Flyability????????

[flash52]

Which Guillow's WWll kit unmodified has the best rubber powered flying characteristics ?

[Thewonderfrog]

IMO kit 906 Hawker Typhoon is the best flier I have found so far.

[SteveM]

Howard (kittyfritters) is probably the most qualified to answer this question. Check out some of his posts regarding some of the 500 series kits.

http://balsamodels.com/phpBB/viewtopic. ... ight=#3534
http://balsamodels.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=2348
http://balsamodels.com/phpBB/viewtopic. ... ight=#2080

[scigs30]

My TBF Avenger has been a great flyer. The only real mods I made was to the nose block, landing gear and added dihedral. I used the kit wood with no problems.

[flash52]

Started building FF Rubber again after a 10 yr. pause. This is a great place to catch up on the latest building technics. Most of my last rubber flying was indoors. Embryos, Bostonians, and P-Nuts. My best outdoor scale job was a Guillow's Chipmunk. It would ROG really nice. Kittyfritters models look perfect.That Stuka flies as good as it looks. It takes a lot of skill to make that brick fly. The Avenger is gorgeous. I'm an old Grumman fan. I am currently working on the 9oo series Mustang.

[Arlo DiPasquale]

I would say the Lancer flies the best!!

[thymekiller]

Looking forward to building the Lancer. The Javelin REALLY surprized me.
Flew like a home sick angel. [ except for the tree.... ]

thymekiller

[thymekiller]

Has anybody flown the Arrow?

thymekiller

[flash52]

The Javelin is a great flier. It will disappear if it catches a strong thermal. Probably why Guillow's has a DT device on the tail in a picture on the plan.
Sure had a lot of fun with mine.

Flash

[kittyfritters]

If you want the best flying Guillow's model, built out-of-the-box, get a Fly Boy, #4401. It is actually a Comet design (Guillow's bought Comet) called the Cloud Buster. It has a very conventional, un-Guillow's like, box fuselage structure. Take care to build it straight and square and it will fly beautifully.

With a little more experience, and some slight mods, the Lancer, Javelin, Arrow and Fairchild 24 are all excellent fliers. I've been flying my Fairchild for 4 years and may be getting around to building another one.

A little farther up the skill level are the 600 series Piper and Cessna. Well built they are very reliable fliers, the kind of model that someone will take to the field as backup, to get satisfying flights when nothing else is working.

You could loose any of the models I have already mentioned in this post on a warm day with good thermals.

The 900 series kits take just a bit more skill but are very satisfying. For most builders the Skyraider and Typhoon are the best fliers. The Bird Dog and Chipmunk are next, followed by the Mustang. The Trojan is the trickiest of these birds to get to fly.

Flying the 500 series kits is for the experienced builders. Done right, with proper lightening, or using really good balsa, I have seen them do over a minute on rubber power. The local club I belong to has a 500 series flyoff every couple of years and the winners are usually doing around a minute with most of the models flying in the 30 to 40 second range.

Built straight and light the 300 series kits (lightplanes) will do over a minute on rubber power and make excellent electric conversions, R/C or Free flight.

I've never built a 400 series to fly under rubber power so I can't speak to those I currently have a Bf-109 electric free-flight on the bench.

I have not built any of the larger kits, but I have seen many posts on the web about R/C conversions. The last time I was in England I saw and RC conversion of the DC-3 flying and the guy had even made retracts for it. Now THAT's and expert builder.

Anyway, that's my 2-cents worth on the subject.

[Scirocco14FP]

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum and returning to model airplane building, like so many here. My first build is the Stuka 500 series. Here's a shot of it in progress. I'm building it as a flyer and I'm taking the good advice given around here and working hard to lighten it up:



Once I finish this one I have a 1000o series Dauntless SBD-3 that I'll tackle as a flyer next. Eventually I'd like to convert some Guillow's kits to electric R/C but one step at a time.

Mark C.

[kittyfritters]

The Stuka can be made to fly, but you have your work cut out for you. Here are my efforts at lightening mine.





I thinned the outlines of the wing, tail surfaces and the formers. I did add a more scale like landing gear and the ribs that the landing gear attaches to and the spars in the gull section were left solid for strength. With all this effort, using the kit wood, it came out at 36 grams with a motor of four strands of 1/8 inch flat FAI, tan, rubber. The best flight I got out of it was 19 seconds. Interestingly enough it had great penetration and flew well in winds that would ground a lighter model.

I added a torque box under the cowling to get a solid mounting for an adjustable nose plate. Another thing that I did was to use sandwich tie wire "Z" hinges to mount the flaps and ailerons, making them adjustable. This allowed me to trim the model with a bit of "takeoff flap" to get more lift. The rudder and elevator were also hinged. Greatly helped the trimming.

When I built this one I used the kit wood just for the challenge and to prove a point. If I were to build another one I would use contest grade wood along with the same lightening strategy. Another modeler built one this way that weighed 18 grams, with rubber! That one will do close to a minute.

Hope this helps,

Howard

[Scirocco14FP]

Thanks, Howard. I'm just using the Stuka as a warm-up to building again. I used to build a lot of C/L stuff as a teenager, so I wanted to start with something fairly simple just to get the hang of it. I figured the Stuka would be a tough flyer with the small wings but hey, I like the bird!

Thanks for the tips. I have some other F/F kits (other brands) that I'll build as well.

MC

[Scirocco14FP]

Well, I took the Stuka out for the maiden flights. After trimming it using the great advice on this site, and winding it about 100 turns, the first flight was short but sweet. A slight banking climb to the left and landing about 150 ft away.

So I wound in 300 turns (by hand...need to get a winder) and let 'er rip. She climbed about 30-40 ft to the left and with just a slight porpoise glided to a cartwheel landing. Unfortunately in my quest to keep 'er light, I didn't put a LOT of glue on the wing/fuselage mount..ooops. The wing broke free but nothing that can't be repaired.

I know I'm a grown man (46) but I have to admit to a feeling of kid-like glee watching the little Stuka climb into the sky.

I'll post pictures after repairs are effected.

Thanks again to all for the advice and motivation!

Mark :->

[Scirocco14FP]

Addendum:

The Stuka came in around 35g AUW and the flight was around 10 seconds. Not great but considering it's not the best flyer in the bunch I'm happy. Once I get it repaired I'll fly it a few times more and then retire it to display...

Mark :->