which Guillow's kits ?

[woundedbear]

Well the 200, 300, 400, 500,and 700 series kits are all now laser cut. Now when are the 1000 and 2000 series kits going to be laser cut ? That's question number one, now for question number two. When can we expect to see some new model kits from Guillow's ? I personally would like to see a Spitfire Mk. 22/24 added to the 400 series in laser cut of course. I would also like to see a De Havilland Hornet added to the 2000 series. OK guys what would you like to see added to Guillow's line of great laser cut balsa wood model kits ? Come on let's see some wishes from everybody, don't be shy step up and make a wish, wishing never hurt anything so let's hear from everyone of this topic. At this current time I have one 400 series P-51 almost framed up, one Piper cub all frames built, one 500 series P-40 and one 500 series F6F Hellcat ready for the silk span and a light coat of SIG brand supercoat butyrate dope. I am glad to say that the laser cut parts that came with the two 500 series kits I have were the best I have ever seen ! Guillow's gets all A+s for their laser cutting of the 500 series balsa wood sheets. So let's keep the ball rolling and get all of the currant kits from Guillow's laser cut soon and then all new kits can added. New kits to fulfill everyone's wildest dreams ! Come one come all and let's hear what as yet un kited aircraft you guys would like to see on the Guillow's homepage.

[NavyAD1]

I would like to see a P-82 and an F7F in the 400 series

[Coloradoken]

I've noticed a trend among us builders. Many of us have more than one kit under build at the same time and wonder why that is? I can only handle one at a time mostly due to limited space. Some of you folks must have beaucoup room to keep them all going and not get them mixed up. Also takes me a while to complete the model and if I had to split my time I'd never get one done. Whats the secret?

[slopemeno]

Me-108 Taifun. Lots of color schemes to choose from there.

[woundedbear]

Yeah NavyAD1 a Tiger Cat is one more good looken airplane It'd be great to see one in 1/16th scale. One thing that really impressed me about the TigerCat was how slim the fuselage was. I saw one at the last airshow we had at the North Carolina air museum airfield here near Asheboro. Which brings up another airplane that was flown in at that show. Some guy had the only Korean War vintage Sky Raider that would also make a nice addishion to the Guillow's 400 series. Keep those suggestions coming in guys and model on everyone!

[woodbldr]

I remember building a Comet Taylorcraft with a 54 in wingspan when I was a kid. I would like to see these larger wingspan models come back that could fly on rubber power.

As an aside I think a good way to attract the younger generation is to have kits for the Star Wars/Star Trek spacecraft. It might provide the start some kids need and allow them to move into the 4000 series kits. I am sure Guillow's has already considered this, I would guess the licensing for these products would be costly.

Danny

[Steve Blanchard]

The comet 54" and even larger are being flown on rubber and more now than ever. Just check out FAC mega scale or giant scale on youtube and you will see what I am talking about. I don't believe Guillow's should get into that arena. The kits would be incredibly expensive based on the price of their "giant scale" kits that are around 36" wing span. You can find the 54" Aeronca Chief and the 54" Aeronca K kits being laser cut for $50.00 online. I won't post the name of the company as it may seem unfair being this is Guillow's site. I can tell you that when you do find them all of the other repro kits are great as well.

Steve

[woundedbear]

Hello Coloradoken ! It's no secret really, you have to have more than one build board. That's the beauty of building a Guillow's kit, I have two,"so far", build boards. Mine are framed cork poster boards that I bought from Hobby Lobby, a really good tip I got from the Guillow's forum is the use of push pins,"the kind that you see used to pin photographs to post boards". One of the guys here on the Guillow's forum gave me the idea. Instead of using tailor's pins to hold parts in place,"this is by having the pins go through the parts being held in place". Well instead, this guy uses push pins that have a wide base to hold the parts to the plans sheet, this way there are no pin holes in the parts themselves. The wide base of the push pins does the holding, the added benefit is that the parts are held down on the plans sheet flat, so even if you can't get your plans sheet to lay flat on your building board. By using these push pins all around your parts they will hold the parts flat agents the surface of your building board, good and tight, even if your plans sheet doesn't lay perfectly flat because of the folds in the plans sheet. I not only build balsa wood airplanes but, "plastic static display models" as well. When I am not working on one of my Guillow's airplanes I just put the building board away, with the parts in place. Hope this helps, and as for the guy who came up with the idea of using the wide based push pins, instead of the traditional tailors, or T pins. Thanks for the idea, it has improved my builds considerably. Now when I aim my eye down the center keel of the fuselages of my Guillow's airplanes, they are nice and striate. So my hat is off to you sir !

[Coloradoken]

Great idea bear. I'm going to try it.

[NavyAD1]

For those of you who would like to build giant scale rubber powered planes, you should check out large scale Megow plans.

