Who wants an early Christmas present?

[Phugoid]

Having to watch powerless from over in good 'ol Blighty ... Boo Hoo

Will be nice to get hold of some of the smaller laser cut kits when they come out, so check 'em well!

Andrew

[BillParker]

I'd take the P-40... I can't get enuff of those... I'm building a blown up version of the 500 Warhawk right now...




bp

[warplane27]

Wow Dave duckett is talking to me ...i have a little problem uploading pictures with my cell phone..i don't have my.own computer at this time after a couple moves....but I've been following your post for a long time before I joined this forum for the second time..ive been doing tissue and haven't crossed over to the infill method yet..but I am a confident builder with tissue right now...you have the wow factor and u are a great artist ...but you don't need me to tell you that...

[Mitch]

To Dave, Fellow modelers and the Guillow Team,

Thank you for the opportunity to participate. I plan to build the 1001 laser cut Thunderbolt as per Guillow Instructions for a Rubber Powered model. I thought these 1000 series would be too heavy to be a good flyer, but with laser cut parts... I am hoping for a capable Rubber Powered Flyer!

I plan to compare the wood to the die cut parts, as I have that kit on my work bench now. That model will be built for a Compressed Air Engine Free Flyer.

Mitch

[SteveM]

...per Guillow Instructions for a Rubber Powered model.

This is an excellent point for us all to consider and maybe Dale will weigh in on how he wants these kits built. If we are helping to test the kit then we need to following the directions as closely as possible and it is probably best to build how the typical customer would.

The P-38 that I'll be building suggests rubber power on the box for the older kit that I have, but I'm guessing that is a minority of builds. Most people probably build the P-38 for display so I'll probably lean in that direction yet still install the rubber motors to make sure all of those bits work. Must not convert to R/C!

[Mitch]

Hi Guys,

I believe Guillow's wants us to check for parts correctness and proper fit. I am not planning on spending a lot of time making all the extra "features" out of the blank stock wood they give you in the kit. I am glad I did not start my 1001 die cut version yet, and all the parts are still un-punched. I plan to weigh the sheets of parts from the die cut and compare to the laser cut. I noticed in some of the 400 series the arrangement of the parts on the sheets changed, so I can check that also.

I realize I am in the minority that builds to fly with rubber. But that is what I always wanted these planes to do. Since I am getting them to fly, I feel I have a good chance to get this big bird flying on rubber. Moreover I may be able to suggest to Guillow's, what I feel that they can do to improve that aspect... I hope I can.

I feel that this is Guillow's model and I will do what I can to help them in there quest to produce better flying models. I feel honored to be chosen to help Guillow's, and if anyone was denied this opportunity... I will say, follow in our steps and...

Keep Building, Keep Flying, and Keep Improving... Mitch

[paul]

What a nice early Christmas present to all those modellers who are going to receive this gift.
We builders here in Britain can only look on with envy
A thread of your build would be nice

I would like to order from Paul K. Guillow, Inc. (eg spare parts) but their policy is no shipment outside the US.
Hope they will review this, so that I can order direct
Paul

[dale]

Hi Everyone,
David is correct. What I am looking for out of your building process is that you follow Guillow's instructions and make notes on any issues you come across and describe what is going on through text and/or a photos, this is why we wanted only confident model builders to reply. If you alter the Guillow's kit design this whole step of including you will be for nothing and we will not repeat this opportunity in the future. This being said, if you want to alter to kits to be rubber powered or RC powered and can do so without altering the LASER CUT PARTS and ALL PARTS that attach to them go for it. I want you to have fun building these kits!
Thank you again for you help,
Dale

[Mitch]

Thanks to David and Dale to me focused on the task at hand and what we all agreed to do. My new FAC friends enjoy my enthusiasm, but sometimes I need to be nudged to stay on point.

Here is my die cut model. Opened but not started:

I plan to build the new BETA Version, as requested and check ALL parts for fit. I have found that when you change ONE thing, that may affect a few other parts for fitment. I plan to build the NEW model with ALL parts and check for fit. A build for Rubber Flight can be radically different. It takes me one build to see how everything goes together, and the second plane is ALWAYS a better flyer. I think it would be a shame to FLY and DAMAGE this BETA version also.

So I plan to follow ALL instructions, use ALL parts, and end up with a beautiful DISPLAY model. Mitch

[karolenaz]

All taken?

[SteveM]

He said nothing about the model flying on rubber power or anything else.

She

[SteveM]

I assumed the same thing till I ran across this:
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dale-barker/53/b26/197

Gives some good insight into what their current goals and priorities are. "Research and analyze which airplanes are the most popular and will produce the largest amount of revenue when transferred to a model kit." seems pretty obvious to me, but sometimes people are confounded as to why a kit was discontinued so maybe it will help them to understand businesses.

[goose]

Dale,

Since these kits are not on the market yet, do you want the feedback on these kits private and not posted as a build log on the forum? If the beta testers find an issue, and Guillow's corrects it before production, then that issue would still be on the forum and would turn into mis-information once the corrected kits are released.

Do you have a preferred method for feedback for this project?

Mike "Goose"

Hi Everyone,
David is correct. What I am looking for out of your building process is that you follow Guillow's instructions and make notes on any issues you come across and describe what is going on through text and/or a photos, this is why we wanted only confident model builders to reply. If you alter the Guillow's kit design this whole step of including you will be for nothing and we will not repeat this opportunity in the future. This being said, if you want to alter to kits to be rubber powered or RC powered and can do so without altering the LASER CUT PARTS and ALL PARTS that attach to them go for it. I want you to have fun building these kits!
Thank you again for you help,
Dale

[dale]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for asking that question. I would like the feedback to be emailed to me, not done through the forum.
Dale

[SteveM]

P-38 received safe and sound. Should be able to start work on it tomorrow if I can quickly wrap up on the Lancer build.