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Gee Bee R-1

First look at Dora Wings 1/48 Gee Bee R-1

A

t Nuremberg a new

company called Dora

Wings launched its range,

and among their first kits was

a new- tool Gee Bee racer. The

inter-war period is a much-

neglected field, and the American

racing planes (the Formula One

of their day) even more so.

This is surprising, as the

aircraft were very colourful and

there were many unusual designs,

of which the Gee Bee racers were

probably the most extreme:

basically, get a large powerful

engine – in this case a Pratt &

Whitney Wasp Junior – and pack

it into a fuselage with as minimal

sticky-out bits as was possible.

This design led to a striking

appearance that was instantly

recognizable, but with handling

characteristics that challenged

even the most gifted of pilots.

In fact, the R-1 version featured

in this kit crashed during the

1933 Bendix Trophy race, killing

its pilot Russell Boardman.

This aircraft features the

most famous Gee Bee scheme,

a white fuselage with red trim,

which includes some challenging

scallops for the modeller to

paint, but more of that later.

THE KIT

On opening the box, I was

immediately impressed with

the detail supplied for the Wasp

engine, but less so with the

engraved lines that are supposed

to represent the fabric- covered

rear fuselage. I suspect many will

remove most of this with a bit of

work with wet and dry paper.

The interior is quite well

detailed, though most of this will be

invisible through the tiny canopy.

A small etched brass sheet supplies

a number of small details, as well

as seat belts and the bracing wires

above and below the canopy.

Markings are supplied for

Number 11, registration NR2100.

Alternative markings for Number 7,

NR2101 are also supplied, although

no colour scheme is shown for

this option in the instructions.

What is really nice is that Dora

Wings have also included a set

of pre-cut frisket film masks,

which should make painting all

those red scallops a lot easier.

CONCLUSION

Though not perfect, I was actually

quite impressed with this new kit,

and with a mouth-watering selection

of new releases planned for the

next 12 months I cannot wait to

see how Dora Wings develop.

The review sample has already

been despatched to one of our

team for a full build in a future issue.

You can visit http://www.dorawings.com

to see the current range and the

proposed new releases in both 1/72

and 1/48. And we thank them for

supplying us with the review sample.

46 • APRIL 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

FIRST LOOK!

042-47-FirstLooks-0418.indd 46 09/03/2018 16:15