CMR 1/72 Bristol M1.C By Jim Schubert

Introduction

Frank Barnwell began design of a monoplane fighter in early summer 1916. The prototype M1.A first flew July 14, 1916 piloted by F. P. Raynham. Based on flight and static testing of the M1.A four refined M1.B prototypes were ordered by the War Office for further testing and development and also as a tactic to delay committing a monoplane to production, because common wisdom at the time said that monoplanes were inherently weaker than biplanes with the mutually bracing truss structure of their wings. It was, thus, not until August 1917, more than a year after first flight, that the War Office finally ordered 125 M1.Cs. The first of these was delivered September 19, 1917. Official antagonism to monoplanes persisted and production airplanes were sent to the Middle East rather than to the front in France and some were traded away to neutral countries. The airplane never had a chance to build a combat reputation.

Many M1.Cs survived the war and were sold to private owners and several were raced. Only one, mostly, original M1.C survives today. It is the very inaccurately restored C5001 in the Butler Memorial Building at Minlaton on the York Peninsula near Adelaide in southern Australia. The RAF Museum at Hendon has a beautifully executed reproduction and the Suttleworth Trust Collection at Old Warden has an airworthy reproduction built by the Northern Aeroplane Workshops between 1980 and 1997.

The Kit

This is one of the simplest Czech Master Resin kits that I’ve seen. There are only 21 parts not counting the eight pieces on the Eduard partially pre-painted fret of photo-etch. There are two pages of assembly instructions, three of colors and markings instructions and one small page with two cockpit photos. The decals provide for only three different, unspectacular, color schemes. Some M1.Cs had outrageous color schemes. A way to beat this dullness is to model a postwar civil machine. The first three references below detail five such machines, three of which are racers.

Conclusion

This is, dare I say it? a cute little kit of an ill represented subject. Prior to the release of this kit I know of only one 1/72 vac kit from Airframes of Vancouver and the 1/48, low-pressure, injected and white-metal kit from the now defunct Blue Max [Editor's note - Pegasus/Blue Max has recently been taken over by Freightdog models - RNP].

I like this kit. It’s simple and yet renders well this neglected WWI fighter type with its interesting civil modeling possibilities.

My thanks to Czech Master Resin for providing the kit for this review.

References

• Windsock DataFile 52 – Bristol M1: J. M. Bruce, Albatros Productions, UK, 1995, ISBN 0-948414-69-3.

• Profile Number 193 The Bristol M1: J. M. Bruce, Profile Publications, UK.

• Aviation News of 16-29 October 1987: Drawings by Colin Owers.

• WWI Aero No. 199, Feb. 2008.