Bristol Freighter

[fharris]

In 1961, eight ex-Pakistan Air Force Bristol Mk 31M Freighters were imported into Australia, four for Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), three for Ansett-ANA and one for Pacific Aviation. This last one, carrying the registration VH-ADL, survives at a museum in Melbourne, Australia. When the Freighters arrived they still carried very weathered camouflage and crudely overpainted Pakistan civil ferry registrations. One aircraft, allocated VH-TBA by TAA was the first to go into the workshop for refurbishment whilst the second aircraft, VH-TBB (ex AP-AMF, S4432) was pressed into service for crew training and is depicted above. When -TBA entered service -TBB went in for refurbishment and emerged in the colourful SUNBIRD SERVICES livery (as above). The remaining pair of TAA Freighters were used for spares.

Apart from the usual modifications required to convert the Airfix Mk 32 into a short-nosed version of the appropriate Mark the kit has a number of short-comings that are applicable also to the Mk 32 which will also benefit from the corrections. The fuselage requires deepening and corners more rounded to correct the too square cross section plus a less angular canopy. Wings: flaps filled and rescribed, ailerons modified to represent the 'Frise' type. For Freighters with leading edge oil coolers, the intakes benefit from refinement and the outlet louvres incorporated. The engine nacelles need fattening up and exhaust pipes and shrouds included. All control surfaces have two trim/spring tabs with associated operating links.

FGH

[Duncan B]

This was a kit I always wanted to make but never got round to when I was a kid. What a great job you have done with them and the history is interesting too.

[CliffB]

An interesting post and two nice models

Cliff

[bryanm]

Lovely work on an ancient but under-rated kit!

[raif]

lovely models and an interesting history!

[HOUSTON]

I concur wit the others LOVELY story and VERY GOOD model...

[BasicModelling]

Not a plane I'd be building for myself, but you sure made it quite tempting.. Great looking models!!

[Arie]

I've had a look at the kit and well appreciate the effort involved in modification! A very nice pair indeed; a refreshing subject + well done!

Edited March 21, 2011 by Arie

[Karl]

Nice work - love the Bristol Freighter

Karl

[slufdriver]

Two excellent builds and an interesting story - I particularly like the "overpainted" scheme, it looks so different for an airliner!

And, having built the beast in the dim and distant past I can appreciate the amount of work you have put into these two.

Richard

[stevehnz]

Nice builds, I especially like the camo job. I can remember seeing some like this at Woodbourne airport near Blenheim before they were stripped/repainted for Safe Air. I'm keen to do an RNZAF version one day & would be intertested to get more info re the accurising that needs doing to the Airfix fuselage on these. Is there an available reference source on this?

Steve.

[Silver Fox]

great work on such a classic kit. Did you use a commercial conversion?

[chris57]

Couple of nice builds, did you use the Magna Models conversions or did you scratchbuild them.cheers chris

[fharris]

Both models have scratch-built components, nose, engine nacelles, canopy and a deepened fuselage plus the modifications required to correct the basic kit. A company in Australia has a full conversion set under development at present incorporating most of the various modifications mentioned above for the various marks of Freighter. These will be available with the appropriate set of decals such as the TAA Sunbird Services, Ansett-ANA (Mk 31M's), RAAF (Mk 21), ANA.

FGH

[Moofles]

that really looks ace, well done on two great looking models