Jairus

Looking good Lee! Here are some neat graphics of real planes.

Hey Wayne, long time dude! Actually I have torn down quite a few disc drives and tape players so I have a good collection of motors of all sizes. The plan is to get the motor wired in place in center line of the fuselage with two fine wires appearing from somewhere that I can clip a variable power source to. That way I can work out the speed of the prop with the camara speed and come up with a good compromise regarding the spinning prop. I am afraid that todays digital cameras are way to quick a shutter speed so may have to fudge it in photoshop but I am getting way ahead of myself. Got to get the model and build it first!

Not a requirement Lee simply a suggestion. No limit on the number of entries but I do want to limit the photos to three unless you think we need more? I have three major shots in mind for me... one on the pad with engine running... one turning the corner at the pylon and one last show showing a high speed run. And yeah... I plan to have gear up and gear down options for my entry.... AND an electric motor inside to spin the prop for the photos. Of course anyone can clip the blades and smooth over the spinner for a "at full power" look but I want to see what effects I can get with a spinning prop. Right now I will admit to using photoshop to wipe out any suspension wires for in-flight shots. But it is not necessary if one is careful how one does the setup for the pic's J

Les, noted and changed. Start date is already passed and end date is the official end of summer about Sept 22. Final pics (no more than 3) will be submitted to a voting thread and the members of MCM forums will decide. If participants want to post build progress here that is cool or they can start their own thread. But seeing as how there are NO sections for "Non-automotive" models on this forum (hint, hint) it seems logical to keep it all on this thread.

I too like the P-40! However the history of this airframe is as checkered as the tail of Col Baselar's plane. Seems that Curtis-Wright kept modifying the airframe rather than draw up plans for something new. The P-40 entered service in 1938 based on an older design, the P-36, and holds the destinction of being produced clear up to the end of the war. It was an obsolete design when Pearl Harbor was attacked in December 1941 and yet the manufacturer held onto their government contract with a vise-like grip continually producing and modifying right up to 1945. Then Senator Harry Truman found massive faults in the company but, like government waste of today, could do little about it but complain. It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. I would love to see a Sports Racer made from a P-40N!

To those few who decided to choose the P-38 Lightning to modify into a racer. Click on the pic to be taken to a weird french web site (no not adult) that came up with every possible combination. A lot of strange stuff in there but also a few interesting and unusual designs that might be cool!

Nice start Lee! Cannot wait for my darned kit to get here... In the mean time I will post cool pics one a day to keep the interest up!

That 1/24th scale plane you posted Gregg is a Spitfire and very cool! I have a 1/72 Bearcat that I started to make into an air racer. Got it out this afternoon and decided that I can't see details that small anymore... Going to stick with 1/48th or larger.

Robert, not forgetting and did mention it. I agree with you that the mid engine layout makes it a cool candidate as a racer for sure! I even have one on hand just in case my FW 190 bid falls through. Thanks for bringing it up tho. I wonder why nobody has raced one?

Hey Aaron, go for it if you want to do the Twin Mustang! I just don't think it was/is maneuverable enough for pylon racing. But since this is "bench racing" at it's greatest.... what does it matter? The Twin Mustang was designed to give support to the B-29 bomber because of their greater range and they were indeed fast. The ME 262 was fast too but very bad at cornering so it only practiced hit and run missions on our bombers. When chosing a subject it pays to know the stock performance before modifying it into a real racer!

