Air Racer GB Round 2

Finished pictures of my build at last, its the 1/48 Testors F8F-2 Bearcat built out of box, the only change being the removal of the guns and gun bubbles. The kit had good fits so went together well the only problems being very weak gear legs due to the soft plastic the kit is molded in, and the decals were lousy. I did use them as a template, I scanned them then printed them on frisket paper to be used for masking. Worked out pretty well other than the ink on the frisket paper taking over night to dry. Anyway I had fun building it and it was a good one to get me back in the saddle and at the bench again.

So without further babbeling I present from Good Ole Boys Racing, sponsored by Jake's Krab Hut, Skeeders Fishing and Tackle, and Southern Aero Wreaking,  race #6 " Fat Cat " out of Belcher Louisiana.

This will be Fat Cat's second year at Reno, last year they failed to qualify due to engine problems, resulting in a picture perfect dead stick landing. This year they return with a newly rebuilt engine package and a new high visibility paint job, sure is bright isnt it. They hope to run in the unlimited bronze class with their stock Bearcat racer.

I wonder how shell go against bamboo bandit.

She looks fantastic my good man, ill update the front page.

Nice job vetteman! 

Ok.....I've finally completed the cockpit. I should've put a penny or some other visual reference next to it, but it's 1-1/4" from bulkhead to bulkhead; 7/8" wide and 7/8" high.

Based on limited reference I went with a plywood seat and floor (wood laminate scraps), and only lap belts (lead foil). The stick (stretched sprue) is designed to be tall to keep the pilot from over-correcting the airplane. The rudder pedals are stretched sprue and foil, and the throttle quadrant is plastic bits. The lever knobs are white glue.

And the final interior.....right side a little messy:

Wow, looks awesome man. Its a shame so much of it will be covered up when you button her up. Its a shame you couldnt do like a cutaway or something.

Thanks Mike. I hear you about the cutaway, but the door on the side will be open so no matter what angle you look through it, the interior will look full. Plus you'll be able to see down through the canopy.

I'm not sure the forward bulkhead existed on the original, but I took some modeler's license so I wouldn't have to keep building in the detail. The view forward under the IP looked like a wide open space.

Thats in 1/48 scale Stage_Left ??????????????? WOW you the man !!!!!!!!!!! Totally impressive sir

Maybe I need to rethink my R-1 build

Vetteman- many thanks as always for the encouragement. Yes, 1/48th. I've also got the Testors rebox of Hawk's 1/48th Travel Air Mystery Ship- 1965 molds. I've thought of that a couple times as I'm doing this and have concluded that there'll be no such nonsense with the Travel Air cockpit. It's a cool-looking airplane as it is.

In what way are you rethinking your R-1?

Stage_Left well I was thinking there is no way I can follow your great R1 with mine and with my health troubles this year I have fallen drastically behind on my group builds. So I am hoping that I can slide in a Pegoso Midget Mustang as a second build for the group. It will be tight though getting it done by the end of the build.

As far as the Mystery Ship goes you cant see much of the cockpit at all once the canopy is on, just the seat really. I think the real challenge with that kit is the paint job. The scallops weren't too bad but those pin stripes were a nightmare, but well worth the effort let me tell ya.

vetteman- I remember you reporting on your health issues earlier, and I sincerely hope that things are on the upswing for you. I can understand having to manage the build time for the sake of health. I also truly appreciate your support for my build.

But, I must say that in no way do I see it as others 'following me' in whatever I build; I'm just trying to be part of the group. Ever since I can remember, I've been excited about models, and the more impressive they appeared to me the more excited I got. It's just how I want to model, and what keeps me excited about the hobby. I love being around models and modelers. I do like a little friendly competition now and then, but that belongs in the contest room. That said, equally exciting to me is a model that the builder is proud of. Since it starts with the individual, I like the 'build what you love, love what you build' philosophy. Whatever you decide to post, I look forward to seeing it and reading your WIP.

You mention the pin striping on the Travel Air, and I can see it will be a challenge but also really make the finish pop. The R-1 has an even finer black pinstripe between the white and red, and in 1/48th I haven't figured out if I'll be able to pull it off. Maybe I should just get the thing glued together first......

Stage_Left My comment about not being able to follow your R1 was ment to be a very high complement to your skills scratch building all that interior detail. I guess I sometimes have a funny way of paying complements. I very much look forward to seeing your Gee Bee finished sir.

I hadn't figured out how to do that pinstrip either, ( the Gee Bee R1 ) I had given thought to using a colored pencil on the molded line on the wing between the white and red. But then I remembered those lines shouldnt be there in the first place as the R1 had sheeted wings covered with cloth then painted.

vetteman- my attempt at humility in the face of your high praise.

