Discussion Guillows Aeronca

[scigs30]

Well I am building a Guillows Aeronca straight out of the box. This kit has ok wood as far as weight is concerned but it is die crunched. I am going to build this kit with everything in the box except I will be using a Guillows 6 inch prop and tan rubber. Since the wood is crushed and porous I am using Testors Cement instead of white Elmers.

[RandyW]

I built an Aeronca too, back in 1967! Flew nicely with a throttled back Cox .010. The wood in my kit was die crunched too, funny how some things change and some things stay the same!
Randy

[eliworm]

Looking good. Remember, you can't have too many photos, keep them coming.

Jim

[Megowcoupe]

Man, there's a lot of lumber there for a rubber powered FF. You might be happier converting to RC- might come out lighter. No, I'm not crazy- the weight of rubber in back of the cg necessitates a fair chunk of noseweight- less weight in back of the cg with RC.

Sam

[scigs30]

If I cannot get it to fly with rubber, I will either donate to the local hobby store or sell it on Ebay. I will then build another with lighter balsa. I built one over 10 years ago and used hobby store balsa. I used everything else from the kit and that one flew pretty good. I built that one for the Hobby store.

[Megowcoupe]

I dunno-you look like a pretty good builder. Why bother with such a lousy design structurally? The modern Herr kits are much better, and then there's the Golden Age Reproductions stuff which comes with good wood, decals, plastic, tissue etc- along with a design that will really fly. Its printwood though, not die crunched. Even the Easy Built stuff is better structurally. (Can't stand stuff like a TE which has enough wood for 2 sets of wings including spars and LEs. Serves no structural function. And most of the wood in the fuse formers is along for the ride too.

Sam

Sam

[scigs30]

Sam, I used to build for competition and most of my builds were scratch built. Now I do not belong to any clubs and I only build for nostalgia. When I was a young kid I built Guillows, Sterling, Comet and Peck kits. Now that is all I build. Most of the time I replace all the wood in the Guillows kits and still build the same structure. If you search scigs30 you will see my other builds. I take pictures of my planes flying and these Guillows kits will fly if the wood is light enough. I grew up on domestic tissue so covering with it is not that hard. This is one of the only kits I used the kit wood to build, I have all the parts cut out from quality balsa and will build another. The thing about these kits, they go together fast and I usually build with Elmer's Glue ALL. I agree there are plenty of good kits out there, but for now I am building all the Guillows, Sterling, Comet and Peck kits I have.

[Megowcoupe]

I hear ya- Enjoy, and thanks for sharing the photos.

Sam

[scigs30]

I started to cover this am, but the family is coming over so I will have to put it away. I am using the tissue from the kit, basically just domestic tissue. I am using 50/50 Elmers/water to apply the tissue, you can see my Easter egg cups, man they come in handy. For the flat wings, stab and rudder I just apply dry and you can see how smooth and wrinkle free it is before I even shrink it. The fuselage has some curved portions so I have to dampen the tissue first then apply it. This makes for a nice smooth wrinkle free covering. The top of the wings will have to be covered with damp tissue also, I will take a picture when I do that. This tissue is pretty good but it is stiff so that is why I dampen it. Now when I shrink it with water it will come out nice and tight. Who says domestic tissue is cra*.?I don't know what the white splotch thing is on the root rib, but it is only on the picture.

[kevin matthews]

A really great covering so far!

Kev

[dlazarus6660]

Great job!

Be sure to remove the tissue on the fuse where the wing is glued to the fuse.
There should be a wood to wood bond there only.

Are you going to paint it?

Daniel

Sorry, I re-read the whole thread and realized your are an expert at your craft...forgive me master.

[scigs30]

I don't have tissue where the wing goes, that way I will have a good bond. Also I have not covered the cabin area yet, will wait until after the wings are glued on. Doing this prevents the cabin root rib from warping in causing a gap between the fuselage and wing. I have one wing covered and shrunk and same as the fuselage. This thing is heavy enough so I will not add any paint.
Wing before shrinking.

Fuselage before shrinking



Wing and fuselage after shrinking, still have to brush on dope.

[kevin matthews]

scigs30, Have you ever tried the weight reducing techniques with the wood? At a thread about a year ago either erich or DaveK showed pictures of cutting down the formers to almost nothing, reducing the main and side keels to less than half the kit size and cutting the insides out of the ribs. I'm sorry I can't remember exactly who it was. It works well with the hard wood Guillows kits to save lots of weight. I've done this and have come out with a plane which flew pretty well. You end up with a weaker structure but then you can use less rubber. Also I replace the kit stringers with much lighter stock. A jeweler's saw works like a dream.

Kev

[scigs30]

Kevin, When I was younger that is how I built most of my model kits. Now I am only building for the heck of it, but I still want my planes to fly. This is the first Guillows kit that I used the wood to just see if it will fly, I don't think it will. I have all the parts cut out from quality balsa to build another Aeronca after this one and that one should fly. I find it faster and ease to cut my own parts out then trying to shave the originals. Now onto the build.
Everything is covered and has been shrunk with water except the top of the cabin area. Not one wrinkle with the Guillows tissue. The weight is adding up and I still have to add 2 coats of dope. The weight of everything is 40 grams. The Guillow Piper Cub with replacement is at 34 grams and that includes the chunk of clay in the nose. The Cessna is at 40grams with the clay also. I will finish the Aeronca today and hope to have it out flying in the next day or so. Also my green Esaki tissue came in the mail so I can finish covering my Comet P-40.

[scigs30]

This was a fast build, now I will start covering my Comet P40 since the tissue came in the mail today.....Thanks Easybuilt. This is what a Guillows kit looks like built right out of the box with no modifications. Overall a fun build and the final weight with clay in the nose is 48 grams. If the wood was any heavier I don't think this plane would have a shot at flying. I am hoping to get a chance at flying her tomorrow.