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

[DocRob]

Somehow I missed your great build, Dan. I really like your methodical approach and the Bulldog looks fantastic.

Cheers Rob

[Danstream]

On 11/1/2025 at 9:42 PM, DocRob said:

Somehow I missed your great build, Dan. I really like your methodical approach and the Bulldog looks fantastic.

Thank you Rob, happy that you like it.

Cheers,

Dan

[Danstream]

Hi, thanks for the notes and the 'like's!
I am now completing the application of the decals that, as I said earlier, are of very good quality. Some of them are really large and some care is necessary to avoid folds and bubbles. The lower side is completed:

What is still missing on this side is the small rack with the bombs and the transparent cover of the ventral light. The upper side:

Here a number of small items needs to be completed. Once well cured, I think of sealing these decals with X-22.
The propeller was painted following pictures found on the web along with the small propellers of the power generators:

Wood grain was sketched with an oil brown color.

 

Unfortunately, handling the model, I found the the tail skid was bent. This might be due to the not so good plastic material that has poor mechanical qualities and get easily yielded.

A small surgery will be necessary to replace the plastic part with a brass tube. All these final bits take a lot of time for me and I have to put extra care for not messing up things at this stage.

 

That is all for now, probably the next post will be the final one.
Best regards,
Dan

 

[Canute]

Your finish is superb, Dave. Well done.

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, Danstream said:

Unfortunately, handling the model, I found the the tail skid was bent. This might be due to the not so good plastic material that has poor mechanical qualities and get easily yielded.

 

I have a similar issue with some of my card airplanes. After they've sat on a shelf for several months, I sometimes notice that the landing gear have sagged. I don't usually have much motivation to repair them. My modeling mojo tends to regard finished models with a bit of indifference.

[realworkingsailor]

Nice looking airplane! I can only begin to imagine how difficult it would be to avoid marring that kind of finish!

 

Out of curiosity, will you be adding the fin flash decals as well? 

Andy

[Danstream]

1 hour ago, realworkingsailor said:

Nice looking airplane! I can only begin to imagine how difficult it would be to avoid marring that kind of finish!

 

Out of curiosity, will you be adding the fin flash decals as well? 

Thanks Andy!

Indeed, it is very easy to damage the finish and the more you go on with the build, the more difficult is to repair it. It was an interesting building experience.

For the fin flash there are two options, one is a complete three colors decal for the complete rudder, the second is to leave to the modeler to paint the three bands and then just add the identification letters and numbers. At this point, I am a bit tired of this model, so I am going for the quicker former one.

Cheers,

Dan

[Danstream]

4 hours ago, ccoyle said:

I have a similar issue with some of my card airplanes. After they've sat on a shelf for several months, I sometimes notice that the landing gear have sagged. I don't usually have much motivation to repair them. My modeling mojo tends to regard finished models with a bit of indifference.

In fact, this is why I need to repair it asap before I finish the build.

Cheers,

Dan

[gsdpic]

The whole build looks really good, but the finish on the main prop is really outstanding, with the wood, yellow paint, and three different metal colors, and just the right amount of shininess.