Yes, I'm going to sand off those molded lines.You know, a sharp colored pencil isn't a bad idea- nice and simple. The best I had come up with was to lightly scribe those lines and run some slightly thinned black artist's acrylic in the recess, or maybe get away with not doing it altogether.

I had thought of scribing and filling with thinned paint too but was left with the thought of the fuzzy edge that may very well leave for the black line. Of course my attempts at scribing were rather feudal at best. The engraving on the fuse sides gave me that idea but there again you will have the same trouble especially since there are intersecting lines there. I think the pencil would work best at least for me, maybe scribe the line on the wings so the pencil will have something to follow as on the fuse sides, and the fuse sides already have the line on them. This was my line of thought anyways. Oh wait I think it was Daddy1 who did some small scalloped pinstripes on one of his builds maybe you could ask him how he did it.

I have seen a bunch of these models without the black strips on them and they look very good, have even seen large scale rc models without those lines.

Its gonna be close getting a build finished by the end date but I am gonna try.

Scorpiomikey may I if you please change my build from the Gee Bee racer to the 1/48 scale Pegoso MIdget Mustang race #67 ?

Here is the box art and what I have done so far. The fuse is together and I have sanded off all the raised surface details other than the canopy. Also the gear legs are missing from the kit so I will have to scratch some new ones. This isnt the best kit in the world in fact its far from it, the plastic is very hard and brittle, loads of flash everywhere as can be seen in the parts picture, and there is no crystal. I am not sure what I will do there but we shall see.

Stage_Left

You mention the pin striping on the Travel Air, and I can see it will be a challenge but also really make the finish pop. The R-1 has an even finer black pinstripe between the white and red, and in 1/48th I haven't figured out if I'll be able to pull it off. Maybe I should just get the thing glued together first......

  I used a 10 0 brush on my 1/32 scale Williams Bro.s R-1 and with a very light touch , a little playing with the thinness of the black paint, came out with a very nice , fine black line. That would probably still be too heavy for 1/48, but I have since used an ultra fine tip calligraphy pen and india  ink for some pinstripe  on a couple 1/24 ,1/25 scale cars. Takes a little practice on scrap to get the feel of the pen and how the ink flows but, can yield a very fine line.  White and the lighter , more opaque colors of ink flow a tad thicker ,but with darker colors such as black , extremely fine lines are possible.  It still takes a light touch but , was easier to control than a fine tip brush. The biggest challenge for me was loading the pen with just enough ink so not to get a blob  of ink in the middle of the stripe.

  BTW - Fantastic work on the inside of that Gee Bee. With 1/48 scale warbirds being my usual forte, I understand what it takes to get that much detail into that little space.

  It's been taking a while to get past the myriad of distractions, as well as a bit of a modeling type of writers block, I finally got my Hellcat finished and can focus on getting back on track with this build. I probably won't get to the Wedell-Williams before the deadline but will go at it getting the Bulldog finished. 

  I want to build the Bulldog as it appeared with the exhaust stacks emptying out the sides of the cowl , so my next step is to build the engine. 

  I started by drilling out the intake and exhaust ports on the cylinders , then came a wash of Model Master flat black, followed with a dry brushing of steel. I'll finish the cylinder heads of with a bit of aluminum detail painting .

The push rods(left) and intake runners(right)  were molded off register as can bee seen in this pic . So, I clipped them off  to replace with straight pins for the rods and solder for the runners.

Here's the engine front and crankcase with the necessary mounting holes drilled out 

Also have a coat of sanding primer on .

 More pics in a few days.

Howard

daddy1- thanks for the kind words, as well as the tips on doing the pinstripe. For years I've considered buying a calligraphy pen for this sort of application; maybe it's time I educated myself about them and made the investment.

Very nice work so far on that little engine

Update pics on the engine. It's taking a little figuring to decide what to use for the various detail items and have everything look right.  

 I'll be using .063 size solder for the intake runners and possibly the exhaust stacks .

Found some copper wire in my junk parts box for the ignition wire harness. A number of reference pics show a separate ring  for the plugs on the back side of the engine. 

I will use straight pins for the push rods. The actual Bulldog racers push rods were gloss black, but I'm going to go with the polished bare metal of the pins for contrast against the cylinders.

 It's looking like this will run a little past deadline for this GB and am going to build the Wedell-Williams for another time . Please forgive.

 BTW- The calligraphy pen does take a bit of practice to get the feel , but is far easier to use for fine lines than a brush. I don't use mine all the time , but really comes in handy when needed.

