I received my Old School Modelworks Javelin a short while back, and won’t be able to start building it for a while, but wanted to post about my experience thus far. The extent of my experience is opening the box, looking inside briefly and removing the literature, and studying the plans some.
This plane:
OWMW Javelin
I will probably buy this decal set from Callie Graphics (I have been very pleased with their products in the past):
Callie Graphics decals
Two words sum up my opinion of OWMW so far: Class Act.
I ordered direct (not from some retailer). Their website has adequate information showing exactly what you would be getting (including some informative videos), and has a very easy and smooth order process. I was perfectly fine with the stated lead time of a few days, as there is still a plane on my bench, waiting to be finished. I won't start building this one for at least a few weeks until the Ultimate bipe still on my bench is at least ready for covering. I was very pleasantly surprised to get a tracking number
the very next day. I get extra time to study things, figure exactly which additional hardware will be best, plan my color scheme, read through the entire manual at least twice before laying down wood, etc.
The one I build will be multi-purpose. It will be my regular, everyday type flier, and also a floatplane. I did floatplanes a good bit a long time ago, and remember it being a real hoot. Our club gets special use permission to use one side of a lake in a city park. I already have my floats traced from a Depron pattern I made onto a big block of foam. I am using the old Clancy float guidelines and rules of thumb, which worked great for me in the past. I will want the floats to be ready to install right after my initial test flights from land. I will probably pull the Saito .62 from my Somethin' Extra and install it on this plane. Either that, or look for a Thunder Tiger .46 on fleabay (I missed a great deal on a new one there last week).
As I build it (later), I will post updates, ideas and probably ask questions from the experience of others. Looking forward to this build. Tired of racking my brain doing short kits, plans-building, etc., and having to look 13 steps ahead mentally all the time to avoid "painting myself into a corner". Looking forward to just following what I can see are clearly written instructions. It is quite apparent that a lot of thought and work went into this whole package, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the designer was or had been some sort of engineer (like I was - I recognize good designs).
Finally, I wanted to mention that it is GREAT that we still have some kit manufacturers in this country, and I gladly support them to help keep the kit building side of this hobby alive. I have built almost every SIG that I would want to build (still wanna build a smaller Kobra someday, though), Balsa USA makes nice kits, but doesn’t offer any planes that tickle my particular fancy. I am tired of building short kits, especially if they have no building instructions (I got very burned-out building this GB Ultimate from plans, and my PFP OV-10 short kit). I am either taking a long break from long, difficult and complicated builds that hurt my brain, or I am retiring from that part of the hobby and just sticking to kits from now on. Time will tell.
All in all, I am enamored with this Javelin, and looking forward to having it in my stable.