Howard Hughes Boeing 100 racer, Conversion 1/72nd scale

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

A conversion from about 5 years ago involving the Monogram F4B-4 kit and a lot of work.

 

Mr. Hughes received a civil 2 seat Boeing 100 (NC247K) from the factory at the time nobody else -but him, of course- could. He promptly started to toy with it to convert it into a racer. In charge were Lockheed engineers and designers that largely modified the plane to Hughes’ fancy. With it, after some further mods, Howard won a closed-circuit race, once more outracing the fastest planes of the day, including needless to say the ones of the military. In its possession the plane went through a couple of major modifications, as can be seen in photos. Later on the plane was sold and had a long line of owners, most renowned Bob McManus, Art Goebel, Ben Huntley, Ben Bradley and possibly others, as X/NR/NX 247K.

Colors, saved Art Goebel’s machine (brilliant green, orange, metal), are anybody’s speculation. Paul Matt, an unavoidable but not completely trustworthy source says it was blue (with yellow flying surfaces for the first Hughes’ mod). Matt bases his assumption in the belief that Hughes Tool Co. logo was blue, but the fact is that it was red and yellow at the time. Decades later -around Hughes passing- it was changed to blue.

I won’t abound on the kit’s comments -other than saying that it was superb for its time (and actually this time too) and had extremely sound locating devices. Extensive chopping, scratching, adaptation, supplantation and mystification are in order, not for the faint of heart. But it is also fun and you learn a lot. Well worth the price (no, not the price of the kit, the price of daring).

This kit was kindly handed over by Tin Melson, a modeling arch-villain that hides behind the identity of a very nice Tuesdays' Irregular Boingland Club member. To him my thanks.

The Hughes plane as said went through a few incarnations, here I intend to model the first one, that still had the original vertical tail. Again, as said before, as it went from owner to owner, the aspect changed quite a bit.

Among the things you will need to modify on this kit are:

New, larger cowl; new vertical tail; adding pants; replace the wheels; cut-out a notch on the wing; re-do the ailerons -as they were very different than those in the kit-; heavily modify the fuselage; modify the cabane; modify the landing gear legs; make a new windshield; etc. That is, lots of entertainment!.

That being said, if you want to have a more relaxed approach, there were many civil-registered F4B-4s that do not need any modification other than a few decals and some paint. 
There is a great deal of pondering regarding the colors of this racer, and no opinion has been so far verified with hard data, so here is my own theory:

a) Boeing delivery colors of the time where green and orange (with light grey when applied)

b) Hughes Tool Co company logo of the time was not blue, as Paul Matt assumed for his determination of the racer's colors, but Red/Yellow instead, as seen in contemporary company material. Around Hughes death, this was changed to blue (decades after the Boeing 100 was painted).

c) Hughes jacket as seen in the B and W photos in front of the machine was probably dark blue with white pants as per common use of those garments. It is clear that the color of the fuselage is a much lighter hue and not therefore "dark blue" as again stated by Matt.

d) One of the later incarnations of the machine (Art Goebel's "Skywriter") was undoubtedly green and orange as color photos prove. Did Art choose those colors, or where they just the colors he inherited with the plane? The B & W photos of that plane show a gray gradation very much alike the ones taken during Hughes ownership.

e) Hughes’ Boeing 100 as we know was deeply altered two times, once by Douglas and then by Lockheed. The reg was X247K. That reg changed later on variously to NC, NR and N.

f) Two shades are easily perceived in the photos: a darker hue for the fuselage and a lighter one for the tail feathers and wings. The engine shield in all photos appears to be an even darker shade (red? black?)

g) The regs on the first Hughes mod on the tail are probably black -again as per photos-; no regs are unfortunately clearly seen on the wings.

 

I'd like to posit to you (since the "blue" -Paul Matt’s choice- is hereby called into question) that the plane was indeed painted in a variation of the Green and Yellow colors, used at the beginning AND much later during the time when color photos of the plane were taken, with black regs.

 

Here is Howard Hughes Boeing 100 racer -in its first incarnation- completed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home-made decals:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[72modeler]

Moa,

 

I really, really, really like this little spud! What a fierce little bipe! Howard sure had a way with stuffing big honking radial engines into small airframes! I love the colors and all of the mods you did to the venerable Monogram kit. I looked and looked at your WIP photos, but couldn't find any 1/72 Beeman's Gum wrappers on the cockpit floor! 😁

Mike

[dnl42]

Nice work!! 

 

What printer, ink/toner, and decal paper do you use?

2 hours ago, Moa said:

...

Home-made decals:

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

49 minutes ago, 72modeler said:

couldn't find any 1/72 Beeman's Gum wrappers on the cockpit floor!

You need better glasses.

I am having a big one filled with scotch now.

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

27 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

What printer, ink/toner, and decal paper do you use?

