Guillow's Spitfire Model Kit

This balsa wood model kit was just what my 86 year old Father in law was requesting for his Birthday!This is the 2nd type of Balsa wood model plane kit he has tried.What we liked about this one was the laser cut pieces. So much easier to get the pieces out of the flat mold sheet. His hands don't work as well as they use to and he sometimes has a hard time punching out the pieces.Instructions were easy to understand. It takes him a couple of weeks or longer to fully build one of these models. He likes that it occupies his time and he's doing something he likes.The model really does wind up and streak across the floor. He has not tried to fly it in the air, but does fully wind it and let it go on the kitchen floor. His Great- Grandson loves to go to Grandpa's and see his plane!Fun for all!Everything is included in the kit. He uses a different glue that he bought else where and on this model he used a colored tissue paper to do the wings as he wanted a colorful airplane. I'll add photo's.For being 86 he does a pretty good job. His first airplane model was not so good. I'll add that side by side comparison photo also.But practice makes perfect.I would say the ages to start building a plane like this would be 10 years old, with some supervision and help.My Husband still has to help out sometimes when his Dad's fingers just cannot complete the needed step to continue building the plane.High Quality Materials.I purchased this item at full price. My opinions are my own and I was not compensated in any way for my thoughts.I rely on product reviews just like others to help make my purchase decisions so I try each product very carefully before reviewing and always do my best to leave honest opinions and provide as much facts as possible based solely on my experience.

I had fun building this model. It has a good size, a little over a foot wing span, fair detail, and can be flown if you want it to, all at a low cost.It would be a good starter kit for someone wanting to get into a "stick model".I decided to build it for scale instead of flying, therefore I covered it with art watercolor paper on the wings and used masking tape on the fuselage, rather than attempting to "plank" it with balsa. It turned out pretty good after painting, as you can see from the photos, and was a lot easier. I just used basic acrylic paint in bottles not tubes.The propeller is for flying in the photos, not scale, as I installed the gum band. It will fly, though not too far because of the extra weight from the paper and tape.You will need clear acrylic varnish or medium to make the decals stay on as they have a tendency to peel off otherwise.

This was purchased for my father who has since passed away. He used to love to do models, and he would sit for hours and work at them. He asked for this one and one other as his last Christmas and birthday present. His eyes lit up when he opened them both. He spoke highly of Guillow, and he kept their brochure by his chair, with the models he was going to do marked off with his trademark check. Thank you Guillow for your quality products and for the many hours you gave my father over the years.

The Spitfire kit is the nicest and possibly easiest to build kit of the 500 series. Also the Hurricane and ME-109. It's die-cut, a process that leave much to be desired. Familiarity with the kits is needed to overcome the deficient instructions, meaning that your first kit may not turn out well. I like the challenge and the price. The Spit is the best of the lot if you're building for rubber powered free flight.

This is a blast from the past and may interest your kids or grandkids. I have put the die cuts together (1975) and they were kind of frustrating. The laser cut is a game changer. I would recommend this who has patience and the ability to want to complete a decent project.

The laser cuts balsa makes is much easier to build models. But the instructions are difficult to read. It appears they were written in the 1950s and never edited after that. Very small print for us older people. The only beef I have is that in order to have the airplane actually fly, you need to balance it properly, which the instructions provide as the last step. They say use modeling clay to provide counter weight. But my spitfire needed so much clay and there’s no place to put it after the plane is fully assembled and painted. So I would recommend balancing it as best you can before you apply the tissue paper. You can place clay inside the frame that way, and it won’t be visible after you apply the outer skin. You may need some minor adjustments later, but at least you won’t have to stick a great big ugly wad of clay on the nose. Also, if you ever break the rubber band, you’re going to have to cut some holes in the fuselage to replace it. And after you glue on the cowling, it’s going to be real hard to get it off to change the rubber band. So, really, this is not a flying model, but it looks nice on the shelf.

I received the laser cut version and recommend you buy only this version. I remember the tedious job of using an exacto knife to cut out peices. That is avoided with the laser cuts. Now i can concentrate on assembly.Hopefully, the laser cut versions will spur interest in the hobby. These balsa wood models are now almost as easy to assemble as a plastic model kit.

We got it for a friend coming to the end end of his life, limited to sitting- but he can still create -and he is so very happy with it, he may not ever finish it but its all laid out and he is working on it bit by bit, and it cheered him up so much! Thank you!