Guillow's 1903 Wright Brother Flyer Laser Cut Model Kit

Fairly good model.

This model kit is a beauty. This is the first thing I want to say about it. The second is that this kit is made for someone like me who enjoys the journey and is not rushing to get to the destination, which is to finish the kit. All parts are made out of balsa wood and everything fits perfectly. This is the beauty of laser cut parts. This is my first kit made out of wood and I love it.

Great product

There are a number of issues with this model. First and foremost it is very very fragile. A lot of the parts are very thin balsa and just a slight bump will break them. The instructions are vague in many areas and require quite a bit of interpretation.

This was a fun build! For less than $50, these guys did a great job putting together a decent balsa wood, tissue and thread replica that not only looks authentic, but can actually fly (if you dare). Don’t be fooled - this a level 5 (red alert!) level model. If you get through the relatively easy wing builds and (gulp) join them together using the box-cut-out jigs you’ll be doing great! NOTE about wing builds: the plans seem to suggest that you should tissue one side leaving enough tissue to then fold over to cover the other side. In retrospect, doing one side at a time with no folding would have been better. Also see youtube videos regarding build reflecting this. Another tip: Use the right glue! This one calls for 3 different glues: a slow setting cyanoacrylate (super glue), an even slower setting white glue (Elmers), and a fast setting cyanoacrylate (super glue). I found that white glue worked better in some cases for getting things set right, but went back at times with a drop of thin super glue. Overall this is an excellent kit - mainly for the lasercut parts. But warning - you MUST STUDY THE PLANS. They are very well done, but unless you’ve seen one built before (recommend a youtube video), it will take time to figure everything out. You have to pay attention to every detail. If you’re not a “level 5” awesome model builder (which I am not), you’ll be encouraged by the fact that the Wright brothers were bicycle repair men, not NASA engineers, so imperfections won’t prevent the model from making it to completion.