Air Racer GB Round 2

Scorpiomikey,

I know it's three months into the GB (kinda the opposite of the 'need for speed' philosophy), but I was wondering if I could jump in here with a Testors/Hawk 1/48 Gee Bee R-1 (Golden Age category, of course) ?

Of course. Entries are still open right up to a couple weeks before the end date.

main page updated. have a look and ill make any changes as requested.

Thanks Scorpiomikey.....here we go.....

The kit

The engine with ignition ring 

And with spark plugs and wires. Most radials have two spark plugs per cylinder, but my research shows that the Gee Bee radials only had one.

Stage Left nice work on that tiny engine I too have the same Gee Bee kit listed for the group, I see I am going to have a tough act to follow.

Thanks vetteman.......I appreciate the nice words, but I've seen your work and you definitely do your plastic justice. I don't think you'll be following me a whole lot, especially since that Texan turned out just beautiful.

And the complete engine with pushrods

Hey everyone I actualy got to work on miss America and have WIP Pics. I was lucky enough in the late 80s to work next to the hanger that Miss America was based at. It was the Fort Collins downtown airport in CO. Her crewchief at that time was Ray Middleton who had his business next door. I helped swapp the race engine out for the airshow stock Merlin. I feel in love with the plane and picked up the old Monogram kit and started it and now will finish. If you notice the wings and the stab are clipped. and the panel lines are smotthed out and flushed rivits filed with filler this plane was clean airodynamicaly. ready to primer will have more pics later.

Damon

Stage Left nice work on that tiny engine Took a look at those pushrods on my engine and wow don't know if I will try them or not. Cant wait to see more of your build.

Nomad68 a very good start on Miss America. You are a lucky one to have been able to work on her for a time, I envy you that. Are you going to go with the old paint scheme or the newer one ?

vetteman42

Stage Left nice work on that tiny engine Took a look at those pushrods on my engine and wow don't know if I will try them or not. Cant wait to see more of your build.

Nomad68 a very good start on Miss America. You are a lucky one to have been able to work on her for a time, I envy you that. Are you going to go with the old paint scheme or the newer one ?

Vetteman I just looked over the new paint and I like it alot.   I will probably stay with the old one but Miss America has a new dress on and its got my attention.

Damon

I got a chance to do more work on Miss America. I am going with the old paint, but I do like the new graphics. I primed and got my first coat of white on going to let this dry for a few days and hit it again.

Damon

Vetteman- thanks again. Got the plastic inside the fuselage thinned out and cut the door off. We'll see how the cockpit turns out.... 

Nomad- Nice progress. That paint is gonna look sharp.

Sorry for my ignorance, but new paint and old paint? i thought miss america only had the one paint job? The red white and blue?

That engines looking sharp stage_left.

Scorpiomikey yes the colors are red, white, and blue. The graphic on the tail is the only difference, oh and the sponsor listing isn't on the new paint job yet. The new graphic looks like a flag waving the old one, the only I can think of to describe it is it looks like part of a star burst.

A picture of the new paint job

OOOHHHHHH!!!!! i see i see said the blind man lol. i get it now. i prefer the old paint.

I hope I'm not violating the spirit of this group build but I just joined the forum and saw this group build section and simply wanted to post pictures of an air racer that I built late last year on another forum.

It is a rather simple dio setting using a 1/72 scale Merlin resin kit of a Spitfire. It was a rather crude kit that had many fit problems so it lended itself to this type of project quite well. I blacked out the canopy as the vacum formed canopy that came in the kit didn't even come close to fitting so I had to sand it down and the only way to salvage that was to paint it black. The decals were mostly handmade off the internet although the numbers and sponsor came from a 1/32 scale set of Slixx Nascar decals.

I am not a powerful airplane builder by no means but I had a lot of fun with this one and I hope no one minds me showing it off here.

1329Wayne I for one like it, I am not the host of the group but I don't see why anyone would mind your pictures. I think you did a very nice job on your racer and I really like the idea behind your dio. Thanks for sharing it with us, very nice work indeed.  So tell me why not join the group for another racer build ?

Thanks for the comments. I would join in on another build but I have so many ongoing projects right now I don't think I could add another one at this time. I build primarily automotive subjects but love to build planes from time to time. Thanks again.

I have no problem with it, its good to have people post their previous work as inspiration to the others. If anyone else has something similar that they thought "bugger, i just finished that" feel free to post it.

Page 3 ?? bump

Home sick today had lots of time so I painted the last color on Miss America.

Damon

Very nice, sorry i havent been bumping this, ive been having issues getting online. When i do get online i can post 2 or 3 posts then it all goes down on me.

What shade of blue is that? And how do you get your white so intense?

Scorpiomikey

Very nice, sorry i havent been bumping this, ive been having issues getting online. When i do get online i can post 2 or 3 posts then it all goes down on me.

What shade of blue is that? And how do you get your white so intense?

I used some old enamel blue that I have had forever in the little 1/4 oz. bottles there is no color on the bottle. I primed the model gray and used MM Acrylic  flat white it covers better then spayed with future to protect it. The red and blue are enamel if I get overspray or one of the darker colors bleeds under my mask I can wipe off with thinner. Glad you like her I cant wait to get the decals on

Nomad68 nice work on the paint man.  I know how tricky that masking can be. Hope to see the decals on it soon

Got the decals on had some trouble with the 20 year old decals had some silvering like the adhesive was not disolving. Kept working it with water and solvent got them to look OK. Another problem after I unmasked the canopy I found I did not have a good glue joint and paint seeped around the edge of canopy. This model is not going to be a contest winner but will look good on the shelf. Brings back lots of memories I spent alot of time around the real plane she is good looking. Hope to finish this weekend.

Damon

Nomad- decal problems aside, that is one sharp looking bird. Awesome paint scheme 

Nomad she is looking great man, you had better luck with the decals than I did for sure.

Shes looking mighty fine. What solvent are you using? I found microsol works really well. When i was doing my skyhawk (which i dont have photos of unfortunatly) i sat there for about 20 minutes just applying it on an area. waiting a few minutes, applying it again. made it look like it was painted on. I was quite impressed.

Finally, some progress. Stretched sprue stringers, and ribs made from wood laminate sanded down with lightning holes added. The notches in the ribs are for the stringers; I didn't want to cut notches in the stringers, but truth be told I could have gone either way. The trapazoidal piece on the left between the ribs is the ledge inside the door.

Stage Left that is some sweet detail work there buddy I know how small that cockpit is and to scratch build it is very challenging to say the least. I really like the addition of the door too so that the interior can be seen, a very nice touch.