Hall Bulldog Racer= Finished

Modeling Subjects Airliners and Civil Aircraft
1

This a build of the Williams Bros. Hall Bulldog racing plane. Those of you familiar with WB kits are aware that some of their kits are fine, others not so good. This kit is one of the later. But, where else will you get a big inexpensive model of a great looking racer!

The plans are almost worthless, except for giving the names of parts by number. The kit designers were apparently unfamiliar with Confusius statement about the worth of a picture. There are a couple of photos, no drawings except a four-view of the exterior. The cockpit is the most complex assembly, and they do show a picture. The kit parts are white and the picture is shot against a white background- brilliant!

I was able to get the completed interior to fit inside a fuselage half, with some filing and cutting. The two fuselage halves look quite symmetrical, so I figure I can get the two halves together okay.

2

Got the fuselage and wings together. Got it puttied and primed. It was not the putty queen I thought it would be but those wing joints still took a fair account, as did the strut-fuselage fairings.

I also got the engine done, though I won’t insert it until later after most of the model is painted.

3

Wonderful! I love the Golden Age racers.

I’m struck by the design similarities to the I-15 and PZL series of Russian and Polish fighters.

4

Yes, me too. And I like both of those.

5

I missed this one. Great looking airplane. Do you have to paint the black or are those decals?

My wife built a dollhouse that had almost no pictures and a lot of written instructions. I was pretty amazed she finished it.

6

I"m not the rocket scientist here, but I seem to recall reading that when a wing joins a circular fuselage at a true right angle its “cleaner”.

Bill

7

Yep. The Bulldog should have been a clean bird- good aerodynamics. It was not that successful, though. Recently learned that Hall, the designer, was a former GeeBee pilot and had won a prestigious race in it.

8

I had lost the two horizontal tail planes, and the inside halves of the wheel pants. I scratched the horizontal tailplanes. A friend, Bob Maderich, loaned me his wheel pants to take a mold off. I am still working on the molds and castings.

But I did get the new tail pieces on today.

I got a coat of dark red on today- it is still drying. Pics tomorrow maybe.\

9

What a neat racer. Looking good so far. I hope to see this brand restart some day.

10

The first red coat is a keeper.

Now all I have to paint is the canopy and landing gear. I am working now on the molds for the wheel pants. (cowl is already painted).

A note about the cowl. It has an indented ring that the cylinder heads fit into. You cannot glue the cowl halves together and slip it over the engine. I am glad I checked that! Apparently the engine holds the cowl on.

11

wow that red looks great!

12

It sounds like a Townend ring.

Those were common on 30s aircraft like the JU-52, P-26 etc.

One of the things about aerodynamics that are almost counter-intuitive.

The airfoil design reduced overall cowl drag.

Bill

13

Almost all radial engine cowlings were attached to the engine cylinder heads and could move independently of the rest of the airframe. An exception is the last of the Staggerwings, the G-17S, which had it attached to the airframe. The earlier model Staggerwing cowls were attached to the engine.

14

Hi Bill;

By All engineering Standards a wing Joining at a full right angle is indeed " Cleaner" It could, back then, result in more Speed. The truth was shown to me in the Application of a rudder to a ship. If two rudders were installed at right angles to the bottom, then steering was vastly improved as well.

What always got me was those ridiculously tight fitting Cowlings. My Gosh I bet they ran Hot!

15

But they produce less drag. They acted as a ramjet engine. Not a very efficient one, but the thrust subtracted from drag. By the time you got over 400, they did pick up more efficiency.

16

I have little to no knowledge of the Hall Aircraft Company.

But this guy designed everything from the GB to the Gulfstream (while at Grumman).

Another interesting aircraft is the Cicada, the previous design for the Bulldog.

Bill

17

I think most of those racing planes were what we today would call a homebuilt. They were never built in production quantities- they were hand made. Of course even production aircraft were pretty much handbuilt in those days. Actually they still are.

18

Well, I am masking off to paint the struts, which need to be white. I realize now I should have painted them before installing them! Oh well. I am just masking wings and forward fuselage. I intend to wrap plastic wrap around aft fuselage and tail. How many of you use plastic wrap when masking?

19

I have confirmed that the air brush problem that I am having is the compressor. I have ordered a new compressor and it is due today. While the white struts are coming along okay, I will now finish them up with an airbrushed coat. The bigger problem is the nose. The nose forward of the wings is black- the fuselage decals end where that black nose panel line is, and I do not believe I could hand paint that large an area. That is why I had to order the airbrush asap.

I have successfully molded the wheels pants and am cleaning them up. I have a coat of primer on them and hope to get first red coat on today.

20

I missed it, what was the problem with th wheel pants?