Gee Bee Racer
Here's my Gee Bee R2 from Dora Wings. A nice, simple little kit, but I had some issues with it. I am not happy with the windscreen, it just looks too clunky, I tried and failed to make a better one. Also, the real Gee Bee had a very thin black demarcation line between the red scallops and the white, I tried several ways to replicate that thin black line, but just couldn't get it right, so after the third paint job I decided that "perfect" is the enemy of "good enough for who it's for" and left it alone with just the red scallops. I rigged it with some leftover flat wire I had. Looking at the real thing from a distance, it's hard to see the black anyhow. The photo of the real thing in flight is something I pulled off the web for reference. The one heading for the pylon is my model.
Bravo, Chas @chasbunch! Excellent result, and very realistic! 👏 I've had the old Hawk/Testors GeeBee for many years but that paintjob always intimidated me too much to start. Like you, I struggled with ideas about how to get that black line between the colors. You've shown that it looks great without it as well! 👍
I once read a pilot's account that said flying the Gee Bee was like balancing a pencil on the end of your finger.
That looks great, Chas, especially the picture of your model heading for the pylon. I can imagine getting that thin black line right must be nigh on impossible, but the canopy looks OK in the pictures.
Really cool. I made a GeeBee... https://imodeler.com/2020/02/gee-bee-ga-ground-attack/
Very well done, Chas, and the photography is quite good as well. I was reading Jimmy Doolittle's autobiography a while back, and he flew the R-1 for a while. Very tricky to fly.
Here's a quote from Jimmy about the GeeBee racer:
from: https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/3-september-1932/
A number of famous racers of the time were killed when they lost control of the Gee Bee. However, Doolittle had a different opinion: “She is the sweetest ship I’ve ever flown. She is perfect in every respect and the motor is just as good as it was a week ago. It never missed a beat and has lots of stuff in it yet. I think this proves that the Granville brothers up in Springfield build the very best speed ships in America today.”
🙂 Jimmy Doolittle is one of my favorite Americans of all time!
Hey Gary@garybrantley
Thanks for digging up that Doolittle quote and that article regarding his involvement with the Gee Bee. I learned something.
@eb801, You are my-tee welcome, Eric! 😁
Thanks for sharing this article on Doolittle.
@chasbunch, You're very welcome, Chas! 🍻
Excellent work done on this GeeBee, Chas @chasbunch
Some amazing pictures as well.
Fantastic result, Chas! The pics are excellent, as well!
Very nice! That is such an awkward bird, but a lovely model of it!
Well done along with the photos, Chas. You nailed it more than “good enough”.