Geebee R1 1/33 - Page 4

**dansls1** · #31 08-22-2007, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreMir

Piece of string stretched and soaked in CA glue so it stays straight?

Thanks, that's a good idea - I'll have to raid the wife's sewing kit a bit more for some white thread and see if I can make it work

**shrike** · #32 08-22-2007, 05:07 PM

I used some mechanical pencil leads for the "arrows" on the He51 I built. Light enough that it wont cause any sagging, and superglue loves it

**dansls1** · #33 08-22-2007, 07:53 PM

Ok - the pencil lead sounded like a phenomenal idea - so here she is in all her glory!
(And yay to having a real camera back to take pictures with!)

**dansls1** · #34 08-22-2007, 07:55 PM

And here's a close-up of my canopy botch. Actually the 'glass' came out pretty good, I just ended with a gap in the front.

**dansls1** · #35 08-22-2007, 07:57 PM

And lastly - 2 pictures from for what's sure to be the latest box office smash - "Giant Cats Attack Plane Races!"

**Clashster** · #36 08-22-2007, 08:20 PM

Very cool, Dan! Nice build! Now just fire up that prop and scare them giants off! Perhaps I may restart a Gee Bee! My FG one languished for many years, I believe I threw most of it out and then recently found the cowling amongst some modeling stuff. Hmmm.. Great pics! Thanks!

**Paperbeam** · #37 08-23-2007, 12:06 AM

Excellent work all around Dan! She's a real beauty!

By the way, did you have a tuna sandwich while building it?:D

Terry

N and Z scale Old West paper models (free samples) at: http://www.paperbeam.com

**rlwhitt** · #38 08-23-2007, 06:35 AM

Outstanding Dan, a real beauty! That canopy was hard for me as well, one of the worst parts of this build, IMO.

**milenio3** · #39 08-23-2007, 03:51 PM

OUTSTANDING my dear friend!!

I knew it!!! It is awesome!

**dansls1** · #40 08-27-2007, 07:52 AM

Thanks for the comments. I brought the model into work - and got a ton of good feedback.

I wanted to do a 'wrap up' post. Overall this build was great fun - with the only real 'tedious' part being the radial engine - but once you get an assembly line going it really cuts the time down. I could have done better on the cockpit, but this was my first clear cockpit - so I'm pretty happy with the result. I also took the advise of the previous builders and cut the former with the instrument panel on it. Given another go at it, I would try to fit this former over the cockpit in one piece - I struggled a bit with seams because I didn't get this former quite straight when I glued it on - but I managed to splice the cockpit section under the wings and get the fit good enough.
I only found 2 'issues' with the kit - and they are both pretty nit-picky. I almost hate to bring them up - but I figure a good review should include good and bad. The first is that the rear wheel bits are not marked as needing to be laminated. It's obvious that they are supposed to be if you look at the build diagrams, as there is a picture showing an exact measurement for the width - but I missed it and had to laminate later during the build. Second is the red graphic at the bottom of the 'pants' for the wheels. The bottom should 'swoop' back further past the wheel opening - but the kit has it ending abruptly after the 4th piece. This would have been easy enough to fix on my own - and it wasn't enough of an issue for me to do that - but I figured I'd point it out anyway.
Overall I recommend this model as a nice 'beginner' to get into the more serious modern plane builds. It has the new techniques that I never dealt with in the old days (wrapping wire with paper, sanding wheels from stacked card, clear canopy, rigging) - but none of them in excess or too difficult to deal with.