Guillow's Douglas A-1H Skyraider Model Kit

This was a gift for my grandson who not only loves putting models together but loves anything to do with the military. He loved it.

Wow! These kits have gotten dinky. Holy cow. These used to be 4X this size. Had I realized this, I would not have purchased these.

the Guillow's balsawood model is a wonderful way to spend winter hours. With outdoor time reduced by cloudy blustery days it is grand to get under the work lamp and begin laying out and assembling this model. It is a. Out pleasant way to pass time and have a tangible reminder of that time well spent. I will assemble many more.

While this balsa wood kit arrived very quickly and I can not possible blame the seller; the kit I received was poorly cut out of 1/16 inch balsa sheets. Several of the parts were not even completely cut. In addition, the second step of the assembly process was to mark multiple and then cut notches into both the wings and fuselage pieces. For me this proved to be my undoing since marking the sides of the cut did not indicate the depth. Reading ahead I determined the depth and started making the cuts. The straight grain of the wood proved to be fragile and the end result was broken pieces that required repair. this is definitely not a starter kit and after assembly, the balsa frame proved unable to hold the pressure of the drive band and the dowel pulled out of the rear of the plane taking several days work with it. On to my next project. This one is in the trash.

Don't waste your time on this specific model. I have built many models from this company but this is by far the worst of them all. It took almost as much time to personally cut out the poor die cut pieces as it did to put most of the model together. IT IS NOT LASER CUT and very poorly die cut.

Loved it

As others have noted, the thickness of the balsa has been pared to the absolute minimum and is VERY delicate. Don't even THINK about snapping the pieces out like you used to be able to do. Trim each with a razor and work it out very gently. I have been building models for nearly 60 years and still managed to break a few pieces and had to glue them back together. Of course, this kit is on the low end of the price range and you get what you pay for I guess. Instructions are adequate, pieces match the scale of the drawings well so layout is relatively simple. Haven't gotten to the point of stretching tissue yet, but the tissue provided looks like it's about the same quality as the balsa: in other words, minimal. I'm building this as a static model so as long as it will take paint, that shouldn't be a huge issue.

You don't have to be an expert builder to get these to fly but proper balancing is a must. Follow the directions on the plan and it makes a good flying model.