Airfield Utility
Lanz 30HP Bulldog
By Huw Morgan
Kit No: HLP72018
Scale: 1/72
Type: Resin
Manufacturer: Hauler Hannants/UMM-USA
Heinrich Lanz AG was a German engine manufacturer established in the early twentieth century to build steam engines, but whose most notable product was the 30hp Bulldog tractor, built from 1921 with over 250,000 units produced in Germany and under license. The Lanz name disappeared from tractor circles in the early 1960s after the company was acquired by John Deere. The name Bulldog is widely used in Germany as a synonym for tractors even today, especially in Bavaria.
The Bulldog used a single cylinder, two stroke hot bulb engine of 6.3 litres capacity, later 10.3 litres, originally producing around 12hp. The hot bulb or oil engine was a popular design at the time, utilising a red hot chamber in the cylinder head to trigger combustion, rather than complex spark plug arrangements or the challenging engineering of Rudolf Diesel’s high compression ratios. Starting the engine involved preheating the hot bulb, often with a blow lamp, but once going the engine would run on virtually anything combustible, including vegetable oils, used engine oil, kerosene or creosote.