Bristol Bulldog – Inter-war aviation perfection

Welcome to this latest edition of our Workbench blog and all the news, updates and modelling exclusives from the fascinating world of Airfix.

As we continue to find ourselves in the exciting period which follows the unveiling of the latest Airfix range, we will be returning to the subject of new tooling additions to the 2023 range in this latest edition of Workbench, with our subject matter this time being the only new 1/48th scale project currently scheduled to join the range. Coming from a period in British aviation when the nation’s aircraft manufacturers were world leaders and when technological advancements were driving the development of aviation at a furious pace, the Bristol Bulldog was the product of a programme looking to equip the Royal Air Force with a world leading fighter aircraft. What they produced was an aeroplane which possessed the performance to go with its good looks, an aircraft every young man in the country desperately wanted to fly.

As this will be the latest in our series of designer interview editions, we are fortunate to have the benefit of the input of the kit’s incredibly talented designer Matt, a man who probably has more Airfix design projects to his name than most of us have actually built kits. Thanks to Matt’s input, and the spectacular selection of design images he has allowed us to use, we will be given an insight into what it takes to enable such a beautiful, yet complex aeroplane as the Bulldog to take its place in an Airfix range. We also take the opportunity to quiz him regarding some of the design challenges he faced whilst immortalising the Bulldog as a scale plastic model kit and what he thinks modellers will appreciate when they eventually get the change to build it.

We’re flying on silvered wings this weekend, as we give the new 1/48th scale Bristol Bulldog Mk.II kit its Workbench introduction.

Decorated Great War pilot designs classic RAF fighter

From a golden era of British aviation, the Bristol Bulldog represented the pinnacle of aviation technology when it entered RAF service and pointed towards the very future of aircraft design. 

As we marvel at the capabilities of today’s high-tech air superiority aircraft, its easy to forget how the very first pioneering powered, controlled, heavier than air flight was only made by the primitive Wright Flyer just over a century ago and how before the Great War, aircraft had never been used in an offensive capacity. Since that time, there have been several defined eras of aviation, where the design of aeroplanes advanced at such a rate that one type of aircraft marked the zenith of that era, handing over to the next generation of advanced designs which had almost been developed simultaneously. Such eras include the advent of the Fokker Eindecker, the world’s first fighter, the emergence of the monoplane from the advent of the most capable biplane designs, followed by the jet age, where exceeding the speed of sound became the goal.

Each of these eras of aviation hold a fascination for millions of aviation enthusiasts the world over and whilst we will all have our own particular favourite, there is one which often appears to be overlooked somewhat, but once discovered, reveals a multitude of aviation delights, the inter war period. Here in Britain, this period between the two World Wars was a time when aviation was a subject close to everybody’s heart and how the latest aircraft of the day represented the very pinnacle of man’s engineering achievement, machines which held the nation captivated and inspired the youth of the day to a career amongst the clouds.

With gleaming silver aircraft performing precision aerobatics in front of crowds totalling many hundreds of thousands and the dashing pilots of these magnificent machines representing the very cream of the nation’s youth, aeroplanes held the British public captivated and a life in the Royal Air Force was something many aspired to. This period is also remembered as unquestionably the most flamboyant in aviation terms, not only because precision aerobatic displays were regarded as highlighting the proficiency of a modern Royal Air Force, but how the presentation of aircraft was not shackled by the need for camouflage and how these gleaming silver aeroplanes proudly carried the colours of their respective squadrons into Britain’s skies. This really was the golden era of the aeroplane.

As this is already displayed on the new Bulldog webpage, we felt it was okay to show the box artwork presentation of the new kit, with one particular detail coming in for extra attention a little later in this review.

After benefitting from a first-class education in Scotland, Frank Sowter Barnwell was to become a celebrated pioneer of early British aviation, designing and building a series of aircraft, prior to enlisting in the Royal Flying Corps following the outbreak of the Great War. Gaining his wings, Barnwell was assigned to No.12 Squadron RFC, however, in August 1915, he was released from service to allow him to take up a prestigious position as the Chief Designer at the Bristol Aeroplane Company.

