FANTASTIC FLIGHT
; (Left) In 1926 World War I Navy aviator Paul K.
Guillow began selling combat aircraft balsa kits that he
manufactured in his barn.
; (Opposite) Many of Guillow’s kits that were intro-
duced decades ago are still available. Today, many of the
balsa wood components are laser cut, meaning broken
pieces are a thing of the past. “They almost fall out,”
says Guillow’s designer Mark Tennant.
; (Above) 1: 20 scale model of the 1903 Wright Flyer.
a policy of diversification. Only about 30%
of the company’s $5–$6 million in annual
revenue comes from the scale model
construction kits. A larger share, 40%,
is generated by the sale of simple balsa
wood gliders constructed from just two
or three pieces and retailing for a couple
of bucks. Another 30% comes from promotional business: cheap balsa flying toys
that sport individualized company brands.
“We’ve got everything down to a science,”
says Barker. “We’ve been doing the same
thing for a long time.”
But Guillow’s isn’t standing still. Senior
designer Mark Tennant says the company
routinely rolls out new kits — most recently, a scale model Wright Flyer. Tennant says
the increasing popularity of cheap and
light radio-control technology has inspired
the company to figure out ways to design
its models to accommodate modern electronics.
The company is also gradually phasing out its old die presses, cumbersome
Old School, New School
No more broken pieces? The notion initially struck me as sacrilege that broke the
covenant connecting my present-day experience with my son to my past incarnation
as a preteen modeler. If you aren’t forced
to jury-rig a solution to a piece of broken
balsa wood, or discover for yourself that
gluing together two pieces of balsa wood
creates a join that can be stronger than
the wood itself, what’s the point? If your
son isn’t shivering in nervous tension as
he attempts to free his own parts from the
sheet, where’s the challenge? Lasers? Bah,
machines that have been chomping on
balsa wood for 40 years or more. Eventually,
says Tennant, all the part sheets for scale
models will be laser cut — a shift that vastly
simplifies the design and production of new
models and also enhances the user experience. No more broken balsa parts! “They
almost fall out,” says Tennant. “It’s a night
and day difference.”
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