Guillow 403 Spitfire

[andrewpjudge]

So I'm currently building a guillows 403 model. All seems to be going well but I have a few questions. With these kits I've heard that they can be fairly heavy I've seen photos where the tailing edge has been drilled to reduce weight. I'm my photos you can see green where I intend to cut out, would this be OK?

I am planning on covering with solarfilm in metalflake Blue as I'd like to make my spit a reconnaissance spitfire.

Landing gear. I don't want to install this because of drag and it's just something else that could snag on the long grass.

Now... Cox 020 or rubber?

Rubber seems easier, less faffing and more flying and as it's slower I'm guessing less chance of a massively damaging crash.

[andrewpjudge]

A few more

[GRB]

nice work. The first picture of the wing shows how really neat this design is. The flow of the curves etc. Just beautiful.

[rgroener]

Nice work...
I never built a Guillows kit. I only know the storries about the heavy weight...
Is it the wood? How is the wood quality in your kit?
Or are the kits overengineered? They look nice anyway...

Roman

[andrewpjudge]

I don't know much on the over engineering side of things I have been told that they are though. As for the wood quality the laser cutting is brilliant but the strips are horrible. Some really thin and just naff. Compared to some kits they feel a little week, luckily the covering will help with strength. I think I agree with something Pete told me, these kits take a hit from mass production, saying that I'd still get another one but perhaps replace the strips. Think I going to do a Dumas Mig 17 next.

[rgroener]

Andrew, thanks for the info.
Looking forward to see more of your build.

Roman

[dpcmodels]

Nice job Andrew! These kits tend to build out a bit on the heavy side. I haven't gotten
a chance to do one of their laser cuts from this series yet. Last one I built was the old die-
cut oak version. As with most current Guillow kits, they are to a degree, over engineered.
If being built for rubber I would have sanded the heck our of the formers to nearly half the
thickness and maybe cut away some of the extra fat on the formers. Tail probably would
have been laminated to save weight there too. For the wing, it appears it that if you left out
F3,F5,F7 and F9 you would still have a good solid structure. The trade off is possible covering
sag between the ribs. But that's just me. Enjoying your build and hope it all works out for you.

One final thought on Guillows. These were designed for multi purpose roles much like the old
Sterling Kits of the 1960's. Freeflight was to be with a cox .020-.049 motor or converted to
control line flying or maybe just built for display. Seldom was there any information on converting
to RC ( Sterlings ). Rubber powered flight was out of the question due to the AUW from the heavy
structures and the lack of good quality rubber.

Dave

[Guest]

Nice build
I have an Me109 with an .020 in it ..flies great
and the dumas Mig17 is really good , I put edf units in them .

[Guest]

Hi folks,
Rekindling my enthusiasm for flying scale models and bought myself the 403 spitfire kit to build.
I've been pondering a conversion to free flight electric.
Any thoughts on that?
Would all the gear make it too heavy?
If not, any suggestions on size/type of motor and setup?
Any comments on how to keep the flight time to a minimum so it doesn't fly forever and disappear into the scrub?
Maybe I should just stick to rubber.
Any comments and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers from Oz!

[Brianj]

The latest post was from me, Brianj