This decision would not only benefit Barnwell, but also the RFC/RAF, as this talented designer and his team would be responsible for producing one of the most capable British fighting aeroplanes of the Great War, the Bristol F2B Fighter, an aircraft which entered service in 1916 and was still in RAF service during the early 1930s. This proved to be after Barnwell’s latest fighter design had been accepted into Royal Air Force service, a rugged and powerful aircraft which represented the very pinnacle of biplane fighter technology at the time of its introduction, the capable and aesthetically appealing Bristol Bulldog.

During the 1920s, Frank Barnwell and his design team at the Bristol Aeroplane Company were engaged in developing a series of different fighter designs, initially as private ventures, but aiming to secure military contracts issued for both the RAF and Fleet Air Arm. Their designs were built around the latest engine technology of the day and incorporated all the latest aeronautical engineering advancements the industry had to offer. One design in particular showed much promise and when combined with their own Bristol Jupiter engine, seemed to satisfy the RAF’s requirement for a new fighter interceptor, one intended to replace the Armstrong-Whitworth Siskin and Gloster Gamecock.

Featuring and advanced all-metal structure, with fabric covered wings and fuselage, the new aircraft was evaluated alongside aircraft produced by other manufacturers, and advanced to a further round of evaluation with the Hawker Hawfinch. In preparation for this, Bristol made some modifications to their aircraft, most notably lengthening its rear fuselage, and now carrying the designation Bristol Type 105A (Bulldog Mk.II), it was to eventually win the contest, by virtue of its better overall serviceability record and following input from pilots who had flown both types.

An initial order for 25 aircraft was placed and the first of the RAF’s new Bristol Bulldog Mk.II fighters were delivered to No.3 Squadron at Upavon during the early summer of 1929, quite fitting when considering the squadron’s motto – Tertius primus erit, meaning ‘The third shall be the first’.    

A thing of beauty, only the cream of British society could ever hope to fly the Bristol Bulldog, whilst the rest of the nation simply admired from a distance.

The Bulldog was armed with a pair of forward firing Vickers 0.303 in machine guns mounted either side of the cockpit, but would ultimately never fire its guns in anger during a relatively short seven-year period serving with Fighter Command, even though it would go on to equip 10 of the 13 fighter squadrons defending Britain’s airspace. Although it was the most capable fighter of the day, the Bulldog was more closely associated with challenging formation flying and spectacular aerobatics, with the Royal Air Force thrilling huge crowds at Airshows and pageants around the country, as they demonstrated the effectiveness of a modernising air force. What the Bulldog did do was help to advance Britain's aviation industry towards the production of the sleek, monoplane fighters which would contest the Second World War, as it highlighted the fact that biplane designs were fast approaching their zenith.

Perhaps the most famous incident involving a Bristol Bulldog proved to be a rather unfortunate one, when an accomplished, but rather headstrong RAF pilot performed unauthorised low altitude aerobatics for a group of onlookers and a private civilian aerodrome in Berkshire. Flying so low that the wingtip of his fighter struck the ground during a manoeuvre, the Bulldog cartwheeled across the airfield, inflicting catastrophic injuries on the pilot - that pilot was future WWII RAF ace and inspirational national hero Douglas Bader.

Another important legacy of the design technology employed on the Bulldog is that it would influence aircraft which would go on to serve throughout the Second World War, with machines such as the Swordfish and Hurricane all adopting similar construction techniques. From a company perspective, it would also be an important design steppingstone which ultimately led to the introduction of later successful Bristol designed aircraft, such as the Blenheim, Beaufort and Beaufighter.

Recreating Barnwell’s aviation masterpiece

Something just that little bit different for the latest Airfix range, designer Matt Whiting hopes this new kit will bring the Bristol Bulldog more of the recognition this classic inter-war fighter surely deserves.

