Airfix 1/72 Cessna 0-1F Bird Dog
Thought for once I would do a quick fun build over a week end. And here it is, the old Airfix 0-1 Bird Dog. What a tiny model for me to be doing. The old decals pretty much fell apart so most are from my spares box. Fit was OK but the clear parts were as thick as the bottom of a Coke bottle. The interior is very sparse but you can't really see inside either. The only thing I added were the antenna wires made from copper wire.
Gotta hand it to the pilots who flew these in Vietnam as the 0-1 was pretty much a bullet magnet. Those pilots had lots of guts but they really came thru in placing ordnance where it did the most good.
8 additional images. Click to enlarge.
I see whatcha mean about the clear parts...turned out well enough, though.
My biggest disappointment were the clear parts. Didn't have enough guts to try sanding them down.
Tom,
I have to hand it to you for this little gem. Excellent job. I recently did an O-1 in 1/48 and I thought that was tedious. I built it for a pilot that flew it in Nam. Again I hand it to you with compliments.
Thanks Frank, the Bird Dog is one one the reasons I mainly do 1/48 scale. Add in age and eyes and 1/32 is starting to look really good to me.
Nice little build, looks great.
Given what you had to work with- and the only one in 72nd- great result. The 48th is kinda rare these days, though AOA actually did a decal sheet for it. Roden now has a 1/32nd, and AOA probably will make their 48th sheet bigger. I hear bad things about Roden decals.
For such a widely used aircraft, there oughta be a new kit in 72nd and 1/48th, IMHO
Thanks Bernard, the little bird took me longer to build than I expected, mainly because because of it's size. I agree there should be at least a good 1/48 kit made of this A/C.
Occasionally a quick, short build is enjoyable! This one ended in a good result. Nice work.
Very nice, Tom. I have a friend who was a combat photographer who flew in these. His plane was shot down twice and he still has some health issues caused by the crashes. However, he liked flying in them. As long as they weren't getting shot at, of course. Yours is a sweet little fun project that looks great!
Nicely done Tom.
Big "atta boy" for even finishing this one, Tom, let alone making it look that good. These old Airfix kits certainly show their age (don't we all) but you did a fine job.
Thanks Joe, would really like to see a nice 1/48 kit done of this A/C. Civilian and military versions would be interesting.
I never think of Cessnas as being military aircraft, but it sure makes for an attractive model, good work, especially with such an old kit and in 1/72 scale.