1920-30s Air Racers

JohnReid · 21 April 2006, 02:03 PM

I am planning a diorama on air racers of this era.I plan to use the Williams Bros. 1/32 kits for reference but scale them up to 1/16th.Has anyone heard anything bad about these kits as far as scale is concerned?
Cheers! John.

jtisch · 24 April 2006, 09:25 PM

I can't say anything about the other models, but I found the WBs Gee Bee model to be the most accurate of the bunch. As I remember, the Testors model was way off,and I don't really remember the others as this was a while ago when I was researching this.

J

JohnReid · 25 April 2006, 04:53 AM

Thanks for the info J !Was it the Testors Travelair Mystery Ship that was way off scale?

jtisch · 25 April 2006, 08:37 AM

John,

It was the Testor's (I think) Gee Bee that I was referring to. I don't know if it is even available anymore as it was about 15 years ago that I was building my 1/4 scale Gee Bee. I remember though that it showed a wing with fabric sag,(GB R series had plywood covered wings) rivets the size of lag screws, and a tailwheel that looks like it came off a B-17!

Granger Williams (of W Bros) had a love for this era, and often made RC models of these planes that were incredible.

Also, if you don't have it, the EAA book on Air Racers is a treasure of information on these planes and worth the money, IMHO.

J

JohnReid · 25 April 2006, 10:46 AM

Thanks J ! I have the WB Gee Bees in 1/32 scale.Iam a member of EAA so I will look for that book.
Thanks.Cheers! John.

JohnReid · 25 April 2006, 10:51 AM

For Gee Bees take a look here.

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaver...15/index3.html

jtisch · 28 April 2006, 09:14 AM

John

The title of the book I was referring to is"The Golden Age of Air Racing(pre 1940)". I found it last night hiding in a closet. If you make an Art Chester "Goon" be sure to post photos, I love that plane.

My father grew up in the Cleveland area and used to go to the air races there. He was too young to go during the GeeBee era but went every year from '35 or '36 on.He was a fan of Steve Wittman and thought the Mr. Mulligan was ugly.

J

joegertler · 28 April 2006, 10:29 AM

Well, you might enjoy visiting my website (see link in my post signature)
I have posted a LOT of air racing art there. I own 128 original Charles Hubbell artworks. For air racing, there are some nice original oils, and you would probably enjoy seeing his series, "The Contenders" in which he drew pencil sketches of all the air racers that placed second through fourth place. I have his original pencil sketches, and another set of Prints he made, then he matted them and had Many of them signed by the air racing pilot and/or designer of those famous classics. I even own the registered copyrights to them, which were given with the sale. I have one more set of the prints in a sample porfolio (something like 40 or 44 in the series), along with a list of the subjects, titles, dates and records of the racing planes in the series. Been meaning to put up the set on Ebay for about five years, and have never gotten around to it

There are some good air racing oil paintings on the Hubbell pages, also. Most of this Hubbell art was part of an all-Hubbell aviation art exhibition at the Smithsonian in 1960. Most of his art was consigned by, and, thus, owned by The Thompson TRW Company. But all this art was his personal paintings and art, that he hung on the walls of his own home and office. Always interest in trading other aviation material for it, to keep my collections fresh and exciting. But they are on the website for all to enjoy.

Pat Daily · 28 April 2006, 01:36 PM

While not an air racer per se, the Inland Sports did race at Cleveland and I think they won first in 1930 or 31 in the under 500 cubic inch class and placed in the under 350 inch class. My father flew for Inland as a salesman/test pilot then and had some interesting experiences with Inlands. He used to fake engine trouble and land a Blue Hills Country Club golf course at 63rd and Paseo in Kansas City, thinking that people that played golf at a Country Club might have enough cash to buy one. He would land in the short rough along side a fairway and get out and fiddle with the engine with a screwdriver, get it running again and carry on a conversation with a crowd of golfers, then get in and take off. Don't know if he sold any that way. Here are some Inland Sport (of Kansas City) photos and some of my 39 inch electric rc model built from my own plans. Three or four of the 46 or so still survive.

Pat

Pat Daily · 28 April 2006, 01:36 PM

some period literature for the Inland