Long post. Here is a sampling of the best choices of WW2 as requested by pappy Gregg. First up is the Supermarine Spitfire. England updated this aircraft all during the war to keep up with Germany's FW-190. The Spit was actually based on a pre-war racing plane and makes perfect sense to convert one to racing trim as described by Lee in an earlier post using the Napier engine. Monograms kit provides the builder with the option of retractable landing gear so this is a no brainer. The P-51 Mustang is today the most popular choice for a racing plane. The later versions utilized a Rolls Royce engine so stay away from the Allison early version. This was one of the fastest Prop driven aircraft of WW2! The P-38 lighting is remarkably maneuverable for it's weight and size. The twin Allison engines are turbo-supercharged and I can see this one with racing stripes for sure! Germany's fastest and most agile fighter of WW2 was the FW-190. This is my choice by the way... later versions used a more powerful engine but the darned kits are soooo expensive that I will stay with the 14 cylinder BMW radial. The plane on top is a Japanese Mitsubishi Zero. The one on the bottom is a F8F Bearcat. Both are acceptable and make great racing aircraft. The Bearcat entered the war too late to see action in WW2. However it was used in Korea and holds the distinction for being one of the fastest piston driven propellor aircraft. It is also very popular as a subject in Reno Air races as displayed in the second pic so it is allowed. This is a F4U Corsair. It would look wicked as a racing plane with a cut down canopy and propeller spinner don't cha' think? The P-38 Thunderbolt was the biggest and heaviest of all the single engined fighters. It used a huge engine to propel it and featured a fantastic turbo-supercharger system complete with inter-cooler. Thunderbolt drivers loved this aircraft! Okay, this is a sampling of the best of the best by wars end. Anything else such as a P-40 Warhawk, P-39 Aircobra, Bf 109, etc would be considered a less than ideal airframe but COULD be modified into a logical air racer if a better engine installed. But then... this is not a real race, but instead just a vote of the people so make it pretty, cool and take great pics to win!

Scale is not that huge a deal and 1/72 will photograph as well as a 1/48th provided you set it up and detail the model. This is a photo contest afterall based on how well the craft is finished and set up. As usual.... the red craft will most likely win! Hmmmmmm a red FW 190, shades of the red baron. I love it!

But daddy... that would be a LONG list! I put up a logical list of the best planes at the end of the era. Google any one and you have tons of info. Revell and Monogram provide the cheapest kits with Hasagawa, Airfix, Italeri and Tamiya more expensive alternatives. If anyone wants to use something weird or esoteric more power to them as long as it flew and fought in the war from 1939 to 1945, driven by a piston engine/propeller.

I always remove from sprue, clean and sand the locator point and assemble into logical sub assemblies. I then airbrush the subassembly and dry brush and detail. Have not painted on the sprue since I was in grammar school or thereabouts.

Jim, I don't want to ban twin engine racers. Heck... I don't even think I should be making any rules since I have not completed a model in two years. But it is simpler to pick a period (ww2 fighters) and build a racer based on the craft that came out of that period. Your Grumman XF5F was an interesting mid 30's design but was not anywhere close to being competitive. If you want twins I would choose the P-38 as there was NOTHING close to it's power and handling. Best and fastest fighters by the end of the war were: P-51D (Mustang) P-47N FW 190D P-38 Lightning F4U Corsair F8F Bearcat Supermarine spitfire Hawker Sea Fury To pick anything else would be purely an artistic enterprise.

Artwork? I thought we were building models. I have never drawn or illustrated any sport planes. Did more than a few military illustrations of aircraft but this is new ground for me and a little exciting if truth be known.

Lee, I like it! It would be fun to keep this light hearted and have a feel of "Speed Racer" about it. Maybe create a short back story too... I am thinking about a racer who discoverers a hidden Nazi bunker in the Black Forest containing a cache of 3 FW 190's. Maybe it was spotted by using google maps or some such and he takes a trip to see if the images noticed are really a grown over airstrip and bunker. Sort of like a Clive Cussler story via chapter 1 (my fav part). Hey, it could happen....

First off I want to say that I do not yet have Gregg's blessing on this crazy build off. I will talk to him... Second, I am very close to banning all twin engine aircraft so please don't push it. The twin Mustang was never a serious war machine in WW2 like the P-38 and since a racing sport plane needs to be maneuverable and quick. Anything big will have a serious disadvantage in cornering around pylons. The twin Mustang was also not widely produced until AFTER the war. None of the airframes saw action in WW2 according to all records so it is technically not a WW2 Warbird. Talk me out of it if you want to try... but I initially want to say no.

