Gee Bee R2 - 1/48 Dora Wings - Full scale model kit build

This is a full build video of a Dora Wings 1/48 scale model kit of the Gee Bee R2, a special-purpose racing aircraft made by Granville Brothers Aircraft of Springfield, Massachusetts (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granvil...)

The kit

The quality of this kit is quite good. The details are very good, cockpit detail is quite acceptable, it comes with photo-etch parts and indispensable paint masks (of excellent quality), and fittings are quite good, requiring just occasional fixes, and a minimal stress build.

The major criticism I have is over the instructions, who are a little inaccurate on mask patterns, decal positions and numbers, and over the frail panel lines / rivets, which need to be enhanced or you can erase them by a primer layer.

The build

This is a very enjoyable kit to build, mostly due to how cute and chubby the R2 is, and how it starts to shape in. Most of the difficulty of this kit will derive from how small it is, in most ways smaller than average 1/72 kits.

The biggest challenges will come from closing the fuselage with the cockpit inside, on smoothing the fuselage ribs to an acceptable height, and on wing rigging, which I prefer to use styrene instead of the provided metal parts.

The red / white paint job is very unforgiving, so any masking mistakes or trapped dust will be haunting you forever, so don't stress too much on it, the overall result will always be stunning.

Other than that, this kit looks great and it will be a very interesting addition to your collection, I recommend this kit if you are in the fence for it.

Enjoy this video.