Bond Bug - Three wheeled charmer in bright orange
Welcome to this latest edition of our Workbench blog and all the news, updates and modelling exclusives from the fascinating world of Airfix.
With the title we have chosen for this week’s update, there can be absolutely no doubt as to which impending kit release the subject of our attention is aimed at this time around, and it's 100% Airfix nostalgia all the way. As we once again return to the world of Vintage Classics, we take this opportunity to look forward to the impending release of a kit which was first released as a new tooling project back in 1971 and only made available as a re-issue one more time after that and still in the 1970s. That means that this particular kit has not taken its place in an Airfix range for approaching 50 years and is actually a kit many Airfix fans feared lost from the hobby forever. Thankfully, that has not proved to be the case and in this latest update, we will be looking at why it took so long for its return and what steps the development team had to take in order to allow it to triumphantly take its place within an Airfix range once more.
Unusually for Workbench, we find ourselves on only three wheels this week, as we feature our 1/32nd scale kit tribute to an icon of Britain's popular motoring scene, a vehicle which may only have been produced in relatively small numbers, but one which always demanded our attention then, as it does to this day, the charming little Bond Bug. With input from our most senior designer, we will see how modern techniques were once again called upon to allow the Bond Bug to 'ride again' and with access to several exclusive CAD screenshot and built sample model images, we will be seeing just why so many people are excited by the prospect of the long overdue return of this rather elusive little kit, our modelling tribute to the 'Fibreglass fun machine'.
Cool three-wheeler for the younger generation
Looking like something from Space 1999, the Bond Bug was the epitome of cool and surely one of the most distinctive vehicles ever to grace Britain's roads.
One of the real joys of representing this fantastic brand at various events up and down the country is how we have the opportunity to get up close to some of the iconic aircraft, military vehicles, cars and ships which inspired their inclusion in various Airfix model kit ranges over the years. With car models being particularly popular during the 1960s and 70s, we have seen something of a new tooling renaissance in this area over recent times, with our new breed of Starter Set kits in particular benefiting from significant investment, when it comes to vehicular subject matter. For some though, it will always be the classic Airfix car kits of years past which remain the focus of their modelling attention, kits which bring back many happy memories for huge numbers of people and ones which have Airfix modelling heritage running through every single part on their component frames.
Having attended quite a number of motor shows over the years, it isn't difficult to see why cars of all eras still command such interest across wide sections of society and indeed how classic cars hold just as much fascination as the contemporary 'Supercars' costing more than the price of the average house. Amongst this long list of classic types, one car which is always guaranteed to attract a sizeable crowd at any show boasting the appearance of one, the flamboyantly presented Bond Bug has always been viewed by the British public as a fun vehicle and as a consequence, the crowds gathered round admiring one will usually all have smiles on their faces - they just won't be able to help themselves.
Now lovingly cared for by enthusiast owners who absolutely dote on their beloved Bugs, these cars command such a significant position within popular culture that you might think they rivalled the iconic Mini when it came to production numbers, however, it's always surprising to learn that only a modest 2,268 of these vehicles were ever produced. That being the case, why has the Bond Bug maintained its lofty position within the affections of the general public and why is it still viewed as something of a cult classic, even after all these years?
A built sample model exclusive, is it any wonder the futuristic Bond Bug is still a source of fascination for many?
For a range of vehicles which were only ever produced in relatively small numbers, could there have possibly been a more distinctive, eye-catching vehicle ever to be found on Britain's roads than the Bond Bug? Historically, the three-wheeler vehicle concept can trace its origins back to the years of austerity which followed the end of the Second World War and was an attempt to provide the British public with an affordable form of family motoring, one which exploited a licencing loophole and allowed people to own one of these vehicles on a cheaper motorcycle licence. The idea behind the Bond Bug was to take the rather staid reputation of three-wheeled vehicles and give them a fun and sporty makeover, hopefully attracting a huge, mainly younger purchasing audience in the process.
In truth, the Bond Bug concept was quite a risky venture for its parent company, as it was attempting to create a market which wasn't already there and was going up against some successful and established competition in the process. Despite using many parts from existing designs, the Bug would also prove to be a relatively expensive vehicle to manufacture, featuring a full fibreglass body moulded in a striking wedge shape, with the canopy pivoting forwards to allow access to the cockpit. Side windows could also be used to gain access to the vehicle and everything had a futuristic feel about it, surely just the vehicle that young drivers would love to be seen it - that was the hope in any case. Although the Bond company had started looking at the concept of a sporty three wheeler in the mid 1960s, by the time the Bug had advanced to prototype stage, the company had been taken over by their big rivals Reliant, however for this project, the new owners elected to retain the Bond name, for quite obvious reasons.
