Howdy, I am new to guillows

[Angie332]

Just this year I started building balsa airplane model. I started building to be involved with my husband. He likes plastic models. This is my first plane it is a P-40, sure would appreciate any advice anyone my have.

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[zoomie]

Hi Angie332, welcome to the Guillow's MB Forum .

For your first stick & tissue model, your P-40 looks great. Looks like a cross between an early WW2 USAAC and a Flying Tigers color scheme and markings. Whatever...it works and looks fantastic IMO. Especially like the shark mouth, super job!

Tell us more about it...the paint you used, how you did the markings and any other details about how you built your model.

You're off to a great start, and thanks for sharing .


zoomie

[Angie332]

OMG. Thank you so much for responding this P-40 was originally my husband's model. I stole it from him and got hooked to how much fun it is to make something from a bunch of sticks
I used wood glue to stick the wood pieces together. Dope to seal the wood and 50/50 dope to glue the tissue paper. Sprayed water on to shrink my paper. Doped it .The paint was air brushed on I used testers paint. The shark mouth ,eyes and other stuff was decals from sqaudarn.
I am working on a hellcat at this moment. I found color tissue paper I want to cover.
I have ordered new toys to hopefully help me get my models more square. It's a sheet of metal with alot of square magnates. I have relized cardboard is not the best workboard.

[zoomie]

this P-40 was originally my husband's model. I stole it from him and got hooked to how much fun it is to make something from a bunch of sticks

LOL! Tell your husband he's welcome to join the Forum if he'd like...we can't have too many Guillows builders here .

Wood glue or carpenters glue (the light yellow or cream-colored stuff) works good and is used by a lot of modelers. I use Titebond Original wood glue thinned with a tiny bit of water, 4 parts glue to 1 part water. Use a plastic cap from a gallon water jug and put two drops of glue and half a drop of water in it (I eyeball it), then mix and apply with a toothpick. It's usually enough to last for a gluing session for the smaller models I build. When it's thinned the glue handles easier, doesn't leave big blobs and sands a whole lot easier. It's still way stronger than it needs to be.

Go to http://www.guillow.com and click Model Builders FAQ, there's a ton of good info there that might help you.

Understand that there are lots of different ways to do things when building S&T models, none of them are wrong, it's just that modelers have their own preferred methods. Since we're in summer now, any questions that you post might remain unanswered for a few days because of forum members on vacations, family gatherings etc. Just thought you should know that you're not being ignored. There are folks here that know a lot more than me and when they get back they'll be glad to help you with any model questions you might have .


zoomie

[Angie332]

Thank you for the information about the glue. I will try that on the next one. Which I can't wait to do
I ordered a Geebee, supercub and a spitfire. I have a mustang also. Happy me.

[Angie332]

I will tell my husband about joining. Although he much prefer plastic model. I have no clue why he had.ordered the one Guillow model of a P-40. I am glad he did and very happy he didn't get mad cause I stole it. I tried doing plastic models and just got aggravate and didn't finish. now it just collects dust. LoL

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[Wildpig]

Just this year I started building balsa airplane model. I started building to be involved with my husband.

That's cool.
Only advice I have is to keeping building. You learn by doing and improving your technique.

Very nice model, by the way.

[Angie332]

Thank you the Buffalo my husband built. I did the boat got mad and back in the box it went. The direction for plastic models are to confusing to me.. LoL

[davidchoate]

Plastic models cannot be beat as far as detail, but there is something about balsa that makes it , if your building for display, more like a work of art. And dont foget, these planes will FLY. I've been doing it 3 years, and im hooked. You will get alot of help on here.

[Mitch]

Hello and welcome.

Very Nice job on you First model! The P-40 looks great. I remember as a kid I build that one and painted it to hang in my room. I hope you decide to try to fly a model. You will need to build light. You can use colored paper to achieve the colors you are looking for. I have built a few of the 500 series, but my favorite models are in the 400 series.

Mitch

[limey]

Nice job this was my choice of my first build for 45years it's on page 13 it was a challenge but with help from this website I am hooked again after all these years great site great contributors enjoy your hobby you will now be hooked!!! Good luck Limey.

[Angie332]

Thank you so much for the nice comments on the p-40 I am so glad to have found this forum meet new friends that can help me improve on my builds. I so do want to go out and fly them. If I can get them balanced enough and the guts to toss them I am a Texan so we do get some nice days to fly. We have a few electric power airplanes thats a lote of fun. They are Styrofoam so they are easy to fix when I crash them.. Hahaha
Again I wanna say thank you everyone for the help and nice comments on the p40

[WIDDOG]

Hi Angie,

Welcome to the forum and "Team Guillow's" .

Your model P 40 looks great!

I just wanted to put my 2 cents worth in and say that I recommend the 600 or 900 series for flying. The 900's are designed solely for rubber powered FF. Built light weight they are excellent flyers. They have large wing area's and ample dihedral.

Do you have any Peck Polymer propellers? Some advise is I would start a Propeller Collection.

Keith

[Mitch]

Hi Again,

I am glad you want to 'fly' them. Being from Texas I think you should be building bigger planes, the 400 series are very nice and laser cut. The wood is lighter and without modification they will fly built as per plans. With some modifications I am now building them for competition. And as I said they will fly with everything in the box from Guillows!

The only modification I would start with for flying is do not install the landing gear, or make it removable.

Mitch

[Firedoctor2003]

Hi Angie,

I am new to building plans also, looks like you did a great job! I am in the planning stages now for a build. I have recently bought 2 small guillow kits so we will see how it goes. I love this forum because there is a lot of information on it that will help. Keep up the good work and hopefully I will be posting something in a couple of months.

Allen