Airfix 1/72 Bristol Superfreighter, by Frank Spahr

Airfix 1/72 Bristol Superfreighter

KIT #:	A05002V
PRICE:	30 Euros
DECALS:	Two options
REVIEWER:	Frank Spahr
NOTES:	Short run with photo etch and resin parts

The Bristol Aeroplane Company had a long and distinguished history, producing iconic aircraft like the Bristol F.2B Fighter, the Bristol Bulldog and the Beaufighter. Postwar, the Bristol Britannia four-engined airliner and the Bristol 170 twin-engined freighter/airliner were notable types.

The Bristol 170 Freighter was introduced in 1946. With its bow-mounted clamshell doors under the raised cockpit, it was able to accomodate both 12 passengers and two automobiles. In 1953, a stretched version was introduced. The Bristol Type 170 Superfreighter Mk. 32 had a longer nose and fin fillet. It could transport three cars and 32 passengers, and was used as an “air ferry“ for routes across the Channel. In the same year, the Port of Dover started operating Ro/Ro ferries across the channel. One can easily see the appeal of the faster trip by air, but also how costly it must have been compared to ferryships.

Silver City Airways operated the Superfreighter on the Southampton-Cherbourg and Lympne-Ostend routes. In 1963, the airline was merged with others to form British United Air Ferries, and operated until the late 1960s. By then, the ferryship had won over the aircraft.

It may be of note that in the James Bond movie „Goldfinger“ (1964) a British United aircraft is shown. It carries the villain´s golden vintage Rolls Royce to the Continent. It is a ATL-98 Carvair, though.

I know exactly why I built this model. Peter Hall of Atlantic Models mentioned to me he was building one, for old times´ sake, and I knew nothing whatsoever about the kit or the aircraft, come to that. So I looked for it and thought: Well, that might as well interest me. So I hunted through the many vendors´ piles of kits at Lingen Euro Model Evolution in March, 2026. Until I found a vintage box from the 1970s. In the end, I did not buy it as I reckoned the decals would be unusable, so I took advantage of the kit´s reissue as a vintage classic and ordered that. I counted on the reissue having decals that would be agreeable to work with.

This reissue indeed has a very neat-looking new decal sheet. But the first thing I noticed was how heavy the box was. This is a massive kit, with the parts on massive sprues, and it´s a large aircraft model at 18“ wing span. The parts all looked neatly and cleanly done, with hardly any sink marks or other blemishes. Mind you, the molds are 1959 vintage. The clear parts also look neatly transparent. Detailing is on the basic side, especially the engines and landing gear, and the aircraft is covered in a gazillion of rivets. Which is quite correct. The bow clamshell doors are movable, with quite massive hinges, and there is a loading ramp fit for playing with Matchbox cars. But given the kit´s vintage, there is no interior whatsoever. The instructions are clear and straightforward and logical, same as the painting and decaling guide. Colour callouts are given in Humbrol shades, as usual.

All in all a neat and unusual kit and a quite unique aircraft with an inherent British, um, ugliness.

Unsurprisingly I started with the cockpit, which was built and painted as per instructions, including the two pilot figures. Any effort made here will later be entirely invisible.

The interior was then primed and sprayed black for the cockpit area and silver for the rest. I had then not quite decided whether to close or open the clamshell doors.

I then assembled the two-parters where possible, including landing gears, wings and control surfaces. Fit was surprisingly good.

When I glued the many windows into the fuselage halves, I found all of them a tad too small to properly fill the fuselage cutout. After letting the cement cure, I filled the gaps with a PVA glue for transparencies. That cured, I cut masks and covered the windows. Having glued the cockpit assembly into one fuselage half, I then glued the fuselage halves.

I soon found out that the canopy was also too small, and I was left with a sizable gap below the front windscreen and behind the canopy. I added styrene stock as far as possible for me, and filled the rest of the gaps with the same PVA glue. I had masked the canopy with homemade Kabuki tape masks beforehand.

At the engines, I followed the example of an Austrian modeler and added exhaust pipes from brass tubing, yet I was lazy and only used six instead of the proper twelve per engine. Well – it´s my model.

I had a lot of work with the centerline dorsal seam, complicated by the surrounding rivets, and needed several passes of filling and sanding and re-riveting.

Having at first hoped I could get away with very localized work along the seam, in the end I had to sand the entire topside flush and flat and smooth, try to tackle ghost seams, refill with CA glue and so on. Until I could (after several checks with primer) re-rivet.

That done, and the whole model primed in black with my new airbrush, I could start painting. BTW – upon recommendation of a modeling friend, I bought a GHAD-39 airbrush by Gaahleri. Very affordable, and after the first few weeks of use, it does what it is supposed. So far I have been mostly working with primer, using the thicker (.5 mm) needle. No clogging as was my fate for the past decade and more. I´m curious, not judgemental, and optimistic.

