I like the Monokote,easy to work with and you can melt sections together if you have a light touch.
On the Guillows site there is a nice thread on building and flying this kit. These are made to be simple flyers, not display pieces really. On the same site are a couple threads about impressive display builds using balsa in filling. Look for posts by heywoood.
Thank you all for the inputs. I must say that things have gotten more complicated since the 1960’s. I didn’t get to work on the bird today, all day at the VA for checkups. Saturday I hope to get to the hobby shop.
Signed up on the Guillow’s forum, but it seems that someone has to approve new people and email me something. In the mean time I can only look at the newer post and none of the pictures.
GMorrison- I have some .005 film that might work for covering the holes. It reacts to gel CA so it should bond to the wood.
Again thank for all the great inputs and any more you might think of.
Same kit as in the photo I posted?
philo426- I’m sorry, yes that’s the kit, I’m sorry I thought I had confirmed it. This is an old kit. It doesn’t have decals, it has a sheet of paper that has printed blue and white stars and bars. Also there are no notches in any of the wing ribs for the wing spars.
Mine has a full set of waterside decals.Since I have two of these kits,I will send you a set free of charge to help out if you wish.
Philo426- that would be great, thank you. I’ll see if I can figure out how to pm you.
I have found stiff but thin plastic coated cardstock makes a great covering for scale planes that you do not intend to fly. It holds its curvature just like thin metal, and is much easier to do than carving balsa block inserts. And the plastic coating means it primes well.
The ideal cardboard is old IBM punch cards (remember those?). When I discovered this fact, I bought or collected all I could find. My supply is getting pretty sparse though. They also are useful in detailing plastic models. I have removed thick gun shields on model ships and other similar models and replaced them using the stuff.
I was permanently 86’d from the Computer Lab at Poly. I was building a model of a building that required a lot of perforated “metal” sunscreens, so I had the idea of setting the card punch machine (Keypunch) to punch every hole in a deck of cards.
Well it pretty much destroyed the machine and I never did get my cards.
I see they can be had on eBay, and no they are not cheap.
Since this is not a flying model, I can see no reason why you wouldn’t take the approach of reskinning all of the easy to do surfaces with cardstock. Save the investment in dope, monocote and whatever for another project. It’d look a whole lot better.
Just use a glue stick on the corners where the tissue will touch.
A word of warning- the stabilizer and rudder on the 900 series are very prone to warping when you shrink the tissue. I would add a gusset at a few of the corners to strenghten them. Pin them down when right after applying tissue, while you’re shrinking, and if you paint. Go easy on the water and paint, apply in stages if necessary.
They design the tail very light for better flight, but the trade off is they are touchier to build.
I had forgotten about punch cards and tape and all that tiny confetti,.
UnwaryPaladin- thanks for the warning about stabilizer and rudder, I was thinking about substituting 1/16 square balsa with 1/16 square bass wood along with some gussets.
My 140 mile round trip to the hobby store was a bust, they had no dope nor did they where to get it, at least the guy didn’t look at me as if I was trying to buy illicit drugs, so we will get some Testers clear matt and call it good.
So as not to waist a trip, I picked up a model of a O1 bird dog. The last time I worked on one of these was late 1966 in Nam. We would get a few fuselages, a couple of crates of winds and other crates with additional parts. I bet it’s going to take longer to put the kit together than that real thing.
Thank you all for the great advice and if you think of anything else please post.
One thing that is great about this thread- it shows how many of us are still building stick and tissue flying models! Even if we don’t fly them.
Yes it would be cool to build the big Guillows B-24 or PBY Catalina!
Hi ;
I have just recently built the P.B.Y. That’s a moster size . Flys terrible . Broke the wings off .Well she makes a BIG impressive static model !
The larger scale Guillows kits are not really intended to fly. They are too heavy, due to too much scale detail. Plus, the multi-engined ones do not allow enough length for a rubber motor, though the plans on most of them show how to mount an IC engine or electric motor. The smaller scale Guillows kits are better flyers, but the Dumas kits are better yet.
It seems no matter what the size, the landgear is going to be damaged when it lands.
Picked up the 1/32 Hellcat of their’s…along with enough 1/32 balsa sheet to cover it (won’t be a flyer). Planning on clear to seal the wood then paint. Don’t think I’ll do much for a pit in it, but mightgo with a radial and prop from something else.
One of the shops here has the 'Cat and Mitchell, but just way to big for where I’m at, but keep having to jam hands in pockets to keep from buying either or both of them…
Heres a stck and Ultracote model I just finished, a 72 inch Comet Clipper Mk II.
Monokote used to be the best, but something has changed about it and Ultracote is a much better material now. There are lighter weight film coverings that would be better for the smaller models, such as Coverite Microlight and Ultracoat Light. You apply these with heat, the adhesive is already there.
Nice looking bird.