Hope everyone has a nice holiday coming up.
In 1947 there was a competition to replace the Curtiss Helldiver. Companies that forwarded proposals were Martin, Fleetwings, Douglas and Curtiss. The Mauler was produced by Martin first, then the Douglas sample, Fleetwings and Curtiss brought up the rear with the XBTC-2. The Mauler and the Skyraider fought hard and ultimately the Skyraider won out. Both the Fleetwings and Curtiss entries were denied. The problems for Curtiss started with the constant headaches that the Helldiver provided the Navy and Curtiss had to focus way too much energy creating those fixes. This left little engineering capability and their entry was just a Johnny Come Lately. Two were produced and extensively tested a Pax River. Both had significant design differences. The first was more on the lines of the Skyraider but with a large contra-rotating dual prop assembly from Aeroproducts. It also featured a large prop spinner. The second, the dash 2, had enormous wing inner panels at the wing roots and a more pedestrian Curtiss style contra-rotating prop assembly. The Skyraider had squared of wings and stab and was by most accounts an attractive design. The two Curtiss samples had curvy outlines on the tail empennage but on the wings, very angular. It was if the teacher simply said that, "Time has run out, turn in your test!"
So, not too many of these models were produced. This is certainly the only one I have ever seen. It was purchased by a client to acquire an original Curtiss metal stand. The airplane was almost thrown away with its add wing and the tail assemblies broken off. After some dedicated research, the model was ID as one of a prototype. This changes things if the model depicted a true airplane. Just finished casting new parts onto the model and carefully sculpting the shapes to match the 3-view plan. Picture show the process so far.Now the model should be ready for paint a details.
Tom Sanders