What got you in to balsa aircraft?

[jamesgood72]

Hi Guys,

I used to build Airfix and Matchbox kits (1:72 scale, and some 1:48th) when I was 5 til 14 ish. I built a Guillows Fairchild with my Dad when I was about 10 or 12, then started on a 400 seriess Guillows Warhawk, but never completed it. I then had a big gap with no building (got into computers!) until I was 30. I then got into R/C flying through GWS foam aircraft. Eventually I discovered blasa building again, and now build and fly nothing but balsa aircraft. I've recently done a Guillows Chipmunk, SE5a, Stearman and Fairchild 24.

Cheers,

-James.

[flightboi122]

i just got started really. i was about 12 when i built the cessna 170 which turned out ok because my dad has buit them since he was 12. im 13 now and i also build a dehavilland chipmunk and i was surprised it flies. my dad has built like 10 airplanes. he still has his 2 favorites which i will soon fly a dura bat(indestructable plane) and a christan eagle 2,( both planes are gas).

[DR1AZ]

I grew up in Michigan and those winters were really long. I built plastic and balsa both sitting at the kitchen table while the snow came down. I guess what really got me loving aircraft was my first airplane flight on the brand new Boeing 747 in 1970. I was 12. Michigan is overcast almost all of the time in winter and most of summer too. We were flying to California for Christmas. We took off from Chicago under the normal overcast skies and snow flurries and then magic happened. We broke through the overcast into a beautiful blue sunlit sky like I had never seen before. It hurt my eyes it was so bright. I was hooked for this was truly a miricle.

[JoeMatlock]

My story isn't much different than most people here. My first was a Guillow Piper Cub back in the Sixties and into R/C in the Seventies and by the Eighties I had restored one full size A/C and was involved with the restoration of two others.

Now I'm back to building models for static display but don't want to do plastic. I've watched people 'play' with their park-flyers and quickly bore with micro-aviation because they haven't earned the 'discipline' for themselves by 'constructing' their flying machines.

The largest R/C I've built was a TBF Avenger with a 70" wingspan. This behemoth used the largest engine of its time- known as the Torpedo.

[wboyd]

I got started with control line balsa planes in the late 50"s. The Sterling Ringmaster was my favorite. I'd fly it, get to fancy, crash it and rebuild it and fly it some more. Then we had an adult neighbor who bought a ram jet engine. We built an aluminum body and wing around the engine. Wow was it loud, and fast. Then i got into motorcycles and cars. Then a wife and kids, all of a sudden i'm old and back into balsa. I am now working on a P47 by Guillow's. They were built here in Evansville during the war. Next will be the B17G.
Happy building
Bill B

[messerschmitt bf 109]

i was on ebay one day and i saw a messerschmitt bf 109 so my dad got it for me and it was so fun to build. now i wont ever buy a plastic model ever again. people are so amazed at the craftsmanship in my model and that its sticks an tissue paper.

[Xanadu]

My Dad usd to build them, and got me into them clost to 40 years ago.
I was out of them for 20 years, and just got back into them. I even have a few old kits that are unfinished that I am currently working on.
What a differance in quality of balse from over 30 years ago!
I even have a finished uncovered fuslage from a 402 'Stang thats over 30 years old, my plans are to build it along with another 'Stang kit to make a double 'Stang version.
I got into the COX control line stuff back in the 70's too, the Guillows broke too much for me.
Now, they are just for static display.......for now. I plan on converting a B-17 to an electric version.

[Xanadu]

So far I have accumulated the following Guillow models.

Thunderbolt, P-51Mustang, Fockwolf, P-38, B-17, B-25, Spitfire, Corsair, HellCat, P-40, Stuka, and a few others I cannot think of at the moment. I need to walk out to my shop to refresh my memory.
They are all of the larger scale versions with the exception of the P-40. My quest for good deals on these still include the Liberator, Duantless, B-29, and a large Messerschmit.
Can hardly wait to get into the P-38.......my fav.

I also have 2 B-29 electric RC planes to fly on calm days, and am working on a Great Planes PT-40 trainer RC, with a .40 OS Max.
I live outside the city, and have 5 acres I can fly on.

I got back into modeling as a relaxation from work, and its a great stress relief for me. Find I sure have a lot more patience now for these than I did 30 years ago.

[Xanadu]

Just a few of those still waiting for me to build them...........




http://www.virtualaerodrome.com/image_detail.html?p_image_id=2099

[Bulldog]

As I recall it was about 1947. Someone had given me a huge W.W. II vintage Spitfire kit. My dad, who'd never built a model of any kind, attempeted to help me. It was a disaster. I then discovered that you
could buy little Comet stick and paper kits for as little as a dime. I was
hooked, and have been ever since. I think I built almost all of the comet
scale kits at one time or other , a lot of Cleveland kits, and some of the
old monogram kits too. After all of those companies went under, I soon
discovered Guillow's line, and have been a fan and steady customer of
theirs for many years.

