Mick
April 19th, 2009, 17:53
David and I are almost finished with the Gee Bee Model Y Senior Sportster.
The models (six of 'em) are finished as are the paints (five of 'em. Yep, there are more models than there are paints.) The flight model needs to be finalized and the 2D panel backgrounds have to be made. I'll resist the temptation to use the S word, but if all goes well and neither of us has enforced breaks due to medical or computer issues, we might be ready for release later this week.
The Granville Brothers thought that the Senior Sportster was the best plane they ever made. There were two of them built. The one most folks are familiar with was built for Maud Tait, a famous race pilot and daughter of one of the Tait brothers who owned Springfield Airport. As the Taits were major investors in the Granville company, the plane was treated as a company aircraft. It was used by the Granvilles and their employees for business and pleasure, and raced by company pilots as well as by Maud Tait. Some sources erroneously state that it was Granny Granville's personal aircraft. This plane was the winningest Gee Bee of all, bringing home more prize money in its long racing career than even the big unlimited Super Sportsters that brought the Granvilles such fame.
The second Senior was built for the E. L. Cord corporation of automotive fame, as a testbed for their Lycoming aircraft engine division. It had a full NACA cowl in place of the first Senior's Townsend ring, separately faired landing gear legs instead of the first Model Y's fully faired gear, and a tailwheel in place of the first Y's skid. Cord later sold it to Art Knapp, who modified it for racing, replacing the Lycoming with a P&W Wasp Jr in a bigger cowl with rocker arm bulges. We've modeled the second Senior in both of those configurations.
Still later, Knapp added an even bigger P&W, fully faired gear and a more streamlined windscreen. The result was a hacked up abomination with twice the power the airframe was designed to handle. It won its first race in that configuration, but in its second race it started to come apart in the air, killing pilot Florence Klingensmith. We decided against modeling the plane in that configuration.
The Senior Sportster were two seaters, but the front windscreen could be removed (first ModelY) or folded down into the cockpit (second Model Y) and the cockpit opening covered with a flush-fitting cover to streamline the plane for racing. Our Seniors are modeled with the front pit both open and closed.
I tried to attach a screenie but it isn't showing up. I guess the server issues aren't allowing attachments yet...???
Let's try this:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/mm99/Misc/GBYbig.jpg
That's better!
I dunno why the color red always looks blotchy in screenies. The model doesn't look like that!
The models (six of 'em) are finished as are the paints (five of 'em. Yep, there are more models than there are paints.) The flight model needs to be finalized and the 2D panel backgrounds have to be made. I'll resist the temptation to use the S word, but if all goes well and neither of us has enforced breaks due to medical or computer issues, we might be ready for release later this week.
The Granville Brothers thought that the Senior Sportster was the best plane they ever made. There were two of them built. The one most folks are familiar with was built for Maud Tait, a famous race pilot and daughter of one of the Tait brothers who owned Springfield Airport. As the Taits were major investors in the Granville company, the plane was treated as a company aircraft. It was used by the Granvilles and their employees for business and pleasure, and raced by company pilots as well as by Maud Tait. Some sources erroneously state that it was Granny Granville's personal aircraft. This plane was the winningest Gee Bee of all, bringing home more prize money in its long racing career than even the big unlimited Super Sportsters that brought the Granvilles such fame.
The second Senior was built for the E. L. Cord corporation of automotive fame, as a testbed for their Lycoming aircraft engine division. It had a full NACA cowl in place of the first Senior's Townsend ring, separately faired landing gear legs instead of the first Model Y's fully faired gear, and a tailwheel in place of the first Y's skid. Cord later sold it to Art Knapp, who modified it for racing, replacing the Lycoming with a P&W Wasp Jr in a bigger cowl with rocker arm bulges. We've modeled the second Senior in both of those configurations.
Still later, Knapp added an even bigger P&W, fully faired gear and a more streamlined windscreen. The result was a hacked up abomination with twice the power the airframe was designed to handle. It won its first race in that configuration, but in its second race it started to come apart in the air, killing pilot Florence Klingensmith. We decided against modeling the plane in that configuration.
The Senior Sportster were two seaters, but the front windscreen could be removed (first ModelY) or folded down into the cockpit (second Model Y) and the cockpit opening covered with a flush-fitting cover to streamline the plane for racing. Our Seniors are modeled with the front pit both open and closed.
I tried to attach a screenie but it isn't showing up. I guess the server issues aren't allowing attachments yet...???
Let's try this:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/mm99/Misc/GBYbig.jpg
That's better!
I dunno why the color red always looks blotchy in screenies. The model doesn't look like that!