Another heads up - Through contact with  Williams Bro.s  about a replacement prop for my Gee Bee Z ( meet with a shelf accident , prop flew off to parts unknown), I found there will be several more of the 1/32 golden age racers reissued next year  the Firecracker and one of my faves, the Laird Super Solution. Can't wait to add to my stash.

Howard 

More progress on the power plant. 

 Thought of painting the push rods a correct back, but no way am I going to paint over the look of those polished push rods. I love it.

 Also note the beginnings of the intake runners. Again, nothing quite looks like bare metal than bare metal. Now to gently bend the ends to the cylinder heads. 

 Howard

No pics Daddy1 ??? your detailing skills especially on these racers is no less than astounding, cant wait for more pics.

I hope to have a few more pictures of the Miget up in a day or two, just finished sanding the seams, and surface detail off.

Oh I understand John Penny will be in the Rare Bear again this year and his Daughter Heather will be flying a jet at Reno. BTW Heather was flying over DC protecting the capitol on 9-11, she was, from what I read ordered to ram if needed any hostile aircraft approaching Washington DC.

vetteman42

No pics Daddy1 ??? your detailing skills especially on these racers is no less than astounding, cant wait for more pics.

 

 Sorry, my bad! Meant to leave these pics here too.

Howard

Nice looking powerplant daddy1. You're right, the chrome pushrods were an excellent choice  

Daddy1 great looking engine lots of detail looks real.

I've got the engine tacked on for a peek at how it'll look with the cowl on and mark where I need to drill out the exhaust ports in the cowl.  

Also have the intake tubes bent to shape and installed.

I've seen several variations of the exhaust in my reference pics but this is what I'm going with. 

Howard

Jim Leeward crashed this afternoon at Stead Airport, unfortunately into the crowd. He was flying "Galloping Ghost". At least seventy five injured and as many as twelve dead. A horrible tragedy.

 From Howards Hanger and Daddy1 Racing, our deepest sympathy and most sincere condolences to the families, the Leeward family, and the Galloping Ghost racing team . May God give you comfort in your time of need and sorrow. Our prayers go with you. GOD SPEED JIMMY!!!

 So long Galloping Ghost, R.I.P. 

 Was there any of our GB members there ? If so, are they OK? 

 Howard

Pictures I took last year.

I have three or four friends there. I was going, except the guy I went with last year passed away in February so we sold the spot.

Our old friend espins (Scott) used to go.

There is some video of the incident. I wont post it, its rather upsetting.

Local news site is claiming 3 dead, 56 injured, many of which were dismembered.

This is a very sad day indeed. Does anyone have any suggestions about changing the GB in light of this tragedy?

Scorpiomikey

 

This is a very sad day indeed. Does anyone have any suggestions about changing the GB in light of this tragedy?

How about we finish our builds and carry on. Jimmy Leeward would have wanted it that way.

I'm pulling the Wedell-Wiliams out to build at a later date, but I do want to finish the Bulldog in honor of Leeward and the Galloping Ghost.

 Here are the latest pics showing the exhaust stacks , made from .063 solder .

 I had to install the engine into the cowl to help locate where to drill out the cowl for the stacks . Then , I marked (just a small dot of fine tip Sharpie )short lengths of solder at the point to start the bend toward the cylinder head . Inserted through the holes in the cowl.

 Starting at the mark , gently bend toward forward of cowl ,and keep bend as you feed the solder in till mateing with the cylinder head. Super glue in place, Allow to dry.

Next I'll trim the stacks flush and drill out the ends and give the stacks a heated, slightly weathered look.

 Howard

what Daddy1 said lets finish up what we started.

 I did hear the family did not want the races stopped, but there was, is no way they could go on with them. I truely was a sad day Friday for all concerned. This has been a tragic loss to the air racing family and to the fans. My heart goes out to all.

Blue skies Jimmy Leeward

Daddy1 that engine is looking super great man !!!! Very well done indeed, love your attention to detail

ScorpiomikeyI dont yet know if my MIget was accepted in the group, it was a late start I know. I finally got some gear legs scratch built that look ok on Wednesday and was planning to install them on Thursday morning. A family matter reared its ugly head that is just today setteling down so I will have my head back into building. Will you allow a few extra days for us to finish our builds ?

Ive got it down under Golden age for some reason....wierd.

Well we shall carry on as before.

This has been a terrible year for aerial display teams. Seems like Amanda Franklin was the guardian angel of display teams. Now that shes gone it all seems to be going to hell in a hand-basket.