Guillow's North American P51D Mustang Model Kit - 17 in Balsa Wood Plane

Don't forget to buy glue! This thing's awesome I built one when I was a kid and now I'm building this one with my 11-year-old and we're having a great time building it!

Good quality product. easy to follow instructions, good value for something that is difficult to find in the general marketplace.

I used to build these planes when I was a kid, over 50 years ago. I love everything Mustang so I chose this kit to build. It came out beautifully, but there was a lot of work to get it there... If you decide to build this model, here are the things that you should be aware of: The wood is very thin. Small parts are difficult to cut out and to assemble. No reason why these tiny parts cant be built into other parts. Plastic parts are difficult to cut out, should be pre cut. The little rods used for the landing gear are difficult to bend, and then to make two of them the same is a time consuming task. The instructions to do that are lacking specificity. For the most part, the instructions were OK, but at times were vague. I had to cut out the individual templates from the master plan (Wings, Tail and Flap pieces) to make them convenient to work on. Then tape them back together. The need to pin and cut the little slots in the fuselage and wing pieces to be ready to install struts was time consuming and a pain. The cost of the Cement was 'Ridiculous' $6.00+ a tube, that was barely enough to finish construction. I had to buy a bottle of Super Glue, triple the amount for a couple dollars more. The glue dries so fast I had to keep pinning the hole to keep it flowing, between gluing pieces Back in the day, The Testor's paint was $.30 a bottle. Today, the cost is unbelievable. I bought a can of spray paint and used acrylic for the details. Use of 50-50 Elmer's and Water works and is was cheaper than 'Dope'. Overall it came out beautifully... would never attempt to fly it!! I'm looking to build a bigger plane... Maybe the B17G Super Fortress... but they are currently out of stock!!

I bought this kind of on a whim. I wanted to make it a scale replica, not to fly. But as I have the impulse control of a 4 year old, I put the tissue wrap on it and immediately started trying to make it fly. Couple of adjustment flights on cushiony grass and I got a great flight of about 40 yards...right into a tree. Busted it all up. There went my hopes of making it a replica. While some have complained that the model is flimsy, if it breaks, you remove the tissue in that area and replace the broken pieces. I upgraded some of the more structural parts that broke to basswood. Rewrapped it, and went with the theme of a beat to hell plane...which obviously means converting it to a Mad Max War Boy plane. In terms of free flight, once you get it adjusted right and get a good throw, you'll get between 30-40 yards, more with the right wind. Parts break. Whatever. Superglue it back together and get back out there. I had to get more tissue and rubber bands from the local hobby shop because I broke the parts it came with. Took me maybe 2 days to build it to the point where it could fly. Directions are sufficient. I never did figure out the landing gear setup, but I didn't want it anyway. It was a lot of fun and I'll be doing another one. Take your time, and if your new, just know you'll mess some stuff up, and have to go buy more tissue or whatever to fix it. It's totally doable for a novice. It'll be worth it. Just make sure to fly it on grass...without trees. Also, Guillow's web sight sells replacement parts.

Talk about nostagia. These kits are exactly the same as they were 50 years ago. They look good, are fun to build, a great value, and just plain cool! More importantly, they help develop real coordination skills and, from my perspective, creating something tangible with your kids is far more valuable than sitting in front of a computer screen blowing things up and killing people. Two big thumbs up!

Takes me back to the 1960's. Literally, they updated a lot of their planes, but not this one. It is a die cut plane, with solid body (fuselage) rather than formers, stringers, & tissue. Makes it a lot easier to warp the fuselage than if it had been formers & stringers. This kit is actually more difficult to make correctly than the laser cut planes. I do not mind challenges, but this really is a challenge to get things in correct alignment and not to warp. also the Balsa is thinner, so it makes it weaker, and harder to get the structural alignment correct.

Although there are step by step instructions, I would consider this an intermediate level plane. It was my first as an adult (w/o the assistance of dad) and I decided not to cover it, but there we're no major frustrations, spent about one week building. It was a perfect stepping stone to the Spitfire model I just completed yesterday.

Absolutely love it when I find a seller with the honesty and integrity that you just want in a human. I received exactly what I was told I was going to. I find that encouraging.