KIT-308 - BeechCraft Musketeer--Guillows-Low Wing, Single Engine- Personal plane

Last year I built a Sterling Peanut Scale SE 5A. Couldn't get it to fly well. But, that gave me the bug to build a Herr Engineering Fokker D-VII. The D-VII was an easy build. The first flight was going well until the rubber snapped and tore 2 holes in the sides of the fuselage. That's what I get for using rubber that has been sitting around for years. Fixed the holes and have a supply of new rubber on order. I still have 6 more kits in the stash with all the other plastic kits. They were a great change of pace build plus I have a very large flying area in the retirement village where we live. We are surrounded by farms owned by very friendly people. No noisy engines, no problem.

Jim 

Stay Safe.

Cafguy

OH YEA Just look them up.   We die hard balsa builders still have a few resourses out there I havnt built a balsa kit in a few years but I still have dozens of resource sites to order kits and building supplies

 

I've got an Aeronca C-3 as third in queue for the bench, and desperately seaarching for a comet Ercoupe!

OH YEA Just look them up.   We die hard balsa builders still have a few resourses out there I havnt built a balsa kit in a few years but I still have dozens of resource sites to order kits and building supplies

RickS

I haven't built a small Guillow's or Comet kit in ages.  But I do love balsa!  And I have a couple of kits in my stash.  It's been so long, I've lost touch with some of the supplies.  My LHS does not have any dope or tissue, where does one find these things nowadays?

 

There are a number of suppliers on the 'net.  One I remember is called FAI Supply or something like that.  Search flying model airplane supplies.

I haven't built a small Guillow's or Comet kit in ages.  But I do love balsa!  And I have a couple of kits in my stash.  It's been so long, I've lost touch with some of the supplies.  My LHS does not have any dope or tissue, where does one find these things nowadays?

While I do occasionally build them for flight, I usually build them for static scale.  The bigness of the kits- 1:20 - 1:16 allows me to really add detail to interior.  I am not the only one in my model club that does that.

I LOVE Balsa airplanes just got tired of smashing them into the ground.  I aint no captian sully.  Still love to build them and I still fly the little "parkflyers once and awhile

I picked up a couple of water damaged chinese made foam glider kits for $ 20. Big things.

But when I went to price the electronics the cost way exceeded my interest.

Bill

Don,

Sorry the link didn't load, I've never had a problem. Try again and when you get in, check out the posts from Heywooood - his scale builds are amazing. He uses balsa in-fill. Another amazing site is FFscale.co.uk.

I have a Guillows Aeronca C-3 in my build queue.  My dad used to own one, and that was the first plane I ever flew in.

Laser cut parts are light years ahead of the die crushed method!

You're getting me motivated to finish this Dumas Air Camper kit that's been sitting on the shelf way too long.

Free flight is alive and well, www.hippocketaeronautics.com

WillysMB

Check out balsamodels.com, the Guillows build forum. Stick and tissue is definitely not dead...

 

Balsa kits are definitely not dead.  Die cut kits have given it a new life.  In addition to Guillows (the first kit I ever finished- 1947- was a Guillows Aronca) both Easy Bilt and Dumas have extensive lines of kits.  I still love to fly rubber models- must less hectic than starting a cranky, noisy glow engine or continually recharging an electric one.  I still remember as a kit watching a rubber model catch a thermal for the first time, chasing it as it eventually landed in the middle of Livernois avenue in Detroit, a major divided road.  I was so lucky- when I got there it had landed on the island.

I have several times done a flying model kit as a non-flying scale by fashioning a cockpit and using coated thin cardboard or thin styrene sheet as covering.  Engines are the big issue in something that big- no resin engines.  I want to do Guillows Stearman that way, but creating that big engine would be a major project.  I have their Piper in my stash.  Doing the cowl close with just a couple of cylinders visible through the cooling vents looks to be much more doable.

I am still having fun with flying models, along with plastic.  Here's my 108 inch span electric Benny Boxcar, a Hank Struck 72 inch model from the late 30's.

Check out balsamodels.com, the Guillows build forum. Stick and tissue is definitely not dead...