John,jeaton01 wrote:This will be fun. I like the old kits as well. I have the Bandai and Testors versions of the kit in the stash.
Thank you for writing. I am excited to update the existing kit. I am grateful for your comments as well. I think there is a different tooling with the Japanese versions. I have the Hawk (brown plastic) and the Arc En Ciel (white plastic) versions. The photograph below is of “400” flown by Doolittle which is the green and yellow version of the actual aircraft. As I was writing to Carlos I was debating whether I should show the preflight version before the modifications or not.
SECOND AIRCRAFT?
On the morning of September 4, 1931, eight pilots warmed up their powerful racing planes at Burbank Airport, Los Angeles for the swift dash to Cleveland. Jimmy Doolittle was first off in his Super Solution. He hauled the tiny plane into the air after a short run of 500 ft. and roared through the early morning darkness of Cajon Pass. A quick stop at Albuquerque and Kansas City for fuel and he was screaming toward Cleveland. Landing well ahead of the second place aircraft, he hurriedly took on fuel and pointed the Sky Buzzard toward Newark. His wheels touched the ground at Newark 11 hours, 16 minutes and 10 seconds after take-off from Burbank, clipping 1 hour and 8 minutes off of Frank Hawk's record. His average speed to Cleveland was 223 mph and 217 mph for the 2450 mile coast to coast flight.
A second aircraft, (NR12048), powered by a 535 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp was built as the Laird LC-DW300 Super Solution, retaining the fixed undercarriage of the original, for the 1931 Bendix Trophy which it won, piloted by Jimmy Doolittle. This aircraft was modified with retractable landing gear for the 1932 Bendix Trophy but on a test flight the gear failed to lower and Doolittle was forced to belly land the aircraft, forcing withdrawal from the race.
NR12048
KITS / AFTERMARKET ITEMS TO DATE:
Hawk 1949 kit, Aire En Ciel 1983 kit (includes Gee Bee as parts donor), Armory Models Wasp Jr., AK 1/72 Ship Rigging, Airscale Generic WWI Instrument Decals