For some people, the announcement that we were introducing a newly tooled 1/48th scale Bristol Bulldog Mk.II kit to the 2024 range may have come as something of a surprise, however, it probably wouldn’t have taken them too long to come round to the idea, even if just going by looks alone! Arguably, unless you would describe yourself as an avid aviation enthusiast of some years standing, you would probably have little knowledge of this aircraft, particularly as it only had a relatively modest period in Royal Air Force service. This was more a reflection of the astonishing pace of technological advancement at that time though, rather than a reflection of its capabilities, and once you spend a little time brushing up on your Bulldog research, it isn’t difficult to become infatuated by its good looks and flamboyant presentation.

From an Airfix project perspective, many of us will have probably built the Bulldog in 1/72nd scale, a kit which was initially introduced back in 1969 and only recently inducted into the Vintage Classics kit hall of fame, however, in the larger 1/48th scale, that story is a very different one. We do have the Supermarine Walrus and de Havilland Tiger Moth kits in this scale which have been released over recent years, with both occupying a similar period in aviation history, however, we have to go back to 1980 and the Hawker Fury to find a classic RAF inter-war fighter type wearing the Airfix logo in this scale.

It was against this background that our Design Manager Matthew Whiting took on the challenge of allowing this beautiful aircraft to take its place within an Airfix kit range, and with it, bringing some long overdue attention to an aircraft which despite its impressive aviation credentials, could definitely benefit from being brought to the attention of a wider audience. I know we’re a little bias, but in this regard, we think Matt has achieved this particular brief in fine style.

As we initially broached the subject of Bulldog with Matt, we first wanted to ask about how this decision came about in the first place and if this was a subject the Airfix team had been thinking about for a while?

Matt told us that there is a long list of subjects the Airfix team work with on a legacy basis and whilst some subjects can move up or down that list at any point in time, the Bulldog was always on there and therefore, always had a chance of becoming a new tooling subject. From a more personal perspective, Matt told us that the Bulldog seriously entered his mind as a potential future project during a research visit to the RAF Museum some years ago, whilst he was actually there to look at a different aircraft. Attracted by the good looks of the Bulldog on display in the same hall, Matt took a series of images to start the design ball rolling, even though he knew it may be some time before the aircraft could receive the Airfix design treatment.

Matt was able to use a combination of original Bristol Aeroplane Company information and existing research material during the early stages of the Bulldog project, thanks to the kind assistance of our friends at Aerospace Bristol. 

A beautiful, yet highly complex aeroplane, there was a lot of information for Matt to digest prior to making a start on his new Bristol Bulldog project.

From that first face to face meeting, Matt knew the Bulldog would make for a stunning new tooling addition to the Airfix range and since that date, the Bulldog as a subject just always seemed to keep cropping up. Obviously, he was aware of the popularity of the existing 1/72nd scale kit and how despite its age, the kit would regularly turn up on the competition tables at Scale ModelWorld, where someone had gone to town in replicating this delightful aircraft in all its polished metal glory, wearing those beautifully flamboyant markings, a real celebration of this golden era of British aviation.

Staying with Scale ModelWorld, Matt described how he was also a big fan of a particularly impressive diorama display which regularly appeared at the Telford show, one which was the scale recreation of a 1930s British aerodrome scene and how each aircraft model featured had its own engaging story linked to the overall diorama. The display included a Bulldog, with this aircraft looking much more attractive and significantly more capable than the others parked around it and was just crying out to be investigated further.

Finally, the popularity of the Bulldog’s 2019 introduction to the Vintage Classic range convinced Matt and the Airfix team that the time was right for this beautiful aircraft to benefit from his design skills and to grace a future Airfix range in 1/48th scale – as far as the Bulldog was concerned, it was throttle to max and take off!

As the Bulldog comes from an earlier era of aviation, we wanted to ask Matt if designing an aircraft of this type posed any particular challenges for him and if so, what they were?

