Testors (Hawk) 1/48 Curtiss R3C-2 Jimmy Doolittle

For this one I printed the "3" and the "US ARMY" decals.

I rigged it with black paint brush bristles.

I reshaped the prop.

I filed down those "shoes" on the ends of the interplane struts.

It looks pretty good to me, but the real thing had some really swoopy line that would be more evident in 1/24.

Hey ;

 Them's purty wings and I like the way you considered the weighting proposition . T.B.

Hi " G " 

 I am going to go with Colored Brass between  frames . t.B.

Very old kit but stunning when finished. I also have the Supermarine S6 and Macchi MC72 in the same scale. Now I need to get the Porco Rosso racer from Fine Molds!

BTW, I haven’t found any decent aftermarket source for the streamlined aero rigging used on these planes and many others of the interwar era such as  P-6’s. There is some photo-etch out there that doesn’t come out looking right, and correct looking stainless steel wire, but only for large scale RC planes. I ended up buying straightened music wire and running it between two diamond files to get the correct cross section.

I think those wings look the part.

I suspect the radiators were copper rather than brass.  There are, of course, many alloys that make up brass, and they start as, and weather to, different colors.  Testors has a fairly good copper color.  I have noticed how often kits confuse copper, brass, and bronze in color information.

Just to be contrary my grandaughter and I did this one in the blue scheme.

Why didn't I think of that...

From the website-

" The wings were covered with twoply spruce planking. 3/32-inch thick, forming a box structure that required no internal bracing. Among the interesting features were the low-drag wing radiators made of corrugated brass sheeting, .004-inch thick, covering much of the surface of both upper and lower wings with the corrugations running chordwise. The upper wing was flush with the top of the fuselage, permitting the pilot to see over the wing. All ribs were of spruce conforming to the Curtiss C-80 airfoil section, and the ailerons, made of metal, were fabric-covered. The cantilever vertical fin and horizontal stabilizer were of wood."

"The wings and elevators were painted gold; the fuselage, stabilizer, fin, struts, fairings, cowling, pontoons and/or wheels were all black."

Maybe a quick email question to NASM?  Straight from the horse's mouth so to speak.

Thanks Frank, and Goldie I am thinking linen.

I did see that build, thanks. I was a little confused because the builder painted the wingtips copper color.

Also, for no good reason the ailerons have rivets all over them. Sanded those off and also the raised marking locator lines.

I've sourced and printed a block "3" (actually four).

White paper with a black outline.

The Travel Air is drying under it's first coat of Future.

Here is a build report on this kit. The builder did go to some great lengths for authenticity. Just thought you might be interested.

https://modelingmadness.com/review/preww2/bertor3c.htm

 I like these old Hawk racing plane kits. I'm going to get one or two of these kits at the next show I go to.

Lower wing looks to be linen (can see the stringers plainly), painted, upper looks to be possibly wood, again painted.  But if wood, has bubbled a lot, so could be linen as well.

Since weight was a factor in the racers, I'd think they'd go with fabric out on the wing tips.