The first prototype Bond Bug was produced in 1970, with this initial vehicle sporting a 700cc Reliant light alloy 4 cylinder engine taken from their Regal model. Even though it only had 29 hp to call upon, the bug could accelerate from 0-60 in 20 seconds, had a top speed of 76 mph and boasted a more than acceptable 45 miles per gallon of fuel. As for colours, this is where the bond Bug would receive all of its attention, being produced in a striking bright orange, with black trim - this colour choice also extended to the interior of the vehicle, something which actually gave it quite a quirky and sporty appearance. All vehicles were produced in this combination of colours, so if you liked orange and black, you were in luck. Several vehicles were finished in white for promotional purposes with Rothmans International and pictures do exist of a lime green Bug, but these were very much exceptions to the normal rule.
Not built for either speed or driver comfort, the Bond Bug was nevertheless one of the most exciting cars on Britain's roads during the 1970s.
As mentioned previously, by the time the Bond Bug had entered the design phase, the company had been taken over by their long-time rival Reliant and many of the major components used on the new vehicle would be those used on other vehicles in the Reliant vehicle line up. Despite this, the Bond Bug proved to be a motoring breath of fresh air and with its futuristic, almost space-aged wedge shaped appearance, certainly grabbed the attention of anyone who saw one. Aimed directly at a younger audience, the Bond Bug was described as 'The fun car that does a serious job' and with its striking bright orange finish with black detailing, it was certainly very different to anything else on Britain's roads.
The Bond Bug would be produced in three variants, with differing levels of specifications and features. The base model Bond Bug 700 was quite a spartan affair and whilst externally it looked to all the world that you were a sporty Bond Bug owner, driving the vehicle would not have been the most pleasurable experience. The 700E and 700ES models respectively added levels of comfort and trim for drivers and passengers, such as a telescopic canopy damper, cockpit heater and full side screens.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that the Bond Bug was always viewed with great affection, sales success did not follow and after a short production run of just four years, the last Bug left the factory in May 1974. The problem was that despite being one of the most distinctive vehicles on Britain's roads, was it actually all that practical? In addition to this, the Bond Bug proved to be rather expensive, costing more than the entry level Mini, which was the small family car of choice at that time and some would argue, a much more sensible option both financially and in terms of practicability. Those who never understood the idea behind the Bong Bug rather savagely described it as a glorified go-cart, but on reflection, could any other relatively small production run vehicle claim to have had a similar impact to this quirky cult classic?
Since that date, the three wheeler which was available in any colour as long as it was bright orange has become something of a classic and restored examples displayed at car shows up and down the country can always be guaranteed to attract a crowd of admirers. Wouldn't everyone want to own a Bond Bug?
The return of an Airfix classic
Roy Cross working his illustrative magic once again. This iconic original artwork rides again, as the Bong Bug takes its place in an Airfix kit range once more.
When broaching the subject of the 1/32nd scale Airfix Bond Bug kit of the 1970s, it doesn't take too much research to discover that there's something of a mythical aura surrounding this kit. Owners of full sized Bugs wanting to create a scale version of their beloved cars claim that finding a mint example of the Airfix kit will probably cost them as much as the real thing did, with stories usually following on claiming to know that the tooling had been destroyed. It's certainly true that our Bond Bug kit has been absent from the range for far too long and after its initial bagged kit release back in 1971, the kit was only re-issued one more time, four years after that initial new tooling release. The question was where was the Airfix Bond Bug and why hadn't it been released for so long?
With the model being announced as taking its place in the latest Vintage Classics range at the beginning of the year, we knew this was going to be big news for the hobby and wanted to provide the full story of its resurrection here in Workbench, which is exactly what we are about to do. For a project of this historic importance to the brand, we entrusted the situation to Design Manager Matthew Whiting, who not only has a wealth of unrivalled design experience to call upon, but has also been instrumental in allowing several Vintage Classic models to once more take their places within an Airfix range, even though they required some additional design modifications in order for that to happen.
The first thing we wanted to ask Matt was, 'What considerations have to be made before a kit can be re-introduced as a Vintage Classic?'
