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.

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.

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 was my first balsa model and i built it to be just a toy. It was very fun and quick to put together (i spent about 15 hours on mine). Looks great when finished. I will definitely buy another kit to make for display

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 plans for this model are very detailed. The balsa pieces were cut clean and easy to remove

I just started this model and am instantly displeased. The balsa is cheap and many of the parts you have to cut the notches yourself, and in doing so (and I was very careful) much of the balsa disintegrates or chips off to a point where repair is impossible. But still I forged ahead.......and got to a point where I realized that the instruction booklet doesn't even match up with the kit and parts that are given in the box and on the large plan! I had to check many times to see if I was just crazy, but realized that I'm not. There are many errors in the depictions and labeling, I've gotten to a point at least with the fuselage where I am just guessing. But as my five year old son keeps saying, "just try your best!" So at least the educational value is high, I'm learning a lot and we'll see where it ends up if not in the trash. Sadly, I got this based on the completion of a similar model from another manufacturer, one that was far superior in every way. This one is obviously not professional and probably a real challenge for younger age categories.