Guillows Fokker and SE5

[VNulk]

It's interesting to me that having to use Ambroid glue to build these beauties, and having to wait overnight for joints to dry, wasn't bothersome at all. It's what we had, and we lived with it - back when "Made in China" was non-existent. I remember the balsa sheets of crushed parts and having to repair split ribs before building (don't miss that much). I'm still buying kits with only print wood and actually find the long process of cutting out each piece an acceptable trade off for using super glues afterwards.

It's very tough getting the younger crowd interested in putting the time into a project. If it can't be assembled in minutes, they're on to something else. I started up a small group of 10 year olds with their Dads building simple stick and tissue kits, hoping to get them snagged into larger RC planes later on. At the end of each 2 hour session, we have something to fly, even if its the AMA Delta Dart again ( the first build) and it doesn't matter if flights are 5 or 30 secs - they're all yelling and smiling!

Maybe we do need a new thread on rubber power here? Where's Greenknight and others with their projects?

[greenknight]

I hear you Vern.

It's all about making the emphasis be on the "process", not the "product"; the "doing" not the "having". Printwood really isn't an imposition, particularly if you like to pick the wood you use and make little structural tweaks as you proceed with a build. And by the way, I still use Ambroid; it dries faster than you might think.

Most of the FF models on the market need some tweaking (some alot) if you plan to fly them actively and get good performance.

Scigs30 and Froggy, great looking models you've produced from the Guillows kits. The local FAC group here in San Antonio is building models from the Guillows 500 series of WW2 fighters. We're all lightening them up some for rubber power. Some ask "why bother" with the kit if you're going to change a lot of stuff. Valid enough point, but I guess nostalgia is part of it. For those of us who were kids in the '60s and '70s Guillow's kits were in just about all of the stores that had a model section; particularly true in the Northeast where I grew up.

For those interested, check out the pics from the 2009 Cole and Rita Palen Memorial FF meet in Red Hook NY. We held the meet this past year on July 25, the 100th anniversary of Bleriot's channel crossing, and we had a special event for Pioneers. Here they on Jonathan Fallon's web site:

Events-Free-FlightMeets

[LewisS]

The Guillows SE5a laser kit is one of the better first scale model kits for someone considering a first time FF or RC conversion model. I've seen about a half dozen that have been converted to small electric power RC. The dihedral, moments and tail volumes make these planes fly nicely when assembled correctly.

It's too bad they don't make the Rumpler CIV kit anymore, of course it's a bit too small when compared to the Nieuport 11 and SE5a.

Another source for interesting freeflight kits is Penn Valley Hobby Center, Penn Valley Hobby Center /rubberFF / index/ aircraft..

[dtomko]

Has anyone had any experience with kits from this company?
Aero-werkes
It appears they are at least temporarily shut down, but the kits look really nice.

[scigs30]

His kits are great, every once in awhile He sells them on eBay for a good price. There are no plastic parts, just wood. He uses contest balsa and laser cut. He produces more of the older Guillows WWI birds. Email him and he might be able to sell you some kits that are not listed on the web page. Real nice guy. Also the SE5 you see is not the actual kit. This was an older version pre laser/lazy cut. I cut my own balsa and she flies great. I really enjoy building Guillows for the nostalgia and they are fun to fly if they don't crash. We all remember seeing these kits in the store and it was great. Now there is a real small FF section at most hobby stores and everything else is RTF.....Bummer

[Jecull]

Thank you for showing these & reminding me about them. The laser cut sounds light years ahead of the die crunched kits. My lady's been interested in building so this might be a better, more traditional way, to start her off rather than jumping into a 1/10 or so RC.
Impeccable builds!