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1/72 scale kit of KP of the Scottish Aviation Bulldog
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After the old Airfix kit in 1/72 many years, the "new KP" Kovozavody Prostejov releases in 2022 a 1/72 model of the Bulldog in several boxes with different decals.
Kit #KPM0301 has decals for 3 T.1 schemes:
- Bulldog of Malaysia Air Force in white with dayglow panels
- Bulldog of Hong Kong Government in white
- Bulldog of Jordania Air Force in desert scheme
note: small error on Hong Kong G-13-19 description but the decal is correct... G-31-19
It looks quite a lot in the parts and layout as the Airfix kit and the parts' finesses are a bit short-run.
As with the old Airfix kit, the clear hood frames are moulded with the fuselage parts, so the rear hood can not be set open.
A few kits will be made and built rather straight out of the box. A lot of nose weight is needed to avoid tail sitting. Some sanding and puttying is needed but the lower wing is one part helping to get a good wing fit. Check the antenna layout for your particular desired Bulldog model.
The small nose gear part #13 was made a bit finer and the entry steps #23 were replaced with thinner stretched sprue. The smaller rear windows #T2 sometimes have an extra frame, check photos.
After assembly give the model a base grey primer paint and repair any small flaws before painting the scheme.
The first kit was made in the kit scheme of the Malaysia Air Force Bulldog. The base colour is white and airbrushed with first a Revell Aqua 05 acrylic white followed by Gunze Sangyo H1 gloss white. The black anti-glare panel was masked and airbrushed black.
For the dayglow panels I airbrushed a spare decal Revell Aqua 30 orange acrylic paint, this saves a lot of masking effort.
The cockpit interior was painted medium grey with tan brown seat cushions. Seat straps were made from brown tape.
The blue cheat lines are missing on the KP decal sheet, I got some from the decal spares box. The kit decals are fine but thin.
The clear hood frames were painted. The small gaps on the hood edges were closed with white glue that was painted white when dried.
A blade antenna and pitot below the wing were installed as was the propeller after being painted black with yellow tips. Finally the model got a decal protecting clear coat of Johnson Future/ Pledge with the airbrush.
Replacing Chipmunks at the Malaysia Air Force Flying Training School at Alor Setar air base, some 15 S.A. Bulldog mark 102 trainers were delivered from 1972.
For more information about the Malaysia Air Force, look at the F-5E page here...
Bulldog 120, FM-1228 , AS-28 (unconfirmed code)
The second KP Bulldog kit was made similarly as described above. It had a gloss white overall scheme. The scheme is as per kit for the Hong Kong Government Flying Service and the kit decals are nice.
Hong Kong Government
[ area: 1,100 sq.km | population: 7,4 million ]
Hong Kong is a densily populated city with several islands and was a British colony until 1997. The United Kingdom agreed to transfer the colony in 1997 to China and China would guarantee Hong Kong's economic and political systems for 50 years after the transfer.
The Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force was established in 1949 by Hong Kong Government. Small aircraft and helicopters were operated from Kai Tak airport including 2 Bulldog mk.128 from 1977 until 1999. The unit was disbanded on 31 March 1993 and the now civilian unit became the Hong Kong Government Flying Service.
Bulldog 1208 , c/n 393, "HKG-6 (2), later G-31-19 (G-BPCL)
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