Having masked off the black antiglare panel and the wingroot walkways, I sprayed the lower part of the fuselage in the grey that mostly seemed to match the required Humbrol 166. For which I could not find an equivalent in my preferred Vallejo range. I used Light Gull Grey. That masked, I sprayed the upper part of the fuselage Stynylrez white, not without only now seeing and trying to tackle some blemishes. That done, I masked again and then sprayed the cowlings, spinners, landing gear, the upper parts of the wings and the stabiliziers Vallejo Metal Aluminium.

When it came to applying decals, I started with the smaller registration decals for the tail. And immediately realized I was into trouble, when the very thin decal rolled up and tore apart. That did not bode well for the larger and more demanding items. So I swallowed hard, and coated the rest of the decal sheet with Microscale Liquid Decal Film, to hopefully add a bit more stability. I had to print all four registrations on my own decal sheet, though.

Next I started on the blue trim which begins ahead of the wing, splitting it into two parts. With the Decal Film, the material was more easily handled, and I was able to get it onto the model without further mishap. After adding the other decal for the foremost part of the trim, I breathed out. But I still had a gap left, which I tried to fill with a homemade blue that did not quite match up in the end.

I then tackled the really nasty long decal for the trim surrounding the windows, which I split into five or six parts. I managed to apply each of them on starboard without loss, but was more than a bit doubtful about the fit around the windows. Yet there was nothing I could conceivably do at the time.

Having applied the decals as well as possible, I found an unsurprising gap at the bow, moreover the demarcation I had guesstimated was off. In addition to that, I found small gaps between the section of blue trim that hadn´t been there upon application.

I was unable to mix the appropriate deep cobalt blue with my paints, so checked out the suggested Humbrol shade #14. I had already found a hobby shop in the Netherlands close to our holiday destination where I might obtain it, when I had a bit of a brainwave. I found a vintage tube of cobalt blue artist´s oils, which looked a very satisfying match. So I applied the oil paint over the small gaps and vowed to let it cure over the imminent holidays.

In the holidays, which we spent in the Netherlands, I visited said actual hobby shop near where we stayed. The owner was quite helpful and friendly, yet he had no acrylic Humbrol 14. But he showed me a liost of equivalents, and I was able to purchase Revell acrylic paint. The shade was listed as corresponding to Humbrol 14 after all. I also got some other paints and goodies. All during one of our cycling tours, not too bad.

Back home, I found the oil paint had cured, and wasn´t such a striking match anymore. But I could use the Revell paint for some additional touchups. It wasn´t a true match though, either. At this stage I was convinced the model would never look really neat and crisp, so my focus rather shifted on completing the, um, blessed thing instead of binning it. I considered it a battle of wills by now, always with one eye on the abyss of the bin lurking beneath the workbench. I also started internally referring to it as the Superfrustrator.

After my touchups, I coated the decals with Future and then added a flat coat for good measure.

That cured, now came the moment of truth. Using a fresh #11 blade, I carefully cut around the window perimeters and removed the masking tape. It was virtually as expected in my nightmares of the preceding weeks: The window positions and sizes in the plastic did not quite match the ones in the decal sheet. I had areas uncovered by the decal around most windows. Moreover, The PVA glue I had used to fill the gaps around the transparent part did not part cleanly from the adhesive of the masking tape, so the windows looked slightly frosted.

Now would have been an excellent moment to bin the thing. I tried to repair the plethora of blemishes, though. Using the newly bought and not quite matching Revell paint, plus gold paint for the trim, I made some repairs, trying to match the shade of blue but still not really getting there. Luckily, a fresh coat of PVA improved the look of the windows and let them blend better into their surroundings. The cockpit window masking hadn´t quite worked, I´ve been spoilt by Eduard´s offering of precut masks and didn´t get it quite as nicely. Another very visible blemish.

Having done all I could in those areas, I focused on the remaining bits and bobs. I used 1.4 mm brass tubing for the props´ axles, and added exhausts from thinner tubing material to the engines. Exhaust staining was applied with my airbrush and some pastel chalks. The rest of the landing gear and antennae was used out of the box.

Having added the last antenna, and done some more touchups, I breathed a heartfelt sigh and removed the model from the bench.

Well, yous never learns. Or, you´d rather learn something in each project. Both about the kit, the subject matter, but also about you and your skills and dedication. I know it can be done. I have seen images of Superfreighter models looking impeccably crisp and neat, using the selfsame decals that gave me such grief. By people with better skills, obviously.

My conclusion is that airliners and me aren´t a really good match, and need to be kept apart by a good margin. I´m not averse to old kits, and might have achieved a better result on those seams, had I been more tenacious. But at some point, I did not really see eye to eye with this kit anymore. I´m glad it is there, and will keep it, but it sure won´t be packed in my model show luggage.