Bristol Bulldog by Danstream - FINISHED - 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. 

[Danstream]

A very short post with only one picture just to show the repaired tail skid (as I said, I replaced the bent part with a piece of brass tube):

To answer to Andy, @realworkingsailor, this picture shows also one of the fin flash decals that are now glued on.

 

Due a trip abroad, I will have this build on hold for a while.

Enjoy your hobbies and see you in a couple of weeks,

Dan

[Danstream]

On 11/4/2025 at 11:01 PM, gsdpic said:

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. 

Thank you Gary, for your nice comment. Indeed, it was a bit of a work to paint all the various finishes, but it paid off.

Regards,

Dan

Edited November 8, 2025 by Danstream
Correction of typos

[Danstream]

Dear all, after a long absence, I am back with the final pictures of my completed model.

Bristol Bulldog MK II

No.17 Squadron, Upavon, England 1930

 

This is the recent Airfix 1:48 scale kit which I competed by the end of last year.

As said above, this kit is very nice, with a very good fit, especially for the inter wing struts which go together with no necessary adjustments. I liked building it, but I didn't like the quality of the plastic.

Being a biplane, I think that the sequence of assembly is not for beginners and also the sequence for painting it is not the easiest. But I am pleased with the final result.

The rigging was a bit of a challenge for me, but the instruction sheet provides an excellent guide for it.

I took these picture with a Nikon D3100 with its aperture priority mode under natural day light.

I hope you like also this model and any comment or criticism will be welcome.
Best regards,
Daniele

 

[ccoyle]

Wow! Looks great!

[DocRob]

Fantastic result, you achieved a little gem, Daniele. I especially like the slightly toned black and white shot.

Cheers Rob

[yvesvidal]

Amazing !!!! I can't believe this is an AIRFIX kit. They have really improved recently.

You turn that model into a little marvel, honestly.

 

Yves

[amateur]

Wow!

Not only the model is superb, also the pictures of it. What is your fotostudio setup? 

Jan

[AJohnson]

Brilliant work Daniele! 
A great looking model, you should be proud! 

[Canute]

Nicely done, Daniele.

 

New Airfix makes some nice kits, for sure.

[BLACK VIKING]

Wow that's a stunning build brilliant job

Martyn 

[Danstream]

21 hours ago, ccoyle said:

Wow! Looks great!

Thank you Chris!

 

21 hours ago, DocRob said:

Fantastic result, you achieved a little gem, Daniele. I especially like the slightly toned black and white shot.

Thank you Rob for your positive comment. I also like the B&W shot version, I often play with that.

 

19 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

Amazing !!!! I can't believe this is an AIRFIX kit. They have really improved recently.

You turn that model into a little marvel, honestly.

Thank you Yves for your enthusiastic comments about my model! Yes, the latest Airfix kits are getting really nice.

 

Best regards,

Daniele

[Danstream]

19 hours ago, amateur said:

Not only the model is superb, also the pictures of it. What is your fotostudio setup? 

Than you Jan for your kind comment which I appreciate greatly. I am also happy that you commented positively the pictures. About the setup, I have to admit that my setup is very basic and simple as shown in the picture below. I just use what I had in the house. In the past, I was used to use two 5000K table lamps, but recently I like to use natural light diffused by the window light curtains. I hope that my basic approach is not disappointing anyone.

I always tend to stay as basic as possible in many of my activities and step up with equipment only when necessary. Of course, the drawback of this simple setup is that you have to wait for a bit of sunshine and this is sometimes a bit of a difficulty in winter here in Holland 😉. What I do to get best results is to use a very small diaphragm aperture to get the maximum depth of field and use the maximum tele lens setting to flatten the perspective. Both of these things call for extremely long exposure times which require clearly the use of a tripod. For triggering, I use a timer, so I don't need to touch the camera to shoot a picture. In addition, I very often take several 'bracketed' under/over exposed shots and select the one that I like best.

I hope you like my, perhaps, too long explanation,

warmest greetings,

Dan

 

Edited yesterday at 04:16 PM by Danstream

[Danstream]

19 hours ago, AJohnson said:

Brilliant work Daniele!
A great looking model, you should be proud!

Thank you a lot Andrew for your nice comments. I appreciate them!

 

4 hours ago, Canute said:

Nicely done, Daniele.

New Airfix makes some nice kits, for sure.

Thank you Ken, I am glad that you like my work. Yes, Airfix is very good.

 

4 hours ago, BLACK VIKING said:

Wow that's a stunning build brilliant job

Wow Martyn, thanks for your great comment.

 

Best regards,

Dan

[GrandpaPhil]

Very nicely done!

[amateur]

Thanks for the explanation and illustration! (From now on, it will be impossible for me to blame my equipment for lousy pics )

 

Jan

[king derelict]

Absolutely beautiful Bulldog Dan. The finish is immaculate and realistic too. Great work. 
after five days stuck in Amsterdam because of the snow, flights cancelled at Schiphol and NS trains cancelled for days Im finally on my way to Berlin where the weather is also due to deteriorate. I got to know Amsterdam a bit better though 

alan

[yvesvidal]

34 minutes ago, king derelict said:

Absolutely beautiful Bulldog Dan. The finish is immaculate and realistic too. Great work. 
after five days stuck in Amsterdam because of the snow, flights cancelled at Schiphol and NS trains cancelled for days Im finally on my way to Berlin where the weather is also due to deteriorate. I got to know Amsterdam a bit better though 

alan

Quite a change from sunny and warmy Florida....

Yves

[king derelict]

20 minutes ago, yvesvidal said:

Quite a change from sunny and warmy Florida....

Yves

And most of my cold weather gear was in my bag that KLM has mislaid. Primark men’s floor on Damrak was full of similar folk fighting over the last medium and large clothing sizes in the store 😃

[amateur]

Don’t think the train would have got you quicker to Berlin….

 

Schiphol has ‘some’ issues at the moment. And Schiphol isn’t the best place in Amsterdam to get stuck.

 

We like snow and ice, but as it becomes less and less normal, we are not so prepared for snow in these quantities (and it didn’t even freeze…).
 

Jan

[Danstream]

5 hours ago, king derelict said:

Absolutely beautiful Bulldog Dan. The finish is immaculate and realistic too. Great work. 
after five days stuck in Amsterdam because of the snow, flights cancelled at Schiphol and NS trains cancelled for days Im finally on my way to Berlin where the weather is also due to deteriorate. I got to know Amsterdam a bit better though 

Thank you Alan for your nice comments about my build. 

I am sorry for your misadventure at Schiphol. I live not far from there and I could have brought you to a huge hobby shop nearby Schiphol to spend some time (and money perhaps), although visiting Amsterdam is much more interesting from artistic and historical point of view.

Good luck for the continuation of your trip,

cheers,

Dan

[gsdpic]

Wow, excellent build.  I am even more impressed now that I understand the relatively small size of the model, thanks to the upside down picture with the Tamiya paint jar under the tail, and of course the picture of your photography set up.   The earlier pictures of the model on the cutting mat should have clued me in, but I am used to a cutting mat marked in inches not centimeters!