Matt told us that from a design perspective, when they are handed a future Vintage Classic project to work on, any associated feasibility issues have all been negotiated by our researcher Luke and development manager Martin and all he has to do is assess the project and get stuck in. Clearly, there are some kit subjects which have huge potential when it comes to their inclusion as a Vintage Classic, usually by virtue of either their historic popularly, or maybe just because they were only ever released a couple of times in the past and often not for many a year. The question for our development team to answer is do we still have access to the complete tooling suite and are they in a condition suitable for production?
Two of Matt's images which both help to illustrate some of the points raised in our review and why the project had a special meaning for him. Firstly, an exclusive image of a clear part tooling insert showing how small these important components can actually be and a picture of his son Finn inspecting a Bond Bug on a day out.
Clear part images supplied by Dave Coventry, details which proved crucial to the successful conclusion of this project.
Dave also supplied Matt with a selection of assembly instruction images, which were important in ensuring the newly designed parts were numbered in the same way as the originals.
In undertaking these classic Airfix tooling investigative works, our development team face the possibility that they might uncover issues which could make a particular kit's future inclusion in the Vintage Classics range more difficult or even impossible. With some of the classic Airfix kit toolings having been produced back in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, not only could they have been used several times in various production runs since their original introduction, but may also have endured long periods of inactivity, in addition to potentially being placed in storage at various locations around the world during that time.
Matt told us that a major consideration when assessing the future production suitability of a classic kit involves the location and assessment of their mould inserts, smaller, but vitally important components of the complete tooling suite. In the majority of cases, the main part of the tooling, which is known as a Bolster, is relatively easy to locate, however, many of these kits can also include much smaller mould inserts for components such as the clear parts, inserts, the physical size of which, can often be where the problems start. These metal tooling inserts can be as small as a tobacco tin (for those old enough to remember such a thing) of a small sandwich box, and are therefore the most likely parts of a model tooling to either go missing or to suffer damage - if that turns out to be the case, it's now an exercise in time and cost to see if redesigning new parts is feasible and therefore if a particular classic kit will ever be released again.
To add some perspective to this situation, the main Bolster is a large block of metal which requires a team of men and block and tackle lifting gear to move them around. They are so large that there is plenty of room for the storage facility to clearly mark the identity of the tool on its exterior surfaces and keep a record of its location. In contrast, the inserts are no less important, but much smaller in size and as a consequence, are often the ones which get mixed up over the years, suffer damage or even get lost - in some cases, pervious mistakes made during production can also create their own problems, but as long as a clear picture of what's available is presented to the designer, a project feasibility decision can be taken.
Matt kindly supplied us with a picture of the clear part insert for the old F-105 Thunderchief kit, including the dimensions 120mm x 60mm for scale reference, just so we could see what he was talking about. He also said we should clarify that the residue visible on the mould interior is actually a protective grease and not cobwebs, as it does look as if the spiders have been a bit active here. He also supplied us with an image which illustrates a personal connection he has with the Bond Bug and why he was so keen to ensure it could take its place in an Airfix range once more. When out for a walk with his young son a few years ago, he was amused to see Finn closely inspecting a Bond Bug before announcing, 'That car's not got enough wheels dad!' - clearly an Airfix designer of the future that young man!
This next selection of images show the original Bond Bug kit components scanned for use during the clear part design process, an environment where Matt is able to bring his considerable talents to bear.
Having already covered the work which allowed the Auster Antarctic kit to take its place in the Vintage Classics range, we were fascinated to learn that Matt actually worked on the Bond Bug design modifications simultaneously with the Auster, as both required him to design new clear part tooling to replace the missing mould inserts for each respective model. Although the two projects did follow a similar design path, the main issue with the Bond Bug proved to be the real problems the team had in finding a good example of the original kit for Matt to reverse engineer, just because the kit is so rare.
Thankfully, we did have the help of long time Airfix supporter Dave Coventry, a man who will be familiar to many a Workbench reader as the creator of the impressive scratch built 1:350th scale HMS Prince of Wales model we displayed on the Airfix stand at Scale ModelWorld 2019. Dave had a pristine example of the Bond Bug kit in his collection, but was understandably reluctant to let this prized possession out of his sight. He was, however, prepared to provide help which proved absolutely crucial to this project, presenting Matt with a robust selection of high resolution images of all kit components, and specifically the clear parts he was so desperate for. The clear parts were photographed next to a steel ruler for sizing confirmation and clear images of the instruction sheet were also provided. All this information was crucial in allowing Matt to undertake his design work and to allow him to reverse engineer the missing Bond Bug components.