[JOhn M Oshust]

Me I read a couple of historical novels about WW I and biplanes. It got me thinking about when I wass 10 or 11 when I built a plastic Albatross and a Plastic Spad Revell perhaps. I turned 60. My wfe was compl;ianing that I was reading too much. I told here that it keeps my mind sharp. She said I needed to do more math....so I started building the Sopwith Camel that I never had when I was ten..As a retured chemistry/physics teacher building models like our Guillow planes draws upon many skills both technical and artistic. They teach patience, accuracy and a score of other skills. Maybe I am nuts, maybe we all are nuts but when I work on my Camel I am a happy nut at peace! I wish I had started building at fifty!
John "O"

[lennyz]

I GOT INTERESTED IN PLANES AS A KID IN THE 60'S. MY DAD TOOK ME
TO A COUPLE OF LOCAL AIRSHOWS AND I LOVED THE WWII WARBIRDS
THEN HE INTRODUCED ME TO A FRIEND OF HIS THAT WAS BUILDING
AND FLYING U-CONTROL MODELS WITH HIS SON. I TAGGED ALONG
AND BUILT A FEW MYSELF.

30 SOME YEARS LATER----- I WENT TO THE EAA MUSEUM IN OSHKOSH
WI. LAST JUNE AND REKINDLED SOME OF THE MEMORIES. AS I WAS
LEAVING I WENT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP---AND THERE WAS A FAIR
SELECTION OF GUILLOW'S MODEL KITS ALONG WITH OTHER MODELS
AND LOTS OF COOL STUFF. A P51 KIT (MY FAVORITE WARBIRD)
JUMPED OFF THE SHELF INTO MY HAND. I HAVE LOVED EVERY MINUTE
OF THE CHALLENGE SINCE. I BUILD IN MY SPARE TIME WHICH MEANS
ONLY A COUPLE OF HOURS A WEEK. I MAY NOT BUILD MY NEXT UNTIL
NEXT WINTER---BUT IT WILL BE FUN SHOPPING FOR THE RIGHT KIT.

[BugEater]

I used to build Estes West Wings balsa model aircraft, they were flat versions of newer airplanes (F-18's, C-130's, F-111's) when I was about 12. I found an old picture of one of those planes that i built and wanted to build another so i went looking for them and found out they stopped making them. So my mom picked me up a Guillow's Kit 509 TBF Avenger for Christmas of last year (2006) and i took it with me to college not thinking i was actually going to be able to get it done. But somehow i managed to put it together in about a week, although it's not tissued because i was too afraid of messing up and really not knowing how to tissue. I went out and bought another after a few months, Kit 501 P-40 Warhawk, this one i put more time into and want to make it into a free-flight. I've just started to tissue the fuselage and already have the rudder and stabilizer tissued, of course all this was after i found out about this forum and began to research how to tissue. Hopefully when it's all said and done i'll throw some pictures up on here so ya'll can see my work.

[markm]

Older thread but one that caught my eye.

I fell into this. 3 years ago on the 16th I got sober. My life prior was consumed by drinking and it was what I knew and did. Very long story short is that since I gave up drinking I've searched for "that thing" that would fill that void. I've tried all kinds of things from white water kayaking, model ship building, geocaching, fossil hunting, and the list goes on.

So one might my wife is watching TV and I'm goofing off on the Web and somehow got onto model airplanes. Figured I would try one and there you go. Finished the Wright flyer and already bought my second. Not sure if this will be "the thing" but it has potential!

Mark

[Goldy]

When I was about 6 my father bought me a couple of little plastic kits (Shooting star and Fokker DV11) and helped me build them. He up and "runn oft" on us not too long after that so, as far as modeling went I was on my own. We were poorer than dirt and money was very, very hard to come by, but I collected pop bottles and continued to save my pennies and get models or ask Santa for one at Christmas. One day when I was about 11 years old my friends and I heard a really loud buzzing and discovered one of the older boys in the neighbourhood running up a glow plug engine in his back yard...I thought it would be fun to get into building wooden models. About a year later I purchased a pocket book called Aeromodeling by Ray Armstrong that was first published in 1961 (I still have it). Me and my best buddy read it from cover to cover, jumped the bus one weekend and hit the local hobby shop. We built from scratch at first and didn't do too bad at all for a couple of kids. Been hooked ever since.