DA Graphics 1/25 Lakeridge Paving Co Unlimited Hydroplane

The Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900 was the scene of the first successful power boat race of the 20th century. Eight speed launches competed over a 7½ mile course on the River Seine. Marius Dubonnet's L'Aiglon was first over the finish line with an elapsed time of 47 minutes and 15 seconds. Over the next 100 years, hull designs and powerplants evolved to enable the boats to reach increasingly faster speed. The modern era of Unlimited Class hydroplane racing began after World War II when the huge supply of Allison and Merlin V-12 engines from fighter aircraft became generally available. The first boat to make use of a contemporary engine was in 1946 in a three point hydroplane named Miss Golden Gate III.  Owned and driven by Dan Arena and equipped with a substantially stock Allison V-1710 motor. Arena failed to finish the 1946 Gold Cup Race on the Detroit River but clearly identified that these powerplants would be part of the boat of the future, bettering the competition lap record of 72 miles per hour no less than seven times and setting a new standard of over 77 mph. Over the next several decades, more and more Unlimited teams have opted for the cabover - or forward cockpit design. With its flatter and wider profile, a cabover can generally corner better and faster than its rear cockpit/forward engined predecessor. The most exciting news in recent years has been the of jet turbine powerplants as opposed to piston -engines in the Unlimited ranks. The first turbine-powered craft to claim a Season High Point Championship was the Chip Hanauer driven Miller American. In 1985, Chip won five of nine races and rewrote the speed record book. On the Columbia River at Tri-Cities, Washington, the Lycoming-powered Miller craft became the first to exceed 150 miles per hour around a closed course with a reading of 153.061 for the 2 1/2-mile distance.  Eventually, the vast majority of Unlimited Hydroplanes would switch over the turboshaft engines, with the Lycoming T55 from the U.S. Army’s Chinook helicopter being the engine of choice among most teams.

Unlimited Hydroplane kits have been few and far between. There have been some1/48 short run resin kits, but the only injection molded kit that has ever hit the market was Testors 1/25 Miss Budweiser, produced in 1978. In 2024, DA Graphics, out of Kent, WA introduced a series of 12 Unlimited Hydroplane kits in 1/25 scale. I purchased this kit from the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum in Seattle. The team/sponsorship decals are the only difference in these kits. I was first a little skeptical of portraying twelve different boats utilizing a single mold, but I spoke with a member of the Hydroplane and Raceboat museum in Seattle who advised that almost all Unlimited hydroplane hulls are almost identical. I’ll get into that further in the conclusion of this review. The kits have a low parts count – 47 gloss white plastic pieces, a clear canopy, a translucent stand, and a sound module which is attached to the backside of the stand’s faceplate. The kit is designed for snap tight construction for the most part, and glue is only needed in a very few areas. The kit includes eight plastic pots of acrylic paint, a bottle of “Special Glue for Plastic” and three paint brushes.

 The kits are pretty basic, and heavy. I’m going to address this review on two different levels. The kit is clearly designed for the person who wants to end up with a reasonable facsimile of an Unlimited hydroplane with a minimum of work. It serves this purpose quite well. For the serious modeler (insert the word purist, rivet counter, accuracy N*zi or your own choice of labels here), this kit provides a blank canvas, with some challenges. There are no panel lines present on the kit, although the real boats have over a dozen access panels on the deck. There are a few shallow sink marks on the bottom of the hull that can be filled quite easily. Due to the thickness of the plastic, the cockpit size is reduced and results in an undersized driver, who is equipped with an incorrect helmet for the sport. The remainder of the cockpit is pretty void of detail. The clear canopy lacks any framework for the windscreen, side windows, or the entry hatch. It also shaped incorrectly – markedly so. It is too shallow at the midpoint, and too tall at the back, so it does not blend into the turbine cowling section properly. The turbine cowling itself is molded to fit over the top rear edge of the cockpit section – the thickness of the plastic results in a very noticeable step between the cockpit area and the engine bay. This area also does not reflect the very noticeable “pinch” or “wasp waist” as the Air Force types would call it where the two areas meet. Pictures of this are easy to find on the internet. The intake opening itself is not correct and needs some attention, and the large vent on the rear of the cowling is absent. This kit also includes a shroud and a large exhaust can. I cannot find any evidence of these two pieces being used on this particular boat. The turbine engine itself looks nice and could be detailed out nicely if one desires. There are a couple of extra locator pins in the engine bay that are not used but are very prominent. The gearbox is located too far forward resulting in the driveshaft being too short, and the gearbox mount does not look anything like the one on the real boat. There is also no FOD screen over the forward portion of the engine. These can be pretty easily duplicated with plastic rod and some mesh screen. Again, a little internet searching goes a long way, The other bits and pieces such as the prop shaft and prop, turn fin, rudder hardware tail fins and wings, all look pretty good.

The decals are designed to provide almost all of the color for these models. Other than the cockpit, canopy framing, and engine, this kit needs little or no painting. The decal sheets for this kit are too long for the box and were folded to fit. My decals cracked upon being straightened out. I have been told that future runs will have a longer box to prevent this from happening. As this hull raced under two different sponsors, an addendum sheet is included to represent the BOITANO HOMES sponsored boat, but no mention of the markings for this boat is mentioned in the kit.

The instructions do not provide any color callouts for painting, and no diagram showing decal placement. The builder is left to follow a single photo on the box top. There are also no instructions for attaching and using the sound module (mine did not work anyway). There is also a step for building up the Allison piston engine featured in one version of the available kits.

This series of boats represents the first mainstream kit of an Unlimited Racing hydroplane since Testors Miss Budweiser from 1978. At this point, I’m looking at this as a mixed bag. As stated earlier, it will probably be popular with folks who want to invest a minimum amount of time and effort to have a model hydroplane on their shelf. It will take a lot of effort to bring this offering up to the level of most mainstream model kits. If you want to roll up your sleeves and take on one of these kits, I think you can get a first-class representation out of it. Research the boat you are modeling. Differences in cowlings, exhausts, paint schemes, aerodynamic fins, and sponsors change quite often. Be prepared to do some scratch building. I’ll reserve final judgment on this model until I’ve built it.

These kits are available directly from DA Graphics (https://dagraphics.com/shop/) and from the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum in Seattle, WA ( https://www.hydromuseumstore.org/models/ )

Joel Robinson

January 2025

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