Matt informed us that he did eventually manage to get hold of the major components of the Bond Bug kit and how he was actually really impressed with the standard of the design and tooling work completed all those years ago. The parts themselves were beautifully moulded and were perfectly symmetrical, something which would definitely make this task a little easier as he negotiated his way through it, a result of the extremely high standard of toolmaking this beautiful little kit originally benefitted from. Taking the original kit parts in hand, Matt scanned them all prior to importing these files into his design software, but with the reassurance of knowing that whatever he went on to design, they would fit perfectly with this really beautifully tooled kit.
Matt took the opportunity to incorporate impressive new levels of detail when designing the vinyl doors for the Bond Bug, with the detail rippling effect being a very distinctive feature of this latest incarnation of this classic kit.
Completed design layout of the new Bond Bug clear part tooling.
Prototype fitment of the newly designed parts with the original Bond Bug components.
A new design twist on a classic Airfix kit, the reverse engineered and re-designed clear parts included in the Vintage Classic Bond Bug kit.
Motoring style, a built Bond Bug kit will look like no other model in your collection and is certain to attract plenty of attention.
One of the most interesting aspects about speaking to Matt regarding his work on allowing classic Airfix kits to take their places within an Airfix range once again, is how this can sometimes introduce modern design innovations to these timeless modelling classics. If Matt can improve on the original when he is called upon to reverse engineer missing or damaged tooling components, he will certainly take the opportunity to do so and that proved to be the case with the Bond Bug project. If you take a look at the component images used to illustrate this feature, you will notice that the clear part representation of the door/side panels are just flat on the originals, but how Matt took the opportunity to introduce some rather appealing and very distinctive improvements when redesigning them. Providing a much more accurate representation of the detail found on the real Bond Bug, you can see from the design and final production images of the clear parts that he has included a rippling effect on this fabric/vinyl component, a much more accurate representation of these distinctive features. He hopes this will only serve to increase modeller enjoyment levels for everyone building this Airfix classic, following its impending release.
Another feature of the Bond Bug project which required real concentration was around the frame part numbering of the newly designed components. As Matt didn't have access to the original clear part frames, he again had to rely on the details provided to him by Dave Coventry, namely the clear frame components and instruction sheet images. It was important that the new parts he designed corresponded exactly to those of the originals, as the assembly order needed to be exactly as it was on this classic model. The instructions themselves are again a direct copy of the originals, just presented to incorporate all the necessary information required by current standards, but helping to maintain the original authenticity of this classic Airfix release.
Just to summarise, the Vintage Classic Bond Bug release has all the charm and appeal of the original, but features just a few little improvements, with modern design and manufacturing techniques playing a major part in allowing this extremely rare kit to take its place in the 2023 Airfix model range.
Any colour you like, as long as it's bright orange. Full scheme details of this stunning addition to the Vintage Classics range.
The sight of this built sample model will only serve to raise excitement levels in anticipation of this rather elusive model's inclusion in the Vintage Classics range.
Current brand box presentation, with a classic Airfix modelling heritage twist, something tells us the Bond Bug isn't going to be around for long.
For a model kit which has been absent from any Airfix range for almost half a century, we are delighted to report that thanks to Matt's design skills, our 1/32nd scale Bond Bug is now available once more, allowing a new generation of modellers to enjoy this classic kit. Available from all usual stockists, the Bug has attracted so much interest since its announcement at the beginning of the year and we fully expect our scale tribute to this iconic little three-wheeler to disappear in no time, so please make sure you don't have to wait another 48 years to get your hands on one (and perhaps a second example as a stash reserve, just for good measure).
As always, we would like to thank Matt for guiding us through the design work he completed on the Bond Bug project and for providing us with the fascinating selection of images which so perfectly illustrate the points raised. We also hope his son Finn enjoys his starring role in a Workbench blog for the first time - we look forward to charting his development as a budding Airfix designer of the future!
We are afraid that's all we have for you in this latest edition, but we will be back next Friday with more project development updates and the very latest Airfix kit exclusives. In the meantime, we are always keen to hear your views on all things Airfix and in particular, any thoughts and opinions you may have regarding our Workbench blog. If you would like to drop us a quick line, could we please ask that you use our workbench@airfix.com email for all correspondence.
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