Perhaps the best known of all “Golden Age” American racing aircraft, the Gee Bees were produced by the five Granville Brothers and their associates. The “Gee Bee” name was derived from the initials of the manufacturers.

Bold and radical in concept, the Gee Bee R-1 racer was built with but one thing in mind; SPEED! Built in Springfield, Mass., the Granville Brothers' R-1 was one of the most noted racing planes of the early 1930's. Russell Boardman first flew the R-1 in August of 1932. After the initial flight, modifications to the fin and rudder were performed to improve directional stability.

Although Boardman was scheduled to pilot the R-1 Racer in the National Air Races, he was injured in another aircraft, and temporarily out of action. Thus, Jimmy Doolittle took over, and proceeded to capture the world’s speed record, with an average of 296.287 mph. Soon afterward, he won the Thompson Trophy Race over a closer course.

To produce this model I used the 1/32 Williams Brothers model kit that had a very nicely detailed interior as well as the exterior. This was a very challenging kit to assemble, which required careful sanding. Applying the paint scheme proved to be the most challenging of all kits I’ve built. Once the model was assembled, a base coat was applied followed by White. Afterwards, accurate shapes of paper were cut out and masked on to the surface of the model, which was then finished in Red. The results of this were fascinating!

Above: Antique photograph of the Gee Bee R-1 Racer.