Guillows Laser Cut Spitfire

[scigs30]

I wasn't planning on building anything right now, but I really wanted to try my BSI odorless CA glue. I began having issues with CA glue last year so I wanted to find a replacement, not that I am a big CA user. I bought the BSI glue at the AMA Expo and have been trying it on everything and so far I like it. Dries slower than regular CA but there are no fumes and does not seem as messy. I had an old Guillows partial die cut Spitfire kit and decided to try out the new glue, no issues using the thin CA. I decided to try the medium CA it on a laser cut Spitfire kit, less than 3 hours later the kit is built and ready for sanding. These new laser cut kits go together so fast when compared to the old die crunched kits. The laser cut balsa kit weighs 12 grams before sanding. The old die crunched fuselage weighs 9 grams and the laser cut fuselage weighs 5 grams, wow. Anyone know when Guillows is going to laser cut the larger kits?

[kittyfritters]

See what happens when they mill their own wood!

Does the BSI oderless CA have a kicker available?

[scigs30]

They do. The med CA dries pretty fast but slow enough to move parts around if needed. The thin CA is really slow but whicks great. I also discovered if you apply a little moisture to the balsa part first then apply the thin CA it dries super fast like normal thin CA.

[scigs30]

Total working time is 8 hours and the Spitfire is built, covered and doped, not bad for a quality Guillows kit. The new tissue Guillows now supplies is pretty close if not Esaki type of tissue. The tissue has great wet strength and way too much shrink as you can see from the stringers on my fuselage. The fuselage was covered with two pieces of tissue for a wrinkle free finish. I applied thin glue around the perimeter, dampen the tissue with water then apply the tissue and begin pulling out the wrinkles. The big secret here is begin cutting all the relief cuts on the outside perimeter before the tissue begins to dry. If you notice the tissue drying go ahead and dampen again. If you do not make all the relief cuts, the tissue will dry and shrink around the perimeter pulling the tissue off the glued surfaces. Once the tissue looks good don't set the part down and walk away. You need to make sure when it is shrinking that the tissue remains attached, if it comes loose brush on more adhesive and re attach, you may have to dampen the tissue again. Once it is dried I trim the tissue with a sharp razor and another important step needs to happen for a successful wet covering job. You have to seal the perimeter before you cover the second side with wet tissue. If you do not do this, the moisture from the second wet tissue will loosen the glue of the first dried piece and it will come loose and wrinkle....yuk.......So after you trim the first side you can seal the glued perimeter with dope or in this build I used thinned Eze Dope. Once the perimeter is sealed you can begin covering the second side just like the first and you wont have to worry about the first side coming loose. Once the second side is all dry I carefully trim the tissue and seal the edges once again before shrinking... I lightly mist the tissue for a wrinkle free finish. I decided to cover all pieces wet including the wing, once again making the relief cuts in the tissue before it dries and begins shrinking. Once everything is covered and edges sealed down I mist the tissue with water for a final shrinking and add washout to the wing. It is raining outside so I used Eze Dope inside,,,,,,thats nice. After covering before doping the weight with tissue to all the structures was 15 grams.....I wont go into how to use Eze Dope, Ive done extensive write ups on that before. I wont be able to work on this until next Tues, I have not decided if I'm going paint the plane or not. Final weight with Eze Dope is now 15 grams.

[scigs30]

I have the Spitfire all built and I am still deciding if I want to paint her or leave her white....Hmmm. As shown before clay is added she is 24 grams, the flying weight will be a bit over 30 grams because of the clay that will be added to the nose.

[kittyfritters]

I have the Spitfire all built and I am still deciding if I want to paint her or leave her white....Hmmm. As shown before clay is added she is 24 grams, the flying weight will be a bit over 30 grams because of the clay that will be added to the nose.

That's about what I got with the old Guillow's wood when I "lightened it up". Flew well at 30 grams.

KF

[scigs30]

Well, I guess she is done, but I am not happy with the decals. The paint was Testors acrylic brushed on and it worked great with the Eze Dope and did not add any noticeable weight. The decals were brittle and kept falling apart in the water, they were new decals go figure. She is balanced and trimmed out with final flight weight with rubber no landing gear 31 grams.

[Blacksheep214]

Very nice job. With the decals, it helps to get some of that decal treatment stuff, to help soften them so you can move them around without tearing. That is frustrating I know. Nice job on the paint as well!

[scigs30]

Well, as you saw in the beginning of the post I also built an old die crunched Guillows Spitfire fuselage and tail pieces along side the laser cut kit. This was a partial kit I had and I was missing the wing parts and plastics. I found an old die crunched kit on ebay for 5 bucks so I ordered it to finsish the wing since everything else was built. The wood was typical old Guillows oak that was pretty heavy when compared to the new laser cut kit. Also the build is slower since you have to punch out the parts, cut the notches and sand each part. The only thing I like about the old wood is it looks better when built up without the laser cut marks, but I don't think that outweighs the quality of laser cutting and speed of build. The bones alone without covering was 18 grams then once covered she is now 20 grams without dope. The laser cut kit was only 15 grams so a 5 gram difference in weight. I used the old domestic tissue on this build covered wet, and as you can see it does not have the aggressive shrink that the new Guillows tissue has. I really like domestic tissue over Esaki, but domestic tissue is what I grew up covering with. I used Elmers 50/50 to attach the tissue and shrunk with water for a tite wrinkle free finish. I will use regular dope on this model but have not decided if I want to take the time and paint, may just leave it white. I hope to have both kits up and flying later this week.

[scigs30]

I decided to just finish her off and get ready to fly both my Spits on Friday. After covering I applied 2 coats of Sig dope, put her together and the weight was 32 grams. I then balanced with weight, test glide with rubber and final flight weight is 40 grams. So 10 grams heavier than the new laser cut kit, should be interesting to watch them both fly.

[Blacksheep214]

Please give us a post flight report. I have never had luck with getting the 500 series Spits to fly. They are just too heavy. Great looking models by the way! I hope they survive the maiden flight! Best of luck to you!

[kittyfritters]

Please give us a post flight report. I have never had luck with getting the 500 series Spits to fly. They are just too heavy. Great looking models by the way! I hope they survive the maiden flight! Best of luck to you!

Trimming any free flight model with sharply tapered wing tips (The 500 series Spit overdoes it a little.) is difficult. The trick is to get the transition from powered to gliding flight without dropping a wing which always results in a spin. If you think the Spitfire is difficult try the dimer Comet Ryan SC.

Howard

[flying t]

regarding the charded wood problem-- if I don't want a discoloration to show through I match a paint( like acrylic) with the basic wood color on the balsa.