No idea what I may have used there.

For years I printed my own.

I used to have an HP all-in-one (big) inkjet that perished long ago, and a Brother laser.

Most likely it was the inkjet. I got fed up with the dismal quality of decal paper from any possible source, which could not have a consistent quality from one batch to the next, or had a too thick carrier, or switched to chinese crap (and only told you after yo bitched), you name it.

Now I commission my decals in Europe, problem solved. I can focus on the research and build, and not be spending time returning items or arguing with decal paper sellers, because of defective, bad quality, or simply not good enough (for example not flexible) decal paper.

The more the time passed, the worse the decal paper I would get from vendors.

What magic do they have in Eastern Europe to produce those decal sheets of exceptional quality, super thin, pliable, with almost invisible carrier I know not.

Sorry, decals are the nemesis of my projects, to me it seems insane that decal issues are still a thing after decades upon decades of hobby industry. The only aspect of the hobby that didn't really evolve. In many cases it seems to be actually devolving.

 

[dnl42]

10 minutes ago, Moa said:

Now I commission my decals in Europe, problem solved. 

From whom do you order?

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

55 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

From whom do you order?

You live in OC (Orange County?) that's punishment enough, although it seems there is hope (blue hope).

I order them from Arctic Decals, but the owner is very busy, and this is not what he does, he has an extensive line of already made decals and that is his business.

Designing and printing decals is not cheap, and there is a very good reason for that, it involves lots of study, work and takes large amounts of time.

There may be surely other companies that accept commissions.

 

[Roger Holden]

12 hours ago, Moa said:

 

b) Hughes Tool Co company logo of the time was not blue, as Paul Matt assumed for his determination of the racer's colors, but Red/Yellow instead, as seen in contemporary company material. Around Hughes death, this was changed to blue (decades after the Boeing 100 was painted).

 

I'd like to posit to you (since the "blue" -Paul Matt’s choice- is hereby called into question) that the plane was indeed painted in a variation of the Green and Yellow colors, used at the beginning AND much later during the time when color photos of the plane were taken, with black regs.

 

 

I don't have an opinion on the colour of Hughes' Boeing 100, but the blue and yellow Hughes Tool Co colours were certainly used on the Hughes 1B (as displayed in the NASM), which was built in 1935, a very long time before his death. As is specified on Matt's Hughes 1 drawings. ( Although I do agree he did sometimes get things wrong, he was mostly correct and one of the best researchers of the 1960s/70s era ).

 

FWIW, dark green and orange were the colours used on 'The Aviator' movie replica. 

[VH-USB]

8 hours ago, Roger Holden said:

I don't have an opinion on the colour of Hughes' Boeing 100, but the blue and yellow Hughes Tool Co colours were certainly used on the Hughes 1B (as displayed in the NASM), which was built in 1935, a very long time before his death. As is specified on Matt's Hughes 1 drawings. ( Although I do agree he did sometimes get things wrong, he was mostly correct and one of the best researchers of the 1960s/70s era ).

 

FWIW, dark green and orange were the colours used on 'The Aviator' movie replica. 

The "dark green and orange" were part of the standard Boeing house colors at the time...  'Boeing Forest Green' (identical to 'Stinson Green') and 'International Orange'.

 

Tim

[72modeler]

18 hours ago, Moa said:

You need better glasses.

Nah- didn't see any on the floorboard of the model- scan this puppy, reduce to 1/72 and scatter accordingly! (Two can play this game!)

Mike

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=beemans+gum&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJxM_ImtfeAhUROa0KHb-2AjUQ_AUIDygC&biw=1280&bih=654#imgrc=g16TxI5kGeCGHM:&spf=1542312747604

 

[pheonix]

Well the shaping, scraping, sanding and painting were all worth it because that is another little gem. Really superb model in every way, and a most interesting background. Thanks for all that.

 

P

[jeaton01]

Another beauty, C. 

 

I use Tango Papa decal paper, it's been consistently good for years with my ALPS and a color laser printer.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

17 minutes ago, jeaton01 said:

I use Tango Papa decal paper, it's been consistently good for years with my ALPS and a color laser printer.

Thanks, John, useful information 

cheers

[Spad57]

Just Awesome that all I can say!

Highest Regards,

Gregory Jouette

[John_W]

Very nice. I was going to say "it looks a bit like a P12E" then had a Google and realised it was a variant of that type...

 

[John R]

Moa, please stop. You are making us feel inadequate.

Is it really that small or do you have big hands?

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

12 hours ago, John R said:

Moa, please stop.

I will, have to attend for a while other things.

But I shall continue after that.

We shall fight them on the building boards, We shall fight them on the spray booths, We shall fight them without the SWMBOs knowing how much we spend, We shall never surrender!,

And that´s not my hand, it's my face.