Guillows Laser Cut Rufe build

[scigs30]

I must picked up the Hellcat laser cut kit and the wood is pretty good in there also, that plane will be a good flyer out of the box. Steve I agree, building a Guillows kit is nothing more than nostalgia, and that is why I buy and build them. Same with Sterling and Comet kits, fun to build but they are not going to win any contests. The funny thing is back in the day before my time, Guillows used to produce nice designs that were lite and would fly great. My guess is that overtime the interest in model building began to drop off so Guillows came up with the simple scale builds that are not fragile. I built a ton of Guillows, Comet and Sterling kits before I started building from plans and I had a lot of fun doing it. One has to remember there were no computers, internet 500 channels on TV so building occupied a lot of time. My parents were smart, buy us models, glue and paint and we would be occupied for days. Of course I barely put the plane together, covered and attempted to fly but most often ended up crashing. Steve like I said earlier I am tired of spending hours on a plane to have to go and chase it and for what? I also build RC planes so if I want to fly for 10 or 15 min I bust out my RC models, once again no ARFS here. Here is a small Cessna 150 I designed and built that is electric RC and designed it after my old Cox Cessna 150. When if have some time off I will try and get video of me flying my out of the box Guillow planes to show how they fly. I also build old scale model kits and Estes/Centuri rockets. Once again I build for fun and nostalgia no competition here. My plastic models are built out of the box with no extra details, no filling or after market parts. My rockets are simple built out of the package no modifications, brush on Aerogloss balsa sealer and paint.

[scigs30]

I had a little time today and I started covering the Zero with the supplied tissue. Sorry building is going to slow down since I will be working a lot before the Holidays plus social events. I cannot wait until I retire in 10 or so years, will have plenty of time for building. I am hoping to get another hour of covering in tomorrow.

[Steve Blanchard]

That Cessna looks beautiful Scigs. After I spend a ton of time building what I hope be a scale masterpiece (but it never really is to my eyes), I always look for a few easy fun builds. I'll build some stick models, a no-cal, and I always love to pull down one of the many kits I have in my stash. I have built quite a few Guillow's kits and most have flown fairly well but always were held back by the bad wood. But they never took long to build and I always got more fun from them than work I put in to build them. I think Guillow's really hits the nail on the head in that respect. I'm looking forward to the finished product with the Rufe.

Steve

[glassblade]

I just wanted to say that I build from both plans and kits. I support all the free flight scale kit suppliers, because they are supporting our obscure aspect of model aviation, and you never know when they're going to go out of business. This includes Guillows. I grew up building their kits and learned a lot from it. But I don't think it's true that they are just fun builds and not very good flyers. I recently built a Bf 109D from the 400 series kits. I used the ribs and formers, canopy, cowl and spinner. I lightened up the tail, I lightened everything, and use the right prop and rubber. It is a very competitive rubber scale model. Don DeLoach built a Pilatus right from the kit, and I've never seen him get less than a 2 minute flight. He velcros a transmitter on top so that he can find it.

Guillows kits are very good for beginners and early builders. But there is no reason for that heavy wood. I buy a boatload of balsa. I get it from Hobby Proz in Albuquerque, from Hobby Lobby in Santa Fe, I buy it online. When I go the stores, I select the light sheets, and online, I ask them for light wood and they send it to me. My point is, it costs the same. Guillows buys wood by the ton, and they could get light balsa if they want, it's the same price. The laser cut wood for the 400 series is quite good, and I bought all the kits. This is why I was disappointed to get the heavy wood in the replacement laser cut sheets I recently bought for several 500 series kits. It seemed like a step backward.

[scigs30]

Glassblade, That is a nice looking BF109, what did you paint her with? Did you use the supplied Silkspan? I know from experience that the 400 series WWII birds fly pretty good out of the box even without modifying. My point is with the 500 series they are so small and with the supplied rubber an experienced builder would not be successful getting most of them to fly out of the box. An experienced building can make the necessary modifications and they will fly pretty nice. I have been building and flying for years so I can get these to fly out of the box but it takes washout and trimming skills. The 900 series fly pretty nice out of the box and they are easy to build. I love Guillows kit and build for nostalgia and fun Have to see how the Rufe flys when she is done.

[glassblade]

I covered it with Jap tissue and lightly sprayed on Tamiya acrylics. You can see the entire build with many photographs on the Forum under Bf 109 for FAC. I agree that the rubber and prop in these kits are never going to provide much flight time, but a beginner who is interested can find out what to do now. Before the internet, you had to run into a sympathetic guy on the field or have a local club, but anyone can find forums like this, or videos that direct you to proper supplies and techniques. If you can build that 17" span Rufe to 25 grams, I can get it to fly well with the right prop and rubber. If you lightened it a bit with the techniques I suggested in my building thread, you could get it to 20 grams, and it would be a competitive flyer. Guillows are good flying scale kits, they just need a little extra work and experience.

[scigs30]

That is a nice built thread and that is how I use to build all my Guillows kits after I learned how to build. Here was my last modified Guillows kits, both 500 series over 10 years old. They both flew great but lost the nostalgia of a Guillows design so I went back to simple builds. I also have old Sterling kits that I am building and talk about a walk down memory lane, and talk about a brick. The wheels alone in a Sterling kit weigh more than the plane itself. Here are some old pictures of my modified Guillows kits.

[scigs30]

More

[glassblade]

That's clean, beautiful work. Looks like you replaced the cowl with wood in the 109. Very nice.

[scigs30]

I have my Rufe all covered and doped and parts still pinned to the board for the next few days to prevent warping while the dope dries. I wanted to post pictures of the covering but I am receiving a "Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached." message here. Any way I must say I am impressed with Guillows new white tissue, almost same characteristics as Japanese tissue.

[scigs30]

Rufe is all done, covered the Guillows white tissue and doped with Aerogloss 50/50 dope. Did need 5 grams of clay in the nose for a final weight of 30 grams. All and all a great laser cut kit but the bottom main float is not low enough on the plans for the 5 inch prop to clear. I don't know if Guillows knew this when they designed it but it would be an issue if you did not catch it in time. This would not be an issue if the plane is converted to electric freeflight or RC. After the rain stops I will try to get her up in the air and let you know how it goes.

[scigs30]

More pictures

[backyardbalsapilot]

what size prop did you use?

[scigs30]

The kits 5 inch prop.

[backyardbalsapilot]

How did you get it to clear the float?