1/32 Williams Brothers Gee Bee R-1

Very nice. I would be very cautious with the decals. My last several WB kits; the decals have shattered, so be sure to scan them first.

Bill

That plane looks like it could be one of those Meng toon kits!

That's probably where the toons got their idea

Looks  very cool  should be the right scale to work with

modelcrazy

I received this for a consignment build, Doolittle's ride. Looks to be an easy build but the paint job my be something else. Red and white..yay

 

 

 

 

That was my experience many years ago.  Simple Build, but a real bear to mask- paint job didn't some out well.

Thanks guys.

Don, yes the paint job is somewhat a bear. Fingers crossed.

I wanted to add some interest to the sparse interior walls so I layed in some styrene stringers. Not really wanting to break out the AB  to spray some primer, I moved on for now.

Can anyone tell me the color of the interior? The instructions say a red seat and upholstery but it neglects to advise on the color of the fabric walls and frame tubing. I'm assuming steel tubing so were they a steel color? Were the interior walls a silver urethane dope primer. Was the frame painted Zinc Chromate? 

While pondering the color question I decided to start on the engine. The push rod casings were far too large so I removed them and replaced them with .5mm Evergreen styrene. I would have prefered brass but alas my scratchbuilding stock isn't as stocked as I'd like. I plan on adding some plug wires but looking at an R-1340, there's really not a lot to add.

Bill, thanks for the tip on scaning the decals. I did as soon as I arived home. They are'nt in bad condition but I've been fooled before. I'll spray some Microscale decal film just to help get them transfered to the kit.

Steve, the steel tubing would not be left unpainted.  Most likely zinc chromate.  The inside of the tubing was usually treated with lionoil to retard internal corrosion.

Perhaps photos of Delmar Benjamin's Gee Bee woulod be your best bet, but not definitive.

The interior of fabric is never painted in normal practice.  It sometimes has a slight blue tint if it has been treated before doping with a mildew and mold inhibitor.    When you see a fabric interior like in a J-3 Cub you are looking at an inside layer of fabric not touching the exterior.  The silver dope is not applied until the fabric weave is filled with clear dope so any silver tint will only be seen through those transparent layers.  If you try to put dope on both sides of fabric ugly things happen so care is always taken during covering to not let dope run to the underside.

Did the kit have raised lines defining the scallops? My Hawk Travelair did.

I think you will be fine if you cut masks using copies of the instructions.

My failing on these types of aircraft is pinstripes, and I don't see any there.

Thanks John. I had forgotten about the not painting of the inside. I did a little bit of dope and fabric during my A&P training way back in 1980. We had a mock up of a wing where each student had to cut and apply fabric all to way to the final coat. It was sad when we had to rip it all off for the next up coming class. I'll paint the walls white, or just leave them as is and paint the stringers wood. I'm not sure there were stringers in the pit area anyway but it'll look nice for the customer. Looking at one of Delmar's planes, couldn't tell which one, it looked like he painted it a light grey. Who knows what the original looked like at this point though. The frame will be ZC.

Watching a YouTube vid on the R-2 I caught this screen capture.

Neat picture.

I just googled geebee interior with image search.  Found a number of pictures, many model builds, but some of real aircraft.  You may have to decide which are original and which are repros.  When you see a full scale aircraft interior, go to that website and read- it may give you details.  Interestingly, almost all the interiors were different colors :-)

Thanks Don, I'll do that. I did see a YouTube video that was the rebuild (we saw that aircraft in Sonoma County several years ago, but alas I couldn't get close enough for an interior shot) it showed white walls, wood stringers and red frames. I tried to Google that but perhaps I entered wrong. 

Someone does make a linen color paint- forget who.  I just mix white with tan till I get a linen color. If covering was cotton, it would be a little whiter, but as I remember both doped cotton and the artificial stuff it is an offwhite not a pure white.  I did a different Williams racer ( the Roscoe Turner one) and did that and it looks fine- ZC structure against off-white.

I'll bet! I remember having doped linen paint at one point but I don't remember who made it.  Perhaps Polly S.  It was back in the 70s.

modelcrazy

I'll bet! I remember having doped linen paint at one point but I don't remember who made it.  Perhaps Polly S.  It was back in the 70s.

 

Humbrol does a linen.  #74

Thanks John. I decided to use Radom, a light tanish color.

I added some control cables to the stick and throttle and plug wires to the engine. Thinking about it know I need to add some cables to the rudder pedels. I painted black primer and will paint red on the frame and grey on the engine crank case. Once dry I'll paint the details and weather..what little there is.

On and on we go. So I finally got up the courage to mask and paint this thing.

Started with the white.

After several coats I masked and sprayed the red.

I used a black marker to paint the black line between the rec and white then pulled the mask. There does appear to be some areas of touch up where the red bleed through or the mask wasn't exactly streight, but I pretty pleased with the result.

I still need to paint the wheel pants.

Nice scallops.  Got one in the pile that I keep looking at.

What an interesting project!

Thanks for sharing, Steve. Looking real good, pretty sure this one would intimidate me from ever starting.

I've seen these in pics over the years, no idea if I ever saw one in person but it took your thread to get my attention. Talk about an engine with wings and control surfaces and a place to sit, wowzer!

Thanks Greg,

I saw a replica R1 at the Sana Rosa airport several years ago. In fact, I completly forgot about it until my wife showed me a picture I had taken. I've seen the Z at the Muesum of Flight on Boeing Field in Seattle about 4 years ago. Same screwy paint job. At least I have the templets if I do that one.

goldhammer

Nice scallops.  Got one in the pile that I keep looking at.

 

It's a PIA

AHA!

 It's nice to see someone doing the "Fat, Short Bird" Some justice! Good looking paint!

Aha!

   Doped Linen paint,- Well, which do you want? HUMBROL or POLLY-S? They both made it!I used the Humbrol on a Lot of sails and stuff like that. 

Well done, Steve.

Looks good Steve!

Super tricky paint job.  Turned out fantastic 

Holy mackerel! That's some beautiful paint.