also glued on.

Several points on the junctions had to be addressed on the upper and on the lower side. As said, the plastic gets crazed when sliced or sanded and this makes for me difficult to judge when a seam is finally ok. Several applications of Mr. Surfacer were necessary to fill small gaps.

I also separated the elevators from the tailplanes before gluing them on the fuselage. The trailing edge of the wings are too thick for this scale and some extending sanding is necessary.

Finally, the lower wing is sanded and glued in place. Now everything is ready for a preliminary coat of Mr. Surfacer 1500 that will allow to check the work done so far.

The result is not bad, with only few blemishes requiring further work. I am going also to wet sand everything with a very fine grit to insure a smooth surface in view of the silver finish.

That's all for now,

best regards,

Dan

 

 

 

[king derelict]

Looks like a nice kit Dan. Welcome back and I look forward to the progressing log.

alan

[Old Collingwood]

Airfix have so improved the quality of their mouldings  - they sure have raised the bar.

 

OC. 

[AJohnson]

Nice build Dan, I’ve been tempted by Airfix’s new 1/48 Bulldog, watching this one with interest! 👍

[Canute]

Nice looking kit. I'll follow along.

[Diver]

I believe that Douglas Bader was flying a Bulldog when he crashed and lost his legs.

[Danstream]

Hi all, thanks for your feedback!

@Diver, indeed, I also read that about D. Bader.

I went on and after some little repairs and a wet sanding session, I put back the tail feathers on the plane.

The elevators were positioned slightly drooped and also the rudder was slightly off neutral to add some movement.

Probably the rudder cables, which are made of stretched sprue, are a bit out of scale, but I couldn't handle thinner ones.

 

Another light coat of Mr. Surfacer 1500 followed to reveal remaining blemishes.

Next, a silver dope paint will follow for the fabric covered parts before putting on additional small accessories.
To the next installment,

best regards,
Dan