Basics

[Mitch]

Well spoken Dave... I was not too concerned about the "damaged" canopy... I still had fun with my model:


I have not spoken with anyone yet, but maybe Guillows needs to re-sort there packaging on that model. I got another P-51 and it has the same problem. If I enter this in "Judged" competiotion I would want the canopy to be perfect... anyway I suppose the canopy should be...

I remember once in the past my strip stock had a rotten spot in the middle and was totally unusable for long runs... but I was lucky and had ample supply from previous kits. This can be frustrating if this is your first model, but these are made of wood, and that's the nature of wood. Moreover customer service will help you!

As Dave said, these are multi-purpose kits, and to make them fly with just rubber power, it takes extra effort. These are not contest models, I recently bought a few of those and you get a lot LESS in those model kits, BUT they are ONLY designed to fly with rubber power!

I say... Keep Building, Keep Flying, Keep Learning, and most of all Keep having FUN! Mitch

[WIDDOG]

Well spoken Dave... I was not too concerned about the "damaged" canopy... I still had fun with my model:




As Dave said, these are multi-purpose kits, and to make them fly with just rubber power, it takes extra effort. These are not contest models, I recently bought a few of those and you get a lot LESS in those model kits, BUT they are ONLY designed to fly with rubber power!

I say... Keep Building, Keep Flying, Keep Learning, and most of all Keep having FUN! Mitch

Very true and interesting points Mitch! For me personally I don't like the Cox motor set up i.e. too much noise, too much hot fuel everywhere. I like rubber power but I am thinking about going EFF (Electric Free Flight). I think that these kits could be modified to fly very nicely with electric set ups. I think maybe my next 500 Series kit I will try and make it EFF.

[rayd]

David...FYI, in my long absence and (attempting) return to the hobby, I noticed something...which may or may not be a factor in some damaged parts in Guillow's kits. (I'm pretty much a Guillows fan nowadays, but decades back, it was often Comet, because that's what corner stores carrying toys sold mostly in my neighborhood. Nowadays, I've stocked up on some Guillows, a few Comets for nostalgia...from a variety of sources on-line. An observation follows, for what it's worth.

Re Guillows items, it seems older style boxes, likely made here, seem to be thicker and more durable. The newer style boxes, I think imports, are thinner. Longer wingspan kits in longer boxes seem to sag more near the center, and if seller (whoever) does not package box well, and it takes hits in transit, there there could be some damage. I got a few with some so-so parts with newer, thinner boxes...where eg discontinued Guillows on eg eBay, with old boxes (and die cut parts) were fine insofar as parts not being damaged. As for old Comets, boxes are all over the place...and contents. I study the pix as best as possible, take a chance sometimes, and get stuck maybe half the time, but fixable usually.

Where I live, decades back, kids every other backyard were breaking-in Fox 35s or whatever on a board. Nowadays, forget it, even 020s, Be prepared to be yelled at, fined, chased away. Gotta find empty fields even for rubber power, expect on-lookers (normal of course) but God forbid that plane hits someone, maybe think litigation. For reasons such as these, I've been toying around with very old school ideas, like around the pole flying...in my smallish backyard with an electric powered Guillows with RC controlled stabilizer and fin offset to outer part of circle. Maybe 2 channel...one for up/down, other for on/off power. Like U-Control days in a way, wireless style...but kinda tame. Maybe will try with rubber power first... not much thrills expected, either way really. A try though. A lot sometimes depends on where one lives, what's allowed or not.

I digressed..big time....those boxes, think Guillows needs to make 'em thicker/stronger...as in the older days. I see some still floating around, on Amazon, eBay....likely older stock with die cut....not that anything so wrong with that, but lazer cut much faster, and often it seems, though mixed bag sometimes, seems lazer jobs have more like contest grade balsa. Well, not always, but much easier to work with. And they will likely will be good flyers....a Zero I made like 4 decades ago, in same box sometimes shown on line, was like a tank. It sat displayed in my hobby room for a long time until I gave it away. Oh, nice photo above.