I'm also posting this on the What if forum.
This is the Avis 1/72 Lee-Richards Annular Monoplane; I plan to build it as an early (1914-1915) WWI observation plane. This isn't too unreasonable - the Lee-Richards was apparently a stable, easy to fly plane and there were plans to continue the design past 1913.
The boxtop:
The kit has few parts and looks good in the bag. Unfortunately, it's a short run kit, with some impressive mold misalignment:
Some of the smaller parts will have to be remade; the prop spinner sides were off by almost 50%!
Despite the short run nature of the kit, the fuselage breakdown is designed to hide some of the low tech shortcomings. Here is what I have so far:
The kit doesn't include a passenger seat, so I added an old scratchbuilt seat from the stash. The curved plastic piece in front of the pilot could work as an instrument panel (there are no details on it) but I think it's main purpose is to spread the fuselage sides just enough to fit the top part - which fits surprisingly well.
I added some fine brass mesh to the engine and the steel ball is to keep it from being a tail sitter. I'll adjust it once the landing gear is on.
I thought of 3D printing a Lewis MG for the observer, but he would have to stand up to fire it and get past all the rigging. I'll add a couple of cameras or a camera and some small bombs or illumination flares.
The markings are still up in the air - This early roundel wasn't widely used until well into 1915
I may go with these markings:
Or just add the Union Jack to the sides and wings.