Howard DGA-6

History

Edited from Wikipedia
The Howard DGA-6 (Darn Good Airplane) was a pioneer racing plane, nicknamed "Mister Mulligan". It was the only airplane ever designed for the specific purpose of winning the Bendix Trophy. The plane was designed and developed by Ben Howard and Gordon Israel, who later became an engineer for the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. Mister Mulligan was designed to fly the entire length of the race nonstop and at high altitude. Neither had ever been done before. Mister Mulligan won the trophy, and thus changed the way in which long distance airplanes were designed.
The single DGA-6 was constructed in 1934 in the defunct factory of the American Eagle-Lincoln Aircraft based at Fairfax Airport in Kansas City, Missouri. It featured a steel tube fuselage with a plywood-skinned wing. Howard freely admitted he was inspired by "seeing the Monocoupe from the wrong end" during air races.
While enroute to the 1934 air races, oxygen and fuel system problems caused an off-field landing, which damaged the landing gear and propeller. The aircraft could not be repaired in time and missed the 1934 season.
For the 1935 Bendix race the aircraft was loaded with 300 gallons of gasoline, 30 gallons of oil and oxygen equipment for two, giving it the ability to fly for seven hours at 22,000 feet (6,700 m).
Howard and Israel flew the DGA-6 in the 30 August 1935 Bendix Trophy race and won with a speed of 238.70 miles per hour, and Harold Neumann racing the DGA-6 flew at 220.19 mph (354.36 km/h) in winning the 2 September 1935 Thompson Trophy. Howard's engineering advantage was his low-drag airframe and the use of the 850-horsepower (630 kW) Pratt & Whitney Wasp radial. The fuel capacity of the four-seat Mister Mulligan made the difference in the Bendix race, as Howard and Israel beat Roscoe Turner's 1,000 hp (750 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet on his Wedell-Williams Model 44 racer.
No other pilot or single aircraft had ever won both races. Howard's DGA-6 also had the distinction of being the only racer during the golden age of airshows to evolve into a successful commercial production aircraft, first as the Howard DGA-8 and DGA-9, and later the DGA-11 and DGA-12.

The Kit

According to Scalemates, this kit began life in 1949 under the Hawk label. The last boxing was in 1993 and I suspect, being that I bought the kit still in the wrapping and the parts were taped inside a rolled bag, this release is more recent. Regardless, the molding is looking long in the tooth with some dense flash on numerous parts and mold ejection points. Fortunately, most of the 19 (including a two-part stand and pilot figure) light gray parts were still attached to the sprues with the one-piece wing separate. Unfortunately, the one clear part was left loose in the bag but was not scratched. Of note is that the radial engine, without pushrod tubes, is molded into the cowl. Nor is there any interior detail. As was customary in the era of the kit's release, raised outlines for the race and registration numbers are molded on the surfaces. The decal sheet of the numbers is sandwiched into the folded size 11 X 17 instructions.

The Build

A 21st century modeler is presented with a conundrum with this kit. Should it be built in the spirit of the limited post-WWII technology, or try to produce a more contempory model? If the latter choice is selected, how much effort should go into it?
In my case, I initially wanted a quick simple build, but as I did more and more on-line research, I found more and more inaccuracies that I found annoying. Sigh. How deep should I go down this rabbit hole? Browsing through my parts stash, I settled on a new engine, add some cockpit detail, and, aside from a floor and rear bulkhead, leave the cabin alone.
A test fit of the fuselage halves and wing gave me some idea of how to install the frame members that can be seen through the windshield. Those parts were also were cleared of flash and the raised lettering outlines removed.

1 additional image. Click to enlarge.