RE: gee bee r2 wheel pant attatchment
Joe,
My Gee Bee was a handful on take off due to my inexperience with that type of aircraft. Once I learned that it required huge doses of rudder at the right time, it was OK. You've seen how Delmar had to dance on his rudder to keep the thing going straight down the runway...
My Gee Bee lasted long enough for me to fly it many times on both engines. I have the video to prove it.
I mainly wanted to help promote Technopower engines... the previous owner out of Chicago, "Elmer," used to show my footage at the tradeshows.
However, the 9 cyl. Technopower was not happy inside a cowl, running at full throttle - heat was a constant problem.
But when she ran good, there was nothing like it in the air!
Sounds to me like you have your Gee Bee planned well, as far as weight and power. I am partial to gas, but the Moki 2.1 should be ideal for your projected weight. However, if it were me, I would go with a 24 oz. tank just to have plenty of fuel on board... I have made half a dozen + landing attempts before setting down and you DO NOT want the extra burden of worrying about your fuel level as you jocky for just the right approach... believe me!
I finally sold my Gee Bee, sans radial, to an aircraft memorabilia outfit "Wings America" who had just opened a store at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. They ended up selling it for some obscene price to a collector.
I sold the radial to a fellow modeler, so all ended well.
The Gee Bee racers remain my hands-down favorite aircraft of all-time. I was a Delmar "groupie" of sorts, attending airshows as often as I could whenever he was going to be their with the R2. I had the privelege of attending his first CA performance in Watsonville and his last US performance in Visalia, CA.
All the "myths" surrounding the ill-handling of the Gee Bee R1 and R2 are basically true - except perhaps for the high speed stall caused by going past 30 degrees bank.... still not sure what happened when Doolittle experienced that snap roll anomoly... but Delmar learned how to deal with all the Gee Bee idiosyncracies and proved that "in the hands of a good pilot, it's a good airplane" and visa versa.
Hope you post more pictures of your 1933 Bendix version so I can follow your progress.
YES - my son and I are attending EAA this year - July 27 - 30.