Matt immediately drew our attention to the very beginning of the project and the gathering of research material. This actually proved quite difficult at first and even though they had access to scan data and a robust library of reference material in their own archives, the aircraft they had inspected at the RAF Museum had something of a colourful history and had been built, re-built and re-built again over the years, and was even used as an engine testbed aircraft during its life. As it exhibited quite a number of ‘differences’, it was crucial that Matt was aware of any deviations from standard Bulldog configuration and of even greater importance, having access to the correct information.

Our researcher Luke managed to gain access to a complete library of original archive material and thanks to the kind and helpful people down at Aerospace Bristol, he and Matt spent two extremely busy days in Bristol scanning and logging many hundreds of original drawings which were held within their Microfilm archives. The real work began after these details had been secured however, as Matt had to decipher all this information and highlight any contradictory details, working out which was the correct interpretation of the drawing data.

A further selection of Bristol Bulldog images, starting with the beautifully restored example on display at the RAF Museum, but an aircraft which exhibits quite a few differences from the first Bulldogs to enter Royal Air Force service.

Some of the original photographs Matt had access to featured a Bristol Bulldog which was sent for eveluation by the US Navy.

The culmination of many hours work, this computer rendered image was produced from the CAD files Matt designed in support of this exciting new project.

Once this task had been completed, Matt was able to cut out the many details he needed and layer them in a three-dimensional workspace using his powerful design software, all very clever stuff, but something Matt’s lifelong interest in engineering has helped him perfect over the years. He did go on to say that this stage of the project did see him spending a great many hours at his computer, but how it was all worthwhile and resulted in an extremely accurate scale representation of a Bristol Bulldog.

Moving on to the subject of challenging aspects of the design itself, Matt informed us that even though the Bulldog isn’t a huge aeroplane, its advanced design and biplane configuration meant that everything was a little trickier to work with, with lots of different aspects to consider. The key to a successful design project is always to include lots of detail, especially in 1/48th scale, however, the skilful part is to include this without making the actual assembly of the kit over-complicated. For an inter-war biplane such as the Bulldog, surfacing detail was clearly going to be a time-consuming aspect and by its very design, was going to require double the design attention when it came to the wings.

Looking at the distinctive profile of the Bulldog, few of us will be surprized to learn that the engine also caused Matt a few design headaches, not just because this is such a prominent feature of the aircraft, but how it’s just so devilishly complicated. He described how the Bristol Jupiter engine was actually an incredibly advanced piece of engineering and how constant improvements in metallurgy allowed engineers to gain ever more power output from the unit throughout its life.

The replication of the Jupiter’s complex shape and how the cowling was engineered to fit around it, whilst leaving the cylinders exposed did provide Matt with a few design challenges and the way he finally negotiated this was to design separate cylinder heads for different incarnations of the engine, something which allowed all this detail to be replicated accurately, whilst remaining faithful to the actual aircraft.

Is it any wonder why we enjoy these designer interviews so much – just look at this fascinating design screenshot supplied by Matt. How do they do it?

Other design challenges included the fact that the tail and rudder of the aircraft were intentionally designed to be slightly offset, something needed to help the pilot deal with the incredible torque produced by the Jupiter engine during take-off, and how the entire fuselage cross section is slightly asymmetric. This meant that in the case of the Bulldog, he didn’t have the option of simply replicating parts of the design across opposing sections of the fuselage, something which most definitely added time to the project.

In actual fact, the Bulldog proved to be quite the challenge in a design sense, but thankfully, challenges such as these are the things which really drive Matt in his career and he really enjoyed pitting his skills and experience against this unusual collection of design problems.

When probing a little further and asking Matt which aspect of the design took the longest to negotiate, his reply was swift and specific – ‘Wings’. As he had the benefit of all those invaluable original design drawings, he quickly discovered some unusual features of the wing’s internal structure, but something he was able to incorporate into his design. The ribs appeared to exhibit unusual spacing positioning which was not consistent across the wing and the use of nose ribs was also an unusual feature of the real aircraft’s design, however, with the details provided by the original drawings, Matt was able to replicate these features in his design.

