AMA PLANS SERVICE SHOWCASE
Hughes H-1 Racer
An electric-powered piece of history
In 1935, the world’s fastest single-engine, land-based aircraft belonged to Howard Hughes. The H-1 Racer had many new features for its time, including the first use of hydraulically actuated landing gear, and Hughes achieved his goal of setting the world speed record in it at 353.322 mph.
Jim Young’s August 2006 construction article and model were inspired by the work of Jim Wright, who crafted a reproduction of the original H-1 and showcased it at the 2003 EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Wright and the airplane perished in a crash on the way home to Oregon from the event.
The 1/12-scale model was designed from Paul Matt drawings and featured a 32-inch wingspan, a wing area of 195 square inches, and a length of 25.8 inches. Constructed from balsa, plywood, and foam, Jim made it easier on builders by creating a short kit of laser-cut fuselage formers and foam wing cores.
The fuselage was built on a removable crutch made from 1/8" balsa, with scrap 1/4" balsa used as a stiffener. Jim warned, after gluing bottom stringers, not to make the crutch a permanent part of the fuselage. The entire fuselage was also planked with beveled, thin strips of balsa because there were few flat spots on the model.
Final assembly of the H-1 included a canopy fashioned from two pieces of sheet acetate formed over a simple fixture, and covering with MonoKote and UltraCote. A straightedge and dressmaker’s wheel were used for detailing such as panel lines and rivets. Cowl numbers and tail numbers were cut from yellow and black trim sheet. A dashboard printed from a computer and a Williams Bros. pilot completed the cockpit.
The model was set up with the following equipment:
- AstroFlight 020 motor with a Superbox (3.3:1)
- Castle Creations Thunderbird-18 ESC
- Kokam 2000 mAh 15C LiPo battery pack
- APC 8 x 6E propeller
Jim stated that the H-1 was a pleasure to fly and was basically a “point-it-where-you-want-it-to-go” kind of airplane.
The H-1 Racer was featured as AMA Plans Service listing 991 and is available for $14, plus shipping and handling. See page 171 or go to www.modelaircraft.org/plans.aspx for ordering information.
MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
