Old Man Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 (edited) Latvia purchased a dozen Bristol Bulldog fighters, the first being delivered in September, 1929. At this time the Bulldog was very much first-rate aerial equipment, as it had only begun to enter Royal Air Force squadrons the previous May. English support in the aftermath of the Great War had been essential to the establishment of Latvia, and the other Baltic states, as independent polities, and relations remained close in the decades following. The Bulldogs arrived in two batches, one of five late in 1929, and one of seven following in 1930. They were equipped with license-built Gnome-Rhone Jupiters, rather than the standard English product. They equipped the 1st Squadron of the Latvian Air Regiment, replacing A.D.C. 1 fighters (Great War vintage Martinsyde Buzzards fitted with Armstrong Jaguar radials by the Aircraft Disposal Corporation after Martinsyde's bankruptcy). The Bulldogs were to remain in front-line service until 1937, when they were replaced by Gloster Gladiators. Latvian pilots found the Bulldog Mk. II a difficult machine to handle, prone to enter a flat spin during aerobatics, and hard to get out of the spin once it had begun. Three of the twelve Bulldogs were crashed, and their pilots killed, as a result. Three others were written off owing to more normal accidents; a collision while landing, hitting the ground during gunnery practice, and running into a telegraph pole while stunting at ground level. This machine, no. 74, crashed on June 15, 1936, while piloted by kapt-leitn Huge Fremanis, a ten year veteran of the Air Regiment. He took off before a large audience of soldiers at Daugavpils, stunted spectacularly for some while, and then dove the machine straight into the ground on the aerodrome. He was engaged in a bitter divorce at the time, and it is quite likely he made a suicide dive, though the official report suggests he simply 'misjudged his distance from the ground'. The model is the Airfix Bulldog in 1/72, which needs a few alterations for the Latvian variant, and also some basic corrections. The profile of the nose needs correcting at the bottom, and as the cylinder back-fairings in the kit are somewhat anemic, I made my own, slightly larger ones out of 2.5mm x 3.2mm stock. The cabane struts need correction as well; Airfix has the front leg much too short. The Latvian variant has slightly different panels on the port side, and has two exhaust pipes led off into the fuselage on the port side as well. A few other things were done, but I confess I do not remember them all, as this model was completed several years ago, though never got properly photographed or written up. I got it off the shelf today, cleaned it up a bit, and took advantage of a bit of sunlight.... The nose is covered in home-made foil, aged by boiling with egg-shells. Wife made the decals for me; it was, I remember, our second try at doing this. It took a good deal of work to match the font for the numbers; the insignia were printed red on transparent film applied over circles cut out of white film. Edited September 7, 2015 by Old Man 22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Very nice work! Interesting and unusual subject. Some Latvian Bulldogs ended in Spanish Civil War... I considered always Airfix Bulldog a good kit rather free of flaws - so interesting and a bit sad to learn about them. Best regards Jerzy-Wojtek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire31 Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Very nice work with this Bulldog! Judging from the pics, did you also replace Airfix' propeller? The original kit prop has the blades the wrong way round, I believe. Kind regards, Joachim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristol boy Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Great looking Bulldog, not tackled one yet. Wonder why the upper wing insignia were not positioned symmetrically? Regards, Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesa Jussila Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Nice looking result and unusual subject. Nice to see these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr T Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Excellent model, I really like the finish and home made decals, so far all I have done are some serial numbers I have happy memories of the Airfix Bulldog and remember buying it for 2/11 when it first came out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 Very nice work! Interesting and unusual subject. Some Latvian Bulldogs ended in Spanish Civil War... I considered always Airfix Bulldog a good kit rather free of flaws - so interesting and a bit sad to learn about them. Best regards Jerzy-Wojtek Thank you, Sir. It was Estonian, not Latvian Bulldogs, which fetched up in Spain. It was rather a shady deal, in fact, with the machines smuggled in under a load of potatos, and the Estonians turned a hefty profit on the deal. The Bulldog is a good kit, and especially back when it came out kits of machines in the period were so rare one hesitates to speak sharply. But the contours and arrangements under the nose are off (oddly enough, the contour there is right for the later Mk. IV used by the Finns), and the cabane struts are off as described. The cylinder heads have an odd trefoil cap that is nothing like the real thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 Very nice work with this Bulldog! Judging from the pics, did you also replace Airfix' propeller? The original kit prop has the blades the wrong way round, I believe. Kind regards, Joachim Thank you, Sir. I did indeed replace the propeller, with something hunted up and trimmed out of the spares box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 Great looking Bulldog, not tackled one yet. Wonder why the upper wing insignia were not positioned symmetrically? Regards, Neil Thank you, Sir. It is a decent kit. If you do try one, pay great attention to assembling the upper wing; it is in three pieces, and there is a lot of detail close to the seams in the undersurface. I believe the intent was to make it a little harder for an opponent to judge range and center of target. Towards the end of WWI the English did some experiments on this line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 Nice looking result and unusual subject. Nice to see these. Thank you, Sir. I have a fondness for smaller air services, and for the Baltic states in particular. One of my long-term 'to-do list' projects is to do a Finnish Bulldog Mk. IV --- that was a very different beast from the standard Mk. II/IIa.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 Excellent model, I really like the finish and home made decals, so far all I have done are some serial numbers I have happy memories of the Airfix Bulldog and remember buying it for 2/11 when it first came out. Thank you, Sir. Two shillings and eleven pence, eh? Sounds close to the 79 cents I can remember getting Airfix kits for over here at an importer in the sixties.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 I gave you a like because it's Latvian. If I could, I'd give you another because it's a Bulldog, and another because you've done a fantastic job! Well played, sir! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 One of my long-term 'to-do list' projects is to do a Finnish Bulldog Mk. IV --- that was a very different beast from the standard Mk. II/IIa.... A member converted the Inpact 1/48th kit into a Finnish Mk IV http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/60028-finnish-bristol-bulldog-mk-iv-148-scale/ quite a job it seems. Lovely job on the Latvian Bulldog as well. HTH T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Beautiful Bulldog, Old Man! You do seem to have a way with these interwar biplanes. Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HL-10 Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 An impressive piece of modelling, with a very interesting back story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 I gave you a like because it's Latvian. If I could, I'd give you another because it's a Bulldog, and another because you've done a fantastic job! Well played, sir! Thank you very much, Sir. This is one kit I wish Airfix would re-issue, even if just in the old tooling. Of course, there are survivors on which the full laser measure treatment could be practiced..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 A member converted the Inpact 1/48th kit into a Finnish Mk IV http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/60028-finnish-bristol-bulldog-mk-iv-148-scale/ quite a job it seems. Lovely job on the Latvian Bulldog as well. HTH T Glad you like it, Sir. It would be an extensive conversion. I have the old A. Grainger Datafile on the Bulldog, and the Mk. IV had a completely different airfoil section, much thicker and rounded rather than cambered on the underside, so a completely new wing is required. I do a lot of scratch-building, so that is not a problem, but somehow the project always gets put aside for something else.... Beautiful Bulldog, Old Man! You do seem to have a way with these interwar biplanes. Regards, Jason Thank you, my friend. I do like the machines of the period very much, and so find myself putting in an extra effort on them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 An impressive piece of modelling, with a very interesting back story. Thank you very much, Sir. The suicide angle really clinched the deal on the build.... "People who contemplate suicide but have not actually committed it come to be described as wry." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcdonnell Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Hello,'Mature Gentleman' - Very well done indeed on a Bristol Fashion Build of your 'Bulldog'. The quality of finish,the detail incorporated and the way she's displayed make her a gem.All the best,Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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