Every inch a thoroughbred fighting machine, only the very best could hope to tame the Bulldog!

Once all the rib information had been correctly plotted and spaced, he could start working on the all-important wing surfacing, a feature of the new kit which would provide its character and hopefully, detail most modellers would appreciate. As a result of all this detail replication, Matt confirmed that he spent quite some time getting to know all the little foibles of the Bristol Bulldog’s wing design.

At this point, we took something of a detour to ask Matt about something which was confusing us a little. Concerning the new Bulldog box artwork, why is the machine gun on the top of the aircraft’s wing upside down?

We could just tell that Matt was smiling at the other end of our Teams meeting on hearing this, before announcing that it wasn’t a gun, but was in actual fact a Mk.III Hythe Gun Camera. Produced by the Thornton-Pickard Manufacturing Company of Altrincham, this highly specialised piece of equipment was based around the chassis of a Lewis machine gun, but housed a lens, film unit, shutter mechanism and targeting screen and was used to check the capabilities of a pilot when attacking a target during training exercises.

Every time the Bulldog’s gun trigger was fired, the Mk.III unit would fire off a film plate and advance the roll film to the next section of unexposed film. When the film was processed later, the images would be used during debrief with the pilot and his shooting accuracy assessed. This equipment was used widely during the Great War, throughout the inter-war period and even during the early years of the Second World War and is just another interesting feature of the new Bulldog’s design.

We were all rather pleased with ourselves for spotting that.

The penultimate question we put to Matt was to ask him which aspects of the Bulldog’s design was he most pleased with and why?

It's always important to ask a designer this question, because we often find that what we have a preconceived idea their response might be, usually turns out to be something very different. In this case, Matt certainly came back with something we weren’t expecting and that was the Bulldog’s wheels. He went on to tell us that the wheels on these aircraft were spoked like a bicycle wheel and how replicating this detail proved to be quite difficult. The most challenging aspect was the fact that the spokes were often covered with stretched fabric, probably for aesthetic reasons, but something which proved challenging to replicate in design.

We didn’t expect that. Matt described how he was really pleased with how the fabric covered, spoked wheels came out in design, something he hopes modellers will also appreciate.

As described by his colleague Chris when discussing his work on the new B-24 Liberator in a recent edition of Workbench, design elements such as these can be checked during the design phase using the in-house 3D printer at Airfix HQ and whilst the wheel detail for the Bulldog did take a couple of attempts to perfect, Matt told us that he was happy with how it turned out.

Matt also told us how he spent quite a lot of time working out how to effectively design the collection of struts and supports associated with the design of biplane aircraft such as the Bulldog, something which is such a distinctive feature of these aircraft, but something which can lead to some modeller frustration during the assembly process.

Referring to the original design drawings once more, Matt was able to assess the actual geometry of these components and expertly (okay, we chose to use that word, not Matt) replicated the correct strut angles into his design, also ensuring their anchor points were as robust as possible, whilst all the time maintaining the scale accuracy of the overall design. This required the careful plotting of these components and assessing them against the original drawings, before he was happy to commit them to design.

Perhaps the most interesting image of all the ones supplied by Matt, this one shows how he managed to overlay actual original wing rib detail over his wing trace at the start of the design process, providing the absolute certainty of reference information he needed.

In Matt’s words, “Understanding how the real aircraft went together helps a designer produce a better model kit, an accurate scale representation of it”. 

When looking at the pictures included with this review, we can clearly see that there’s a lot going on at the front of the Bristol Bulldog, all of which had to be replicated in design and that’s not even including the wing detail Matt spent so much time perfecting.

Our final question was to ask Matt which aspects of the new Bristol Bulldog’s design he felt modellers would come to appreciate most, once they had the opportunity to build one?

As we have learned so many times in the past when conducting these kind of interviews, Airfix designers always have the modeller in mind as they work their way through any new project, and how their own and the wider team’s experience is always brought to bear in order to make each new design project as enjoyable a build experience as possible for modellers of ages and abilities.

