William Bros 1/32nd GeeBee Z
By Sean Thackwray
In the second year of the 'Great Depression', the Granville Brothers of Springfield Massachusetts turned their attention to an alternate form of aviation income - prize money. The 1931 National Air Races (in Cleveland, Ohio) featured 39 events with a total purse of $100,000. The Gee Bee Model Z was designed and built around a loaned Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior engine, with the aim of winning the prestigious Thompson Trophy, along with its prize of $7500. The Gee Bee won, piloted by Lowell Bayles, who had secured his seat in the race by investing five hundred dollars in the Springfield Air Racing Association.
Lowell Bayles went on to win another two races (the Shell Speed Dash and the Goodyear Trophy), which meant that the 'Zee' had won every race it took part in! The aircraft was built in about 5 weeks at a cost of less than five thousand dollars. The designer was Robert Hall, who did the test flying, as well as winning the General Tire and Rubber race and the 'Free for All' Race at Cleveland.
Tragically, on the 5th of December 1931, Lowell Bayles was killed in the aircraft while attempting to set a new landplane speed record. The little Gee Bee Z had only lasted for 105 days since her maiden flight on 22 August. A brief but bright flame.
The Williams Bros. 1:32 scale Gee Bee Z that I built was the original 1979 boxing, with the bright yellow plastic. It is a lovely little kit that captures the shape of the aircraft well.
I wanted some more detail in the cockpit, and a more accurate engine. The cockpit would be my problem, but the engine was beautifully rendered by Armory from the Ukraine.
It took a bit of experimenting to get the look I wanted for the black. It was too glossy with several layers of X-22 on its own, so I lightly sanded the high-gloss finish with a 2000 grit cloth and then buffed it to a semi-gloss with 8000 micromesh.
The mostly unusable 46-year-old decals nearly undid the build though, as I elected to print some of my own, instead of sourcing replacement ones (which Williams Bros. actually did print years later).
Despite numerous mishaps, here it is - minus a couple of decals, but good enough for my wife's desk. If you'd like to find out more, check out my build thread in the Work in Progress forum.
As far as the Williams Bros. kits go, I wish I'd bought more when they were plentiful!
© Sean Thackwray 2026
This article was published on Saturday, January 17 2026; Last modified on Saturday, January 17 2026