Col. Roscoe Turners Wedell Williams

[yak face]

At long last Ive plucked up the courage to start this build. Ive had it in the stash for ever but have been putting it off due to the paint job being very tricky, but Ive decided to bite the bullet and start it. The subject is a fascinating one , 1930's air racer and larger than life character Col. Roscoe Turner and his Gilmore Oil Co. sponsored Wedell Williams racer. A former barnstormer and Colonel in the Nevada National guard ,Turner was a very famous aviator of the time ,completing several record flights and being heavily involved in the racing scene. He was a flamboyant (some might say eccentric) chap who always appeared in bright blue tunic, ww1 style pants and yellow flying helmet . Later in his career his exploits were sponsored by the Gilmore Oil Co. who shrewdly supplied him with a pet lion cub named Gilmore , who generated massive publicity and often accompanied him on his record attempts , complete with tailor made parachute!! The aircraft being modelled here is the Williams Brothers 1/32 scale Wedell Williams No 44 , a great kit but hard to find nowadays. In common with their other kits (see my Caudron 450 racer on here) its a nicely detailed tooling ,with optional rubber tyres , very detailed engine and choice of 3 decal schemes. My problem lies in the fact that the aircraft has a red outline (edged with a thin black line) to all its flying surfaces , and a cheat line down the side flaring out over the cowling. The only part of this provided as decals is the tiny 'A' shaped piece where the cheat line separates at the cowling so all the rest has got to be hand painted!GULP!! I've pushed my comfort zone a bit too , I aim to make a figure of Col. Turner and gilmore and have the finished aircraft on a base. To this end I got a Zvezda russian tank crew set , the intention is use the commander who has the flared pants and longer tunic (the one pointing in the box top pic) ,with a bit of surgery and maybe an arm or two from the other figures. Ive also got an old Britains lion cub who ill paint to represent Gilmore , maybe with his parachute? If you get chance , google Roscoe Turner , its a very interesting story from a very glamorous era. Anyway enough waffling here are the sprue shots , wish me luck! tony

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[coachman]

Knowing what your capable of Tony I have every confidence in you,some great looking planes from that era look forward to watching build. By the way,I'm pretty sure the pants are riding breeches called jodhpurs,sounds Indian origin. Good luck John

 

[yak face]

Cheers john , if you want some great looking aircraft from this era and great characters have a mooch round this website http://www.air-racing-history.com/index.htm , cheers tony

 

[papa 695]

A very interesting build Tony looking forward to this. And I also have every confidence in your abilities to do a great job on this

 

[flyjoe180]

This looks a good project Tony, I enjoy this era of aviation too, so watching with interest.

 

[coachman]

Thanks for the website Tony,we've got a lot to thank the aviation historians for. John

 

[colin m]

This looks very different, quite colourful. But look at that poor pilot, there doesn't seem to be much forward visibility for him !

 

[yak face]

Well its been 2 months since I started this one but I havent had much time in the shed at all since. Heres the latest bit of progress though. The cockpit is finished , mainly OOB except for the seat harness (made from fuse wire , wine foil and microporous tape) and a bit of fuse wire for the control cables from the throttle quadrant.It was impossible to find any pics of the actual cockpit , just a few unhelpful shots of the replica one in the museum, so the seat harness is artistic licence . The engine has also been assembled and had an ignition harness and wires added , again from fuse wire and brass wire, the hardest bit of the engine being painting the Pratt and Whitney logo on the bottom , (its supposed to be a bald eagle flying on a light blue background with a dark blue outer ring!!) Now the cockpit is done I can get the airframe together , although the engine might be a pain, its got to go in between the 2 halves of the cowling before theyre glued as it wont fit in afterwards so masking it up is going to be interesting!heres some pics , cheers tony (p.s hopefully it wont be another 2 months before the next bit )

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[papa 695]

Lovely work Tony. How's the eyes after painting the logo ?

 

[eddiesolo]

Outstanding work Tony, looking superb.

Si

 

[Ziper_it]

Excellent work Tony, love the compass.

Francesco

 

[yak face]

Cheers guys . The eyes are a bit googly Ian ! the logo is about the size of a pinhead . Good spot on the compass Francesco , I had to hand paint that too as i couldnt find a decal in the spares box, cheers tony

 

[flyjoe180]

Stunning detail Tony, nicely done so far mate.

 

[yak face]

Little bit more progress on this one. The fuselage has been glued up and sanded ,as have the upper parts of the wings, and the tricky 2 part cowling has been glued , trapping the engine in position. The engine is free to move slightly as its the back of this that glues onto the front of the fuselage. The exhausts on this version are longer than the other 2 options so Williams bros have supplied a length of vinyl piping to cut to size and fix to the back of the cylinders .Once fitted these should just protrude past the rear edge of the cowling , so to make this easier I glued 9 pieces of fusewire onto the cylinders to slide the piping onto at a later stage.I think the cowling will be painted separate from the fuselage and fixed last off.

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[papa 695]

Some great work Tony and love the trick with the wire

 

[yak face]

wings and tailplanes on and looking more like an aircraft now

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[flyjoe180]

Such a great era for aviation. Coming along nicely Tony.

 

[InFlames]

great looking build!

 

[eddiesolo]

wings and tailplanes on and looking more like an aircraft now

What's with the hunk of cheese near the tailplane?

Looking good there Tony.

Si

 

[yak face]

What's with the hunk of cheese near the tailplane? Looking good there Tony.

Si

Its just a bit of make up sponge propping up the tailplane till the glues sets. I use it for stuffing into anywhere i dont want overspray, in this case i had cut off 2 bits to mask the inside of the wheel spats while i primed them. cheers tony