A build from 6 years ago, another classic of the Golden Age.
Continuing with the record plane saga, here we have the Stinson SM-1 Detroiter “City of Chicago” that conquered the endurance record after flying 553 hours 41 minutes with in-flight refueling. The four Hunter Bros. manned both, the record and the refueling plane (Big-Ben, another Detroiter).
I guess that by the time they got down, the diameter of the pistons of the venerable Wright J-6 was reduced to that of a pin.
As in other similar record planes, maintenance of the engine was done by the dubious procedure of exiting the plane while flying and stepping on a catwalk that surrounded the plane’s nose. Brave men, those record-seeking people.
Once again, as no kit of the Stinson SM-1 is around, scratchbuilding was the solution. Fair is to say that Khee-Kha Art Products of Alaska sells a beautiful resin J-6, with prop and exhausts included, and that helped quite a bit. Wheels where white metal aftermarket parts form Aeroclub and the rest created with the Enterprise replicator
Of a slightly bigger size than the previously posted Curtiss Robin record plane, they share nevertheless a similar concept shape-wise, so more or less the same building techniques were used, the only variation being the upper and lower fuselage which had a slight curve, and therefore required particular parts.