Many months ago, having built the Airfix 1/72 Bristol Bloodhound Anti-Aircraft Missile I wanted one in 1/35th scale. Not being prepared to fork out about £90 for a kit I decided to try and scratch build one. I just like the streamlined, evil look of brooding menace this Missile has.

The Bloodhound was a Cold War Missile found on RAF bases all over the world and was designed to take out Soviet Bombers (Bears) at an incredible speed long before they got anywhere near their target.

My thanks to Erik (Erik67) and Marcel (Greyhunter) for the encouragement, tips and sarcastic comments and especially to Steve (BARV) for the help, materials and further encouragement (nagging) to get it finished.

Here are the build pics and final result.

The Wolf awaits the Bear!



The start:



At this point I discovered that, whilst it looked correct from the few pictures I had obtained… I had in fact constructed the launcher BACKWARDS! Thanks to Barv and the RAF Museum at RAF Hendon for the diagram.



So, back to the drawing (and cutting) board.
Rebuilt Hydraulics unit to correct dimensions, rebuilt launcher rail and added Missile support struts. Made hydraulic connectors for hoses.



Blu tacked together to see how it looks.



With wiring and hydraulic hoses added



And now for the missile:

Nicked one of my kiddies pens which was the correct diameter and made tapered body from plastic tube. Then shaped warhead cone from Balsa.



Fins and tail fins made from plastic card. RamJets made from tubing with tapered cone from candle glued inside.



Boosters and fins made from flat card, tubing and sharpened pencil heads. Missile test fitted to Launcher. Looking okay so far.





Painted Launcher.





Painted Missile. Made a small base from an old picture frame. Added model railway grass and scratched a small field telephone for the left of the barrier.







Bloodhound next to a 1/35th Challenger 1 and 1/35th Figgie, just to show how big this thing actually is.



And finally! Next to the Airfix 1/72nd Bloodhound.



Hope you like it. My apologies for all the pics but… I’m really proud of this model.

This is brilliant, very good looking and tight job! I love the intricacy of the hydraulic part - and the pens too - scratchbuilding is also great ideas like this one
JB

Bloodhound ---commonly known to me as " The PUPPY", is the triumph over adversity....ie the "chivvying"....sarcky comments ..down right rudeness of 3 friends to see the final resultsof a surprising idea .
Initially ,when I was told of the project ... .....I was flabergasted that Murdo would go ahead with it after all the derision poured on him (standard rappour on-line ) ---A 100% scratchbuild of a seriously intricate model is not for the faint-hearted ..especially when its a FIRST!!
He has carried it off to a very high standard and I am proud to say that it I have had great pleasure watching it grow......it is one of the nicest scratchbuilt models I have seen in a long time ....having handled it the other day the pictures will never do it justice
Well done mate!!
Next time do your own research
aye
BARV
(GOSMG)

Encouragement and tips? That must have been Marcel. I only remember the sarcastic comments...

It turned out great mate! You have all reasons to be proud of it.

Erik

Thanks JB! I enjoyed the challenge of building it... Usually!

Steve! Ah, praise from the Great Guru of "scratching". How can I ever achieve better or surpass this?

Erik! Anything other than sarcasm from you would scare the carp out of me.

Thanks guys!

Turned out really nice.
Very impressed with your new skills.
I'm sure Steve will have another project for you.

Murdo...
What can I say

Looks great just hope my train looks half as good when finnished

But what are you going to use if you now want to build 1/24 scale to go with the family

Steve Jnr

Thanks Dave, Me and Steve banned from communicating by SWMBO (both of them) for the time being.




SWMBO has a broom handle that I'm eying up...

Hi Murdo.

you are very right being proud about it, though having seeing your past projects I wonder which one is better... but then, for some reason or another, people love one of their children more than others without any obvious reason.

Keep on,

George

Thanks George.

I think what makes this one really special is... It's all mine.
No kit parts were used at all.

Anything from flat plastic and rod, Balsa, toothpicks, foil, candles, solder, pens and pencils were used.

Even the Warning light on top of the pole is hot glue teased to shape then dipped in Tamiya clear orange and Kleer.

The only thing I can't lay claim to is the grass. Didn't have seeds or a mower small enough.

I'm turning really sad.

Steve! What have you done to me???

Hi Murdo,

This is an absolutely class piece of work, 10/10 my firend. I thnk it's excellent. Brillient work and an unusual subject.

Needs a bigger base though lol, lol and some buildings and fighter aircraft to protect!!!!!

Great stuff indeed, it really does look the business.

Cheers

Al

You should be proud of this build - its great!

you deserve it!

Very detailed build...I mean scratch build.

Great Job!

Thanks guys, good to get the encouragement from some great builders!

Alan... Don't even go there! Runway 51?

btw, I was at a model show today and a mate of mine (Steve - Barv) nicked it and entered it in the shows competition.

It came second in the Miscellaneous class!

Come to think of it... There was only one entry.

Rubbish I counted 7 in class--------took ages to stop him screaming ---"No Dont Enter It !!!!!"
aye
BARV
(GOSMG)

Hi Murdo,

Sounds good to me ,

Congratulations on the placement. One thing I noticed on a second viewing is that the border looks too much like a picture frame, which I know is what it is, but it takes away from the overall presentation if you know what I mean, but that's only MHO.

Any chance you could follow it up with a 1/35 Vulcan Bomber!!

It really is a class build.

Cheers

Al

So, O great Dio Guru! I bow in your humble presence. What would you suggest for a base... And no, I haven't time or the space right now for building RAF Kinloss in miniature.

Well done! BZ (Bravo Zulu)

I'm glad John has revived this thread, as this is a classy piece of scratchbuilding Mr Murdo!
A very content feeling to pull off a project like this without having used any kit parts.
Well that is except the grass mate...

Thanks guys. Very much appreciated.

Next one in 1/24 with a Bedford RL Murdo?

That would be a cracking size.

Nige

Wow, very very nice i really enjoyed your step by step of this amazing piece of work, thanks and congrads on the well deserved second place

Ron.

Where did you find the dimensions?