SPA Modeler

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.

John,

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

My, oh my, that is a lovely craft! And minimal rigging as well...hmmm.

I am really looking forward to your build.

LOL... Lyle wants that kit, Bruce.

LyleW wrote:My, oh my, that is a lovely craft! And minimal rigging as well...hmmm.

I am really looking forward to your build.

Thanks, Lyle. I sincerely appreciate your thoughts. I am excited to build a civilian aircraft from a time period which is full of incredible achievements and feats of daring, full of “firsts,” when aviators were celebrated as gods and technologies were still in their infancy. Wait until you see the instrument panel, for example. I think there are five gauges total. Five!

Kitchen table

BlackSheep214 wrote:LOL... Lyle wants that kit, Bruce.

Right! Whatever I don’t use he can have. Testors kits are available on eBay.

Very interesting subject! Can't wait to see the build.

Found a brand new hawk kit on evilbay...only 85 bucks. I think. I did find a Testors for 19.

Medicman71 wrote:Very interesting subject! Can't wait to see the build.

Thanks so much, Mike! I’ll have some posts later today about what needs to be done to make the kit a bit more closely resemble the aircraft. I sincerely appreciate your comments and support.

LyleW wrote:Found many brand new hawk kit on vilbay...only 85 bucks. I think. I did fin a Testors for 19.

I think the Hawk kit I found was about $20. If you keep looking, you will eventually find someone emptying out their attic and wanting cash not to make a killing. You can have whatever I don’t use, if you want to do some scratchbuilding when I am done.

Bruce, I pulled out the Testors kit and the Bandai kit and compared them. The parts breakdown on the Bandai looks similar to the Arc en Ciel kit, and different from the Testors. the rudder is separate and the wheels are much smaller in the Bandai kit. I'll get pictures later.

Here's a link to a page of photos from the New England Air Museum Solution. I doubt the wheels are original, doesn't look like there is room for bearings, but then maybe they were brave enough to just go with bushings.

http://www.airminded.net/lcdw500/neamlaird.html

jeaton01 wrote:Bruce, I pulled out the Testors kit and the Bandai kit and compared them. The parts breakdown on the Bandai looks similar to the Arc en Ciel kit, and different from the Testors. the rudder is separate and the wheels are much smaller in the Bandai kit. I'll get pictures later.

John! Great detective work. The Hawk kit is still in the mail - that has yellow plastic. Your detective work indicates that there was indeed a mold change when IMAI made their version.

Marker drawing - I’ll redo this because I should not have used purple for the interior nose section!



Ran too close to the edge / let me redo.

Wow, I hadn't realized how much I missed seeing these comprehensive posts of your Bruce! The information you have; the eagerness you show when planning the next project are incredible and infectious. I always love following your posts even though I don't often reply. This is partially because of the awe I feel when watching you improve these old kits. I also love building the old kits. I did a few myself; a Swedish Vampire from Hawk and a FROG Southern Cross trimotor. They are such a blast to do; I can see why you love doing them.

I'm eagerly awaiting your next update!