I went out yesterday and flew my 500 series kits with good results.
Spitfire- Took a lot of clay in the nose with mild down thrust. Flew stable 35 seconds.
Wildcat- This kit was a complete mod from the kit. Did not use the kit wood and built light. Flew really well 50 seconds.
TBF Avenger- Great flier little clay in the nose- just over 40 sec.
Rufe- Well I gave it a shot and it did ok. The prop is too small- 20 plus seconds.
Focke Wulf- Little clay in the nose flew over 30 seconds.
P40- Very little weight in the nose- 40 seconds.
Damage report- Very little. Puncture under the wing on Wildcat. Some minor details came off on some of the models during landing.
I have a new Video cam and I am working on taking some video. Will post on YouTube once I get it all working. All and all these were ok fliers for WWII birds. I have said it before and will say it again, Guillows kits can fly with some minor adjustments. The biggest is making a functional nose block. This is important for adding clay and down thrust. Another modification is the landing gear. First it is probably better to build and fly without wheels. But if you are going to add landing gear you have to beef it up. I am now working on the Hawker Hurricane followed by the Stuka.
Excellent! Beautiful models and they fly! I'm impressed with your Spitfire flight times. Do you have any washout on the wingtips? Really appreciate the flight reports. I'd like to see what you can do with the Stuka!
The Rufe has a great glide and flies nice. During trimming one of the back braces broke off. Easy repair. The Spitfire took a lot of nose clay and flies well off double 1/8 rubber. I have washout in all the planes with much added dihedral except the Rufe. I chose to use little dihedral in the Rufe because of the low center of gravity. I think my challenge is going to be the Stuka. These planes are not super heavy, they all range from 21 to 30 grams. They will never win a competition, but they sure look nice in the air.
Very impressive and interesting. Thanks for posting all the info too. I'm curious how many months (years) it took you to complete this collection. How often do you get to spend time modeling?
I built these in the last year or less. I have so much going on in life that I don't have much time to build. When I do build I keep it simple. I just use colored tissue so I don't have to paint and I don't add too much detail.
I cover the old fashion way, 50/50 Elmers and water. This is real hard especially with domestic tissue since it has no wet strength. I cover in small sections so the tissue won't wrinkle. I apply the glue with a brush on the wood and just lay the paper down. I don't pull,tug or lift the tissue. I have been doing this for years so I am used to it. I would not advise using the glue mixture for newer modelers. I am personally not used to the UHU sticks, but I think they are much easier to use for new builders. I told my brother to use the glue stick and his covering came out ok......If he makes a mistake he can remove the tissue with alcohol. The glue and water is not so forgiving.
