Virtavia Gee Bee R

[Willy]

Has anyone tried this out and if so, how is it? Thinking about buying it.

 

[Mick]

I've never seen it, so I have no idea how good it is. But before you spend money on it, you might check out the freeware Gee Bee R-1 / R-2 by David Wooster (painted by moi):

http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?do=copyright&fid=119158

The Model R was one of a series of Gee Bees we modeled depicting every plane the Granville Brothers ever built, except for the Model Z and the R6, which had already been done very nicely by others, and the Time Flies, which was built by the surviving Granvilles but not by the company they had closed down by then. We had help from the nice folks at the New England Air Museum, who sent us photos and information about their very authentic Model R replica. If you like David's planes you'll like his Gee Bees.

We also made a very authentic scenery of Springfield (Mass.) Airport, home of the Gee Bees.

 

[Motormouse]

Yep, our Mick and Mr Wooster did a whole series of Granville Brothers' aeroplanes... here's the bit about the model R from all-nodes busy

FS2004 (ACOF) - FS2004 Early AircraftFS2004 Granville Brothers Gee Bee Model R
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Size: 7,072,748 Date: 01-01-2008 Downloads: 2,073

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FS2004 Granville Brothers Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster for FS2004 and GW3. Part two of the Granville Brothers Gee Bee Package. Includes two complete aircraft, the Gee Bee Model R-1 pylon racer that was flown to victory by Jimmy Doolittle in the 1932 Thompson Trophy Race, and the Model R-2 cross country racer that was flown to fourth place by Lee Gelbach in the Bendix Trophy Race despite serious mechanical trouble, then to fifth in the Thompson race. See parts one and three for Springfield Airport (SPFLD.ZIP) and the Gee Bee Model Q Ascender (GBQ.ZIP). Built in FS2004/GW3 but should work in FSX. By David Wooster and Mick Morrissey.

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then there's Wozza's model Z over at Garry's paintshop ---> http://www.gjsmith.net/Textures/gee-bee.htm , & Tom Eads did the Gee-Bee Q.E.D for fs2002 which works ok in fs2004/9 (flightsim.com and avsim)

ttfn

Pete

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[pfflyers]

I have the package. The models are very nice looking with detailed vc's that feature modelled in "3D" gauges. I bought them years ago during a sale and I must confess I haven't spent much time in them so I can't really say anything useful about the flight models. If I was going to pick any nits it would be that the pilot figure has a somewhat "modern" look about him. He has a headset with a boom mic that doesn't really look very 1930s to me. There is only one paint for each model, the basic red and white scheme. Maybe that's the only paintjob they ever wore, I don't know.

 

[Blackbird686]

I have Wozza's Gee Bee and it is excellent. JMO.

BB686

 

[Willy]

Boy do I feel a bit slow. I'd forgot all about the freeware Gee Bee collection! Downloading now.

 

[Mick]

... There is only one paint for each model, the basic red and white scheme. Maybe that's the only paintjob they ever wore...

That's right - pretty much. There were two Model Rs, the R-1 and R-2, and initially the differences were just the race numbers and possibly one or two very tiny detail differences (I don't recall for certain - it's been years since we did the research.) As the planes were modified and changed hands over their lifetimes (of just a few years) they had some changes to their paint jobs, but they also had changes to their airframes that made them look noticeably different than when they were built. Even then the basic paint scheme stayed virtually the same; changes were mostly to the markings, and weren't very great. If the model only comes in the initial configuration (as ours does) then there's only one authentic paint job.

I saw an ad for a payware Model R that's dressed in the completely different paint job of the Model Z, a totally different plane. But that's not the one under discussion here.

I second the recommendation given above for Wozza's Gee Bee Model Z, and also for Tom Eads' Gee Bee Model R6H. They're both so well done that David and I saw no point in trying to duplicate them for our own Gee Bee collection.

 

[Willy]

I've got the Wozza Model Z and love it with one exception. Unless you're very careful on landing, when the wheels touch the runway it's like grenades are going off. Insta-Crash. Which when you're online racing, means you get to refly that leg along with the usual crash penalty. Other than that, it's a very nice example of a Gee Bee.

The Tom Eads R-6H "Q.E.D." is another long time favorite of mine. Enough so that I did my own paint of it for personal use.

I downloaded the David Wooster R-1/R-2 and have been enjoying them the past couple of days.

Gee Bees R Us

 

[Mick]

I've got the Wozza Model Z and love it with one exception. Unless you're very careful on landing, when the wheels touch the runway it's like grenades are going off. Insta-Crash...

Might that be "as real as it gets?"

I downloaded the David Wooster R-1/R-2 and have been enjoying them the past couple of days.

Since you like the Super Sportsters, You might like the Sportsters and Senior Sportsters too.

And don't forget the weird little Model Q Ascender...

 

[normb]

The whole GB series by Mick & Co. is great. I keep the Model D loaded at all times. Lots of research obviously went into those birds! Every time I look something up on the real aircraft and wonder if it's in the models I'm pleasantly surprised.

Norm

 

[Willy]

In the end, I decided to go with Wozza's Gee Bee Z for the London to Melbourne race. I did install Mick's R-1/R-2, but they didn't make the white list for the race. I bought the Virtavia Gee Bees (can't have too many) and while their R-2 did qualify, it's so much of a handful that I didn't feel I'd have time before the race to really get the hang of it. Maybe for our next vintage race. So, I did a fresh re-install of the Z into Golden Wings and have been practicing with it and getting it ready for the race.

Redid the 2d panel a bit to add twin ADF, wind drift gauge and the autopilot from Milton's Spartan. Went looking for a new paint job (the race is set in the last half the of '30s) and the only one that really "spoke to me" was one for the FSX version for the Gee Bee used at the end of the movie "The Rocketeer". A quick conversion of the paint to FS9 along with a couple of additions to it and it's ready to go.

Getting ready to fly it from Springfield MA to Croydon in London via Greenland and Iceland. Should make for an interesting trip!

 

[huub vink]

Interesting choice Willy. Good luck and don't get killed by this aircraft on you way to down-under .

Huub

 

[Navtech]

http://supersolutionproject.blogspot.fr/2013/01/golden-age-projects.html

http://goldenageofaviation.org/geebeer2.html