Regarding his new Bulldog, Matt described how he hoped the aircraft subject itself would meet with popular approval, as it will introduce modellers to an important, but relatively unknown British fighter type from an under-served period of aviation from a modelling perspective. He also hopes that people will enjoy the attractive and rather flamboyant colour schemes these aircraft wore during their service careers and how once completed, the new Bulldog will bring some real modelling class to any collection of built models.

He also went on to say that he hopes the appeal of the Bulldog will encourage some modellers to venture out of their subject comfort zones and to try building something other than a Spitfire, Mustang or Messerschmitt for a change. Be brave, have a go at building a biplane.

If this beauty doesn’t take us out of our modelling subject comfort zones, then surely nothing will.

This design rendered image shows how Matt cleverly designed the Bulldog’s array of supporting struts to support the wings and undercarriage components at the right angles.

A looker from any angle, the Bristol Bulldog would look magnificent sat next to a Spitfire or Hurricane and will certainly show them both up when it comes to general presentation.

Having said that, he is fully aware that attempting a biplane build for the first time can be a little daunting, particularly when confronting the prospect of rigging for the first time, however, he has tried to help support such trepidation with his Bulldog design too, as it includes anchor point for the rigging. Working closely with our Illustrator Richard, the pair have included plenty of guidance and support on the subject of rigging within the instructions, something they hope will encourage one or two modellers to take on the rigging challenge for the first time.

Talking specifics, Matt hopes that modellers will appreciate the correctly angled undercarriage and wing support struts he managed to design when negotiating this section of the assembly order and how these parts will locate securely during construction, providing the reassurance modellers will need prior to moving on to the next phase of the build. He wanted his design to provide this reassurance without the need for the modeller to be constantly checking the assembly against drawings or having to hold parts at a certain angle until the glue takes hold.

He also hopes that his representation of the fabric covered areas of the Bulldog will prove to be a highlight feature of the new kit, because he worked hard to replicate the accurate lie of the doped fabric over the rib and former detail, something he spent many a long hour at his computer designing. “The real challenge with a design feature like this is to be as subtle as possible, resisting the temptation to go too far and overdo the effect. What should be a distinctive and appealing feature of the kit could easily fall wide of the mark if you try to do too much too quickly in design.”

Essentially, what Matt really hopes is that modellers will enjoy their time with the Bristol Bulldog and how it might help to bring this particularly exciting period in British aviation to the attention of many more people in the months and years to come. He would also like to think that he might encourage one or two modellers to venture out of their subject comfort zones and have a go at building a classic biplane model kit, perhaps for the first time.

A stunning addition to the Airfix kit range, the Bristol Bulldog Mk.II will draw modeller’s attention to the inter-war era of aviation, and a period when a career as an RAF fighter pilot was just about the most desirable position a young man could hope to achieve.

All we would like to say on the matter is how we know the Bulldog is going to look magnificent in this scale and we can’t wait to see what some of your model making artists out there do with all that polished metal and those flamboyant colour schemes.

We really enjoyed speaking with Matt about his time spent designing the Bulldog and we look forward to bringing Workbench readers further project updates as it continues to negotiate its development journey towards eventual release. Until then, we would like to thank Matt for his kind assistance in helping produce what we hope will be another enjoyable designer edition of Workbench and this introduction to the exciting new 1/48th scale Bristol Bulldog Mk.II.

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. 

To re-visit any of the Airfix blogs we have produced over the past seven years or so, please head to our main Workbench hub, where you will find our entire blog back catalogue and all the Airfix design projects we have already covered.
 
All our dedicated official social media sites can be accessed by clicking the respective link icons at the foot of this page, or by heading to the Airfix homepage. Other useful Airfix links are:

 
Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram official sites

Airfix Workbench Forum

Main Workbench blog hub

Airfix website

Please join us for more Airfix updates next week and thank you for your continued support.

Airfix Workbench Team