Other manufacturers

[Szyp]

Even though I am a dedicated fan of Guilow products- especially the laser cut kits, are there any other quality manufacturers that offer kits of comparable, or better (if such is possible) quality?

[SteveM]

Quite a few of them are available here: http://www.pennvalleyhobbycenter.com/ru ... rcraft.htm

[Phugoid]

OR get the plans and balsa and go from there!

[scigs30]

IMO, Other kit makers offer much better wood and lighter designs for freeflight. Guillows provides a good durable design that is great for a beginner. The only area that Guillows has consistently fallen short until recently is wood quality. I like the sturdy design of a Guillows kit, but the planes will not fly with 20lb/ft wood. My WWI laser cut kits came with great laser cut wood but still too heavy. My laser cut WWII kits have all come with great laser cut wood and much lighter, I hope that is what we will see from Guillows in the future. I take my Guillows kits to my club and fly them so people can see they really do fly out of the box. The problem is some of the members buy a kit and report back to me that the wood is too crunched up or too heavy. I of course tell them to send it back to Guillows for replacement, I am sure Guillows loves me. Here are some good kits,
Peck,
Dare
Comet
Easybuilt
West Wings
Golden Age Reproductions

[Szyp]

Thank you for sharing that. I build only for static- it is the little boy in me (i am 64 years old) and want to hang them from the ceiling in my basement/man cave.

[John G Jedinak]

For display...as I do (78)...consider Dumas and Diels. I am still a solid fan of Guillows.

[Szyp]

Thank you also. Diels seems to have some esoteric aircraft models. Are their kits and instructions on a par or better than guillows?

[scigs30]

Diels has some nice models but they are over priced in my opinion. I think he is slowly converting over to laser cut, but the last kit I bought came with the parts printed on paper.

[ADW 123]

i have built a couple of dumas kits and they are ok. i prefer guillows over them even with bad die cuts and such. the main thing i hated about the dumas kits were their instructions. not so much the actual word instructions though. its the paper they use for them. it was really thick, and when its folded, its hard to flaten out the creaces they make. this makes it hard for a flat surface when building the wing esp. i will say i liked their stringers. you dont have to cut them apart like in the guillows kits. instead, they have em all rubber banded together all ready to go for you. i wish guillows did this as well, but guillows stringers are ok for now. after the laser cutting is done, i expect them to be better or on their way to being better. as i recall, the acuracy of their parts (laser cut) were far better than guillows die cuts.


someone brought up a good point on the SFA. they basically said that guillows kits when you are constructing the frames it doesnt seem right. (at least in the sense of how accurate the pieces are) but oncce you start putting the frames together, then there is just something right about them that everbuddy loves.

[SteveM]

I think Guillow's is generally considered the leader in good plans and instructions, but lacking in wood quality. They produce on a mass scale and are available nearly globally.

I've found Dumas to have average to horrendous plans and instructions with wood that was either very good or so soft and punky that stringers break under a light coating of dust. I keep wanting to like them, but my hobby should not frustrate me so I don't plan to build any more any time soon.

A lot of the other kits are aimed primarily at free flight and as such tend to come in a small box with a small bundle of wood and possibly a canopy. Scale details are generally left off in favor of better flight characteristics.

I do have an Easy Built Bristol Beaufighter that I got with some other kits and it's not a plane I see available in wood very often. It comes with the plans, generic assembly instructions, tissue, decals, clear plastic sheet, two clear plastic canopy pieces, 5 blocks of balsa, 6 pieces of fair quality print wood, and a bunch of balsa stick wood that also appears to be of good quality. From what I can see in the plans it has a very light and delicate construction you would expect from plans dated 1943. The original plans would have you scrounge around your house for cellophane for the canopy, but Easy Built has provided an average quality vacuum formed canopy which really brings these old plans up to date.

Every manufacturer has a little something about their kits to love and hate so try a few and see what you like.

[Szyp]

As I suspected and as I remember from my childhood builds. Guillows was the benchmark, other balsa kits just could not compare. In plastic it was Revell, and later Monogram, with Aurora bring up the rear. Then the Japanese got involved and I felt their earlier kits were junk. How times have changed. Guilows laser cut, based on my one experience so far building the 400 series Spitfire is excellent. Guess I will stick with the devil I know rather than the devil I don't know. Maybe as I regain experience and skills, I will try something different, but long gone are the days when I could take a partially completed model that frustrated me, pour glo fuel on it, set it ablaze, and watch it get "shot down" in flames. Ah, such sweet childhood memories.

[TJH]

I have always had success with the Guillow kits as the instructions are clear and the construction is somewhat easy and structurally solid. I enjoyed the Comet kits as well, and recently Easy Built. There are a lot of good options out there.