The Curtiss Cortez: The Little Airliner that Never Was

It dawned on me that this plane would have been the missing link between the Curtiss Condor and the Curtiss C-46 Commando. Knowing that there had also been a Curtiss Coronado at some point, I decided that Cortez seemed a plausible monicker.

The Cortez would have taken to the air in 1934 (1935 at the latest). It would have competed unsuccessfully against the Douglas DC-2 and DC-3. It probably would have ended up serving local air carriers in Latin America until the 1950's. (Again from Blazing Saddles: "I like to keep my audience riveted.")

BTW, there's no justification for the Cortez being yellow other than I had a rattlecan of Walmart house blend to exhaust. Apart from that deviation, it wears the American Airways livery that came with the kit. If nothing more, the kit has lots of extras to enrich your parts box, including markings for the Argentine Navy and the Byrd 1933 Antarctic Expedition. Just try to find those anyplace else.

Judging from the model, the Cortez would have had some serious design flaws: weak, fabric-covered wings; a tailheavy fuselage; no ailerons. But it's a cute little goober, isn't it?

Speaking of design flaws, the Glencoe kit has major warpage problems with the fuselage and windscreen. But we diehard Glencoe fans know that this goes with the territory. You buy a Glencoe kit because only Glencoe makes it, God bless 'em. So bring along a couple tubes of putty and some sandpaper and maybe a steel file.

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