1/72 Lockheed Cumulus from a 1/48 Testors' Curtiss RC3

[Brian da Basher]

By the late 1920's the need had become apparent for a new commercial aircraft that could carry passengers and mail reliably and service the rough fields of smaller towns. Lockheed answered the challenge in 1929 by expanding their famous Vega design into an aircraft capable of carrying a larger payload. When first rolled out for testing, a mechanic noticing the new plane's stout profile, said "She looks like one of those big fat cumulus clouds!" and the name stuck.

The Lockheed Cumulus was ordered by many airlines, among them Transcontinental and Western Airlines, based out of St. Louis. The deal was made when Ziggy Barley, a Lockheed test pilot, made a bet that he could fly from Lockheed's test center #3 in El Paso, Texas to St. Louis, Missouri, get some wonderful St. Louis barbequed spareribs and return within 18 hours. Not only did Ziggy Barley win the bet, but upon explaining his poor table manners to a TWA purchasing agent over lunch at Bubba's BBQ HQ, he inked a contract for 30 of the new Cumulus transports.

The Cumulus was soon seen flying mail and passengers out of small-town America. It was famous for long-distnace endurance and weather flights made by the record-breaking pilot Riley Yost in the early 1930's.

The example shown here flew the Colorado Springs to Winnemucca route for years and is now on display at the Rocky Mountain Museum of Flight in Goldfield, Colorado, across the street from Big Bad Barbie's BBQ "where the Sauce is the Boss."

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

The base kit for this project was the 1/48 scale testor's Curtiss RC3, (provided by the very generous Jeffry Fontaine), which should look like this:



Ooops.

I made a fairing from a slice of a pontoon and added struts from a 1/72 Testors' Spirit of St. Louis and made spats from spare drop-tanks and half-wheels, and made the belly scoop from a larger drop tank half. I also rounded the rudder slightly and attached the canopy from an He-70. the exhaust pipes were from a 1/72 Albatross D.V.

Here's what it looked like before the paintwork.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

The entire model is brush-painted by hand with acrylics, Model Masters Reefer White mostly. The tires were done with Polly Scale Gunship Gray and the exhausts were done with Model Masters Steel. The prop spinner and little scallop were painted with a custom mix of red. The decals were mostly leftovers from a 1/144 Connie, except for the TWA/U.S. Mail logo on the fuselage, which was again from the very generous Jeffry Fontaine.

I hope you got a chuckle out of my Cumulus which took about two weeks to build.

Brian da Basher

[RotorheadTX]

THAT is freakin' brilliant!!  Well done!

[Doc Yo]

 Splendid piece of work, Brian! I can't help but think the pilots feet got a little warm, though...

[Sisko]

Fantastic!!!!!!!!!

[Chap]

Very nice work Brian, I especially like the paint scheme.

~Steve

[Rafael]

Bri, this is a piece of whif-mastery!!!

The change of scale and the shape shifting of the top half of the fuselage make the original airplane disappear in front of my eyes. The markings are wonderful!!!

Rafa

[sequoiaranger]

I would caution the pilot to CAREFULLY step out his door so he doesn't get a blast of hot exhaust in the head. 

Love the imagination. I really do like that era when air transport was just "taking off" so to speak, and there were several variations on the "pilot-and-a-FEW-passengers" theme.

[Daryl J.]

You are a seriously creative fellow!   


Daryl J.

[Ed S]

Once again, you astound us with your creativity, workmanship and speed of construction.

Fine job on this one BdB.

Ed

[sotoolslinger]

Well that turned out just gorgeous B What an absolutely wonderful example of scaleorama
Typical of your excellent skill while being an atypical whiff

[noxioux]

Two weeks?  Holy cow.  It would probably take me that long just to do the canopy! 

[NARSES2]

Bravo Brian 

[Howard of Effingham]

where's my coat? 

another spat-tastic masterpiece!!