[woundedbear]

I just watched a video on youtube about the air war on the Russian front. There were some interesting aircraft that Russians came up with during WWII, some with radial, and some with V-twelve engines. These airplanes would make good subjects for Guillow's to offer as 400 series, [1/16 scale] laser cut kits. And of course the Russians received P-39 Bell Airacobras from the US, and they loved the airplane. I built one,[the P-39], that Guillow's use to sell back in the 1980s'. I know Guillow's is getting tired of guys asking, but I would like to see Guillow's Re release an all new P-39/ P-63 Bell Airacobra and king Cobra, I don't think it would be too hard for Guillow's to offer these two airplanes in one laser cut kit. Both planes could be built from one kit, for those of you who have the Guillow's 1000 series P-47. There are some added instructions and a build plan sheet for building the P-47-N model's wing included in the P-47-D model kit. The P-39 would be the more difficult to build because of it's rounded wing tips, but if the patterns for the P-63's more squared off wing tips, were added to the instructions and a supplemental build sheet, it would be easy for anyone who has built some of the more complex Guillow's kits, [like the P-47 D of the 1000 series]. For those of you who have ever built the old P-39 Bell Airacobra kit that Guillow's use to have in their line up. You know It was maybe a little more challenging to build, "and trim out to fly", with it's tricycle landing gear, but who doesn't enjoy a little bit of a challenge every once and awhile! If some of you have the time, check out the youtube videos about the Russian air force during WWII. They cooked up some interesting airplanes during what they called, "The Great Patriotic War", They were out classed by the German Luftwaffe in the beginning of that war, Their pilots were never trained as well as the Luftwaffe pilots they had to fight. It was more like a war of attrition for the Russian flyers, their life expectancies were like the pilots of the First World War, "measured in days!" There are some many planes that the Russian's built that I have never heard of. There was the twin engined dive bomber the Petlyakov PE-2, "I've seen one scratch built by a guy out of England, cool little airplane".Then there were the Yak series of fighters, the radial engined La-5s, and last but not least the IL-2 Sturmovik, all of these aircraft would make interesting subjects to build. Well, I really hope to see things start moving at Guillow's, Happy modeling everyone!

[Bill Gaylord]

I just watched a video on youtube about the air war on the Russian front. There were some interesting aircraft that Russians came up with during WWII, some with radial, and some with V-twelve engines. These airplanes would make good subjects for Guillow's to offer as 400 series, [1/16 scale] laser cut kits. And of course the Russians received P-39 Bell Airacobras from the US, and they loved the airplane. I built one,[the P-39], that Guillow's use to sell back in the 1980s'. I know Guillow's is getting tired of guys asking, but I would like to see Guillow's Re release an all new P-39/ P-63 Bell Airacobra and king Cobra, I don't think it would be too hard for Guillow's to offer these two airplanes in one laser cut kit. Both planes could be built from one kit, for those of you who have the Guillow's 1000 series P-47. There are some added instructions and a build plan sheet for building the P-47-N model's wing included in the P-47-D model kit. The P-39 would be the more difficult to build because of it's rounded wing tips, but if the patterns for the P-63's more squared off wing tips, were added to the instructions and a supplemental build sheet, it would be easy for anyone who has built some of the more complex Guillow's kits, [like the P-47 D of the 1000 series]. For those of you who have ever built the old P-39 Bell Airacobra kit that Guillow's use to have in their line up. You know It was maybe a little more challenging to build, "and trim out to fly", with it's tricycle landing gear, but who doesn't enjoy a little bit of a challenge every once and awhile! If some of you have the time, check out the youtube videos about the Russian air force during WWII. They cooked up some interesting airplanes during what they called, "The Great Patriotic War", They were out classed by the German Luftwaffe in the beginning of that war, Their pilots were never trained as well as the Luftwaffe pilots they had to fight. It was more like a war of attrition for the Russian flyers, their life expectancies were like the pilots of the First World War, "measured in days!" There are some many planes that the Russian's built that I have never heard of. There was the twin engined dive bomber the Petlyakov PE-2, "I've seen one scratch built by a guy out of England, cool little airplane".Then there were the Yak series of fighters, the radial engined La-5s, and last but not least the IL-2 Sturmovik, all of these aircraft would make interesting subjects to build. Well, I really hope to see things start moving at Guillow's, Happy modeling everyone!

The P39 would make more sense IMO to bring back, than pretty much any other one I've heard of, for a number of reasons.
1. The kit series has sold well and the P39 added to it should also sell well.
2. The kit series is getting a bit worn out, with the few models available. In that sense, I don't believe it would detract from sales of the other models. The Henry Ford "you can have any color as long as it's black" seems to the the mo of model companies, but eventually they do need to supply something new, when black model Ts eventually peter out. While Cubs are popular, there are more than enough Horizon Hobbys and others who have fully exhausted the most popular models. I would imagine people are starting to get tired of being offered yet another P51. When Guillows discontinued the P39, the hobby hadn't been as swamped by all the other model companies, and I imagine as always, people sought after the most popular models, which is why the P39 was dropped. I would imagine that has changed, where people would love to have the P39 offered now, with just about everything else being completely worn out.
3. All the other models in the kit series have been exhausted and over modeled.
4. There does not seem to be a comparable P39 model offered by other model companies, especially with the molded parts. Actually there doesn't seem to be many at all offered by others.
5. I imagine the molds are still on hand and readily available to fabricate the plastic parts from.
6. It's within a reasonable price range. Large and more expensive kits don't tend to sell as well.
7. Going along with #5, I would imagine the profit margins of this price range/size of kit are optimal.

[davidchoate]

I would LOVE to see the mosquito brought back. And some in 1/12 scale! It makes it much easier to put the 1/2A hardware in. Does anyone know even what 1/2A means? Oh and You forgot to mention the 800 series. I got the PT-17 LC a couple years ago as a trial, and it was awesome. The die cut sheets in that kit were amongst the worse I have ever seen because of the thicker wood used in the larger Plane. If only it was 1/12 scale. One can only Dream. They'll never do it. I'll just have to pray the one Guy at staples who works at an engineering place and Staples part time does not quit. The pimply faced kids who work there look at me like im from Mars when I start telling them what scale I want to enlarge to. " if You can download it to a flash drive I can print it"They tell Me.