1/32 Wedell-Williams Racer

by Paul R. Miles "Huey Gunner"

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I built this kit as a gift for my 72 year old step-father.  When he was a boy, his father owned and ran a Gilmore gas station.  Or as they called them back then, "fillin' station.  He collects Gilmore memorabilia, so I figured this would fit into his collection.

The kit is the Williams Brothers offering.  As a limited run kit it has no guide pins for parts alignment.  The moldings are a little thick, but nothing that really affects the finished product.

The only non kit part are the shoulder harness', that I dug out of my spares bin, and the push rod tubes that are cut plastic rod.  The propeller blades are covered with bare metal foil.  The finish accomplished with MM enamels. Then two coats of Future, decals and six more coats of Future.  Rigging was done with the provided kit line.

Click on image below to see larger image

A very special thanks need to go out to Steve Tytko of Schenectady, New York. Steve built this kit that turned out to be a feature article in the April 2007 edition of FSM.  It was from this article that I got my inspiration from.  As noted in the issue, there are no decals provided for the cowling.  And what decals there are in the kit are very poor.  Steve made his own and they came out beautiful.  I e-mailed Mark Hembree at FSM to see if I could somehow get in contact with Steve to purchase the decal set.  Three days later, Steve himself called me from New York, to my home in So. Cal.  He not only made a set just for me, but refused payment, even for shipping.  All this in the weeks before Christmas, you know, when most people are just normally too busy and slammed with deadlines.  So, once again.  Thank you so much for your help with Norm's gift.  He was very moved by it.

Paul

Photos and text © by Paul R. Miles