Description
This is a paintable 1:144 scale model of a Bristol Scout D with a synchronized Vickers gun. Also available is a Bristol Scout C with a top-wing Lewis gun. Since many painters choose their own mounting system, no peg is included on the plane. Pegs can be purchased separately in the Accessories section of this catalog.
The Bristol Scout was a pre-war racing design with simple and handsome lines. For clarity, the prototype was given the name Bristol Scout A. The first two production machines, named the Bristol Scout B, were sent to France as quickly as they cleared testing, they differed in only minor ways from the original.
The next order of twelve scouts for the RFC and twenty-four for the RNAS became the Bristol Scout C, and after the first batch was delivered in March 1915, a second order for seventy-five was placed. They differed little from the Type B — the main visible change being the removal of stiffening ribs from the engine cowl. As was common at the time, the were scattered among many squadrons in small numbers and mixed with other scouts and two-seaters. Planes with Gnome engines were reserved for the RNAS because the engine they were more likely to be flying over water and the Gnome was thought to be more reliable than the Le Rhône. Partly through Production of the Type C a widened tail was fitted and the dihedral was increased to 3°.
Eighty Bristol Scout Ds were ordered by the RFC in late 1915 for the RFC. The Type D had shorter ailerons and increased dihedral and the Le Rhône engine. Late production RNAS Type Ds used the 100hp Gnome Monosoupape engine, but vibration problems forced the final twenty RNAS Type Ds to revert to the 80hp Gnome.
While most Scouts were delivered unarmed, various jury-rigged guns were mounted, and Scouts built for the RFC in 1916 used a synchronized Vickers machine-gun with the Challenger or Scarff-Dibowski interrupter.
Eighty RFC Scouts were sent to France in total, and they served through summer 1916, after which they were repurposed as trainers. Thirty-two went to the Middle East, nine to Home Defense, and 115 went straight to flight schools. The early piecemeal distributions of Scouts can be illustrated by unit strength in September 1915 when seven Squadrons had one Scout each and No.8 had two.
For more data and gaming info on this plane, see https://linen.miraheze.org/wiki/Bristol_Scout.
Shipping: Shipping varies from about US$7 to US$15 per order, depending on the destination country. See your cart for an exact number — the prices may vary with currency fluctuations. Orders over US$300 may get free shipping (but see the note on mixed materials).
Mixed Materials: Nylon prints are shipped from a different factory than resin prints, so if you place an order with a mix of Nylon and Resin, you will be charged shipping for each material, and each will arrive separately.
Taxes: Sales tax — where applicable — will be added for U.S. shipments. Value-added taxes (VAT) may (or may not) be collected by your postal carrier on receipt, which is known as “Delivery At Place”. Unfortunately, since my printing and shipping partner has no way of marking shipments as VAT-paid, this website cannot collect VAT on your behalf.
Customs: Most orders should be small enough to avoid customs duties, but you may want to check your local regulations. If duties are due, they may be collected by your postal carrier. E.U. customers may be able to avoid duties by keeping their order under €150.
No refunds are available, because your order is custom-printed when it is received. There is no inventory or stock to which it can be returned.
Reprints are available for planes damaged during shipping. See https://www.greatwarplanes.com/refund_returns/ for details.
Grey Resin: Models printed in Grey Resin material are printed with sprue-style supports while they are printed. The supports are removed in the factory before shipping. But be aware that some of the supports might be missed if they are mistaken for plane parts, and some of the attachment points might need smoothing before painting. I have seen good results — with almost no visible leftovers — in test prints. But this may not be universal because it depends on whoever is operating the printer the day your miniature is printed.
Bent Wings: Due to the need to protect miniatures during shipping, the miniatures may arrive with wings that are not perfectly straight (or, in the case of wings with dihedral, at the right angle)¹. If the warping is too severe, or if correcting it results in a broken plane, you can apply for a reprint as outlined above. To correct modest warping, you can heat the model with hot water or with a blow-dryer until the wings become pliable, straighten them, and then cool the model with cool water or room-temperature air. (I have used the blow-dryer method with good success.) I do not know what temperature is best — you’ll have to experiment, starting on the low side and using only gentle pressure. You just want to make the model pliable without it melting (too hot) or breaking under gentle pressure (too cool). Please use the normal precautions you’d use with any operation with hot water, air, and plastic.
Since — as you have gathered — you can bend the model when it’s under high temperature, I would suggest avoiding leaving your prints in a very hot environment such as a locked car under the summer sun.
¹ This was especially true during a period when the planes were shipped in a clamshell-plastic case, which should no longer happen.
