hello

jim · Post by **jim** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:06 pm

hello everyone im jim:
im verry new to modeling ive only ever built a few westwing's kit's and tbh only one has ever seen tissue covering and never have i painted or flown one:(

christmas brought a westwing stealth bomber and with the horrid uk weather ample time to complete it
but no chance to fly it it was time for a new project off i popped to our newly opened hobby craft
streight to the balsa section where i found guillows 400 serese kit's the supermarine spitfire kit 401 really stood out for me so if i toddled with my new project
i got home popped the box open and was instantly gobsmacked wow look at the details on these plans wow look at the quality of the plastic part's omgg it's all pre cut balsa my head was spinning truly a happy bunny
ive just got her tisue covered ready for plastic part's and armed with a new airbrush im really gonna try give this plane a quality finish truly deserving of a superb quality kit
so i would just like to thank guillows for a wonderfull kit and to thank all the users on this forum ive learned allot as a newbuilder from this community happy flying jim:)

jim · Post by **jim** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 3:30 pm

managed to get a pic up of the spitfire poor quality pic sorry
sat on my next project:) soo excited to start it but before i do i have some build questions if anyone can help

firstly the pre cut notches i found on the sphit are oftern brused also the depth mark on the balsa is oftern far too deep for the stringers i followed the depth mark's and glued stringers right to the back of the notch leaving allot of sanding on the fusalage formers i presumed this was to shape the fus to the stringers

another question i have
ive allways used balsa cement for these type kit's after some reading i built the spitfire with pva(white wood glue)someone said it's allot lighter had good result's easy to wipe joint's clean and a bit longer to fine adjust .is this a good glue to use? dose it help with weight

and lastly sorry
after been quite proud of my progress so far and been quite excited about making a rubber flyer reading some post's on weight have made me extremly worried im going to be far over weight what should be a maximum weight for a 400 sphitfire im too embarassed to say what the part's in the picture weigh's

sorry to be a pest with silly questions

jim

scigs30 · Post by **scigs30** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 4:18 pm

Jim, I like using Elmers Glue all for most of my builds. I also like using Testors wood cement. When building Guillows kits with the wood supplied, I am having better results with Testors.

cliffm · Post by **cliffm** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 11:02 pm

I like the white glue for its strength and ease of clean-up. For plastic to balsa I use Duco mainly because it's cheap and available. I have tried super-glue but it is a pain to work with and sometimes unreliable depending on wood texture. I do have a small tube of Testors for plastic to plastic. My favorite is Elmer's, I use it for fabric dope. It's non-flammable, non-toxic, and does'nt take the paint off everything it touches. I really can't say anything about the weights except to experiment.Good luck. If you think the wood was nice you should try a 200 series. Very nice.

jim · Post by **jim** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 12:15 pm

thanks guys never heard of any of the product's mentioned
more research to be done

groundlooped · Post by **groundlooped** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 11:32 am

G'day Jim, samsmodels.co.uk have the glues youre looking for. I use various glues depending on the type of application, pva, aliphatic and balsa cement are all ok for the kits you are building. Using the kitwood on the 400 series spit. will come out heavy IMO fit a kp01, the warhawk kit looks to be the 500 series, that will fly on rubber,but lighten the structure(I photo copy the printwood then substitute a lighter grade balsa) also, moving the motor peg at least one bay foreward will assist in keeping weight down in the aft fuselage, make sure the wings have ample dihederal, wing tips about level with the canopy, hope this helps.Incidently while youre freezing in the uk,it's been too hot here in oz, 145f%in my buildlng shed,so Ive just had to sit on the verandah and drink beer! yeah, lifes tough!
Cheers Col

jim · Post by **jim** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 12:20 pm

G'day groundlooped
thank you for the link and the build tips verry mutch appreciated
"build shed/veranda/beer /hot weather sound's like my kinda place
im sure if i use dope in the house ever again the wife will put me and my models in the garage cant let that happen ill shiver me bit's off

jim · Post by **jim** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 3:40 pm

updated pic still allot of work to do but realy pleased with it so far(why ohh why did i attempt cammo for my first paint job)

Xanadu · Post by **Xanadu** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 8:36 pm

G'day eh!

Looking good, nice to see you on the boards!

groundlooped · Post by **groundlooped** » Sun Jan 24, 2010 8:03 am

G'day Jim, the build is lookin' good,the wing to fuselage fillet looks really good! and spitfire's always look good in cammo. Are you going with rubber power or electric,?(I don't see a motor peg on the image!)
Cheers Col

jim · Post by **jim** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 2:18 pm

heya col thanks for noticing the wing fairing was one of the hardest part's of the build hehe i ended up using some printer paper and softening it with white glue moulding into shape with a pencil im not telling how many attempt's it took hehe
as for the motor peg the formers are in just need's fitting but after some advice i learned i needed to lighten it to fly on rubber
ive never built a plane with power im hoping to start one after my p40 warhawk ill be posting on the forum for good advice on a plane type and engine for a beginner
im really starting from scratch with powerd planes
take care jim

lukebozek1 · Post by **lukebozek1** » Fri Jul 23, 2010 2:54 pm

Hi Jim, I finished this Guillow's kit back in May and must admit this Spitfire is a very pretty kit. Yours looks great too. i remember that it is built like a tank though, don't know how it flies with all that weight. You mentioned that you had some experience with the West Wings Kits. i just picked up a Spitfire, the late Mark. I knew it was printwood and I have done a few with mixed results. Everybody says this WW is a great kit. what is your opinion? Hard to find about three months ago, but not any more West Wings is coming on pretty good. good luck with the Spit!