Curtiss R3C-0

This is the second seaplane I built for my Pavilion of the Seaplane Association. The first was a real-world flying boat. Having cleared that, making a float plane (seaplane which hull does not touch the water) was a natural choice. They're less special and elegant that flying boats, although there are some really beutiful ones. However, it was easy to settle on Curtiss, famous from Porco Rosso. It is a real-life plane, American Curtiss R3C, armed with twin machine guns and with its wing-foil cooling system replaced with a radiator under the engine, like a jutting lower jaw (slightly misaligned in the photos with the stand). The real Curtiss was piloted by Jimmy Doolittle and beat the Macchi M.33 (last of the competing Italian flying boats) in 1925 Schneider Cup. This is references in Porco Rosso; Porco's rival Donald Curtis (with one s!) was inspired by Doolittle and Porco's fictional Savoia S-21 flying boat was inspired by Macchi M.33!

Porco Rosso is my favourite film, and as I had already built Porco's plane in miniland scale (and several times, too), giving some attention to Curtiss was a pleasure. The plane is easier that Savoia S-21, which is good as smaller scale has its challenges. This is strictly in minifig scale, although unable to fit in a minifig - they are so wide. With the wingspan of 25 studs, this isn't very big model. 

As there are no creative choices behind the process, it's hard to say very much about this. The pontoons were the most difficult part, and I'm not quite satisfied with them, but with the current rate there will be perfect curved slopes for them sooner or later. I'm happy how well the windscreen works, and with the white stripe behind the cockpit. The piping between the pontoons and the hull looks fragile, but is surprisingly sturdy. And finally, the 2x2 quarter round curved slopes from PaB elevated this to the next level - the photos of the Pavilion used baby bows with cut corners.

-Eero.