Yup, that's the plan! Modified warbirds from WW2. Any warbird will work including Japanese, German, Italian, Russian or those who protected the British Isles. (Hawker Sea Fury is used in Reno air races but the plane came out too late to actually fight in the war. Suppose we could make same allowances for that one. ) No bigger than a twin engine (Bf 110, Mosquito, P-38 for example) and no jets! This would be a photo contest of course and we will do a voting thing in the end. Keep the deadline short like end of summer to keep our noses to the grind stone and only three photos will be submitted to the final voting thread. Photos should be examples showing both wheels up and wheels down. I suggest we all get some practice taking pictures outside! Votes should be based on coolest paint and most modifications not to mention logical modifications. No prizes yet... but maybe Gregg and I can come up with something. Sound good? Edit: No guns, bombs or weapons can show! These are to be serious sports racers only. But if you want to go crazy with the graphics and do a NASCAR graphic look... go for it!

Road agent has a front axle that is sort of close to that.... but with two springs. I bet there is one with a single spring on some Tom Daniel rad ride that escapes me.

Very nice work Mike! That "can cooler" is sooo cool that I am surprised that Galaxie didn't add that to the extras list since it is such a simple item to mold. Although, not an air-conditioner in the mechanical sense, it did cool the incoming air with water. The water was in the bottom of the can and a rotating mesh screen passed through the layer of water in the bottom and allowed the air to pass through it thus cooling the airflow. A "swamp cooler" is more apt a name and many houses in southern California still have them on the roof as the "poor mans" air-conditioner.

Lace has been with us since the dark ages. Poor women were forced to eek out a living making lace for wealthy land owners back then to use as fanny wipes. (true story) So the use of lace as decoration and clothing has been with us for many hundreds of years! I am sure that some enterprising artist figured out that shooting color through the patterns left a reverse pattern as soon as the airbrush was invented. The action was indeed way quicker than would have the artist tried to do so with a brush.... but it really did not become mainstream in automotive custom painting until the 60's boom. 1968 to 1972 was the hight of that boom and it trickled off after. All trends have a bell curve and trends that come on hot generally drop off just as quickly. Pro Street, Monochromatic paint, Retro Rods, Wide White wall tires, Gow-jobs, fade paint are all trends that have a peak that is identifiable with a time period. That is all I did so don't pull out a 1800's carriage that was painted in lace and say... "see they did it back then!"

Yes. The use of Lace as a masking material started in late 1968, but didn't hit it's stride until about 1972. By then the custom painted panel van was the hottest trend for the next three years and a most excellent canvas for a plethora of painting techniques like fades, murals, brocade prints, lace, pinstripe and other multicolor effects! Hot Rod mag was one of the publications who promoted and reported on the trend with lots of color pictures. I would start by searching for terms like "Van In" and the like if going by Google. If finding print matter then pick up just about any Hot Rod magazine from 1972 to 1975 and it should contain many pictures of "Vantastic paint"!

What? Are you thinking "Brokeback forum"? Naw... not like that. More like "Gregg spoke" and it was DONE kind of thing. But Greg, your story has the intrigue of a good novel. Now add a few introverts, a blond running from the law, a road trip to Chicago and a crazy Puerto Rican and you might have something!

Incidentidentally.... all those original first posts are still here somewhere! Also it is interesting to go to "Member List" and see that for a few days we only had 5 people here Tim, Robert, Gregg, Larry and me. February 16 2006! After three days of testing we posted notices on as many forums as we could: Slotblog, Spotlight etc, etc. If you check the Member list and sort that list by join-by-date you can see who joined during those first few days. A number of them I recognize from Slotblog but few have ever come back Treasure hunt to anyone reading: Find the oldest post on MCM forums! I bet it is Gregg saying something silly....