Well I built a Balsa USA Smoothie in I thing 1979 or 80. This kit was I think $21.00 at the time; it was the least time and money I ever spent on a model, and it flew better than any I have built! And yes I still have it to this day!!

Hello; I prefer the Sig kits, from a builder point of view, the Mid-star 40 is my favorite, with the 4 star 60 second. They just fall together perfectly aligned and make a great flyer. I have also the Sig spacewalker II, another fine kit. I have built all the Goldberg kits, they are fun to build and all fly great, except the Suhkoi 26X, I didn't like the way they attach the landing gear to the wing. Landing gear seems to be a weak point on GB kits, I replaced the gear on my Ultimate and my Extra, it's just not tough enough for our grass field. I also had fun building my Morris hobbies Gee whiz Bee, another great flyer. I have built 5 or 6 great planes kits, some good some not so good, but none were as much fun as a Sig kit.

Four Star 60 by Sig Mfg. Add glue and shake. One great flying plane. Looks great on the ground and in the air. Can't wait to build another.
john

P.S Who said that I could not do a knife edge around the field under 6 foot.

That one... not so much

Mike, compared to what my student did to his last week, that one looks like it just needs A bit of epoxy and CA!!! Neon Green all over the desert!!!

Heck, you just need a wing kit !

I just happen to have this kit under construction right now. Got the wing done and was starting on the fuse, but got 40 and 60 float kits that got bumped up to try on the snow and maybe some water before freeze up.

flynte

Flynte:

Do you have the old version with the inverted engine or the new with upright one? I think that the inverted one flies better.

I’ve got a BUSA Smoothie under construction right now – built the fuselage, put it the box for a move and pulled it out to finish almost 30 years later. I liked the BUSA kits from the 70’s – the old Phaeton 40 was a nice flying bipe too. Their Swizzle Stick 40, while butt ugly, was one almost indestructible and very good flying trainer. I also have a Swizzle Stick 30 framed up ready for cover.

Sig does make some nice kits, but so did Bridi, Airtronics and many others, but some of the best I remember where the Japanese MK kits. Some of the kit producers who machined their parts back then did an outstanding job, but others where, well….. just filler material for other projects after all the bad wood was replaced.

Laser cut kits are nice, but there is just something about a nice fitting hand machined kit.

Hogflyer

Of all of the kits that I have built, I still like Bruce Tharps Delta Vortex (built 2), and Northeast Aerodynamics Twinair.
Bruce's kits, as mentioned by other posters have excellent parts fit, quality wood, and well thought out assembly instructions. On top of all of that, you end up with one great flying plane. Can't ask for much more than that.
The Northeast Aerodynamics Twin Air, is another kit with very good parts fit, and quality balsa. This kit is a good one to modify into something totally different looking than the original. I haven't quite finished this one, but the flying reports are good for the Twinair. I am also partial to the Ultra Sport looks, and have modified the Twinair to resemble an Ultra Sport with twin engines. The only problem I have with kit building, is that some of my projects get shelved for periods of time, and take a wile to get finished.

Here are pics.

My favorite kit thus far is the Top Flite Contender. The wood was not the best quality for the fuselage, but everything went together smoothly. I enjoyed the balsa shaping that the kit required. Of course the plane flies great and was worth all the hours in the garage.

Gee... Why am I not suprised by this answer.....

If wants to get philosophical....

The best kit, is the one just purchased and yet to be started...


It holds the most promise, latest dreams and aspirations, but none of the disappointments and frustrations.


Which reminds me... I gotta get back to turning dreams into balsa dust...

I think it was the Proctor N11 that first sparked my obsession with scale models. I saw one in a hobby shop almost 30 years ago and was fascinated but it seemed like an impossible amount of money at that time. It really set the standard for scale model kits.

Excellent Thread! I need to look into some of those that were mentioned and put them on my wish list.

I also prefer to build. I find it more rewarding than flying. But I have to build to fly so it's a win win actually. If I could, I'd rather just spend my time building for others to fly the planes I built, but unfortunately, I usually have to wait until I retire (read crash) one plane before I get another. I do have an OS .46 that is looking for a good home though.

Frank

I had a BUSA smoothie, it was simple, and flew so ,......well, smooth. It's a shame the engine stalled and on a final the wind took it and smashed it into the ground as I got half way through the turn. I miss that one, but they still make the plans, I do have pictures of it in the bones thou.

Hogflyer:

You are right about the Bridi kits! I still have a F7F Tigercat that the fiberglass work on is nothing short of perfect; my be I will get at it sometime???

To be honest, at any given time there aren't more than a half dozen kits that I really lust over. At the moment there might be 2 kits from Glenn Torrence, a couple from Proctor, and two or three from CD ScaleDesigns. There are probably another half dozen out there that I'm not aware of.

Building the Flair Puppeteer has been a nice break between more serious scale projects, but I've really gotten to that point that I just don't see the point of putting any kind of serious effort into a "sport scale" model. I think Dave Platt has used the expression: "It's like putting a dress on a pig." I've never liked "pure sport" models (i.e. "fantasy aircraft") and can't imagine using any of my limited building time gluing together a non-scale model. But then there are really so few actually scale kits. Most kit manufacturers take major liberties in the name of marketability.

So in a world of kits, there are really only a handful that I'd honestly want to build.

Hogflyer,

I've got a Bridi "Miss Los Angeles" (aka Brown B-2) and have the same thing to say about the fiberglass fuse. I was surprised that the tailfeathers were smaller than scale, so I have built new ones. But overall, the kit remains untouched. I'm unfamiliar with foam wings and want to get some experience under my belt first. Can't wait to build it.

Bob

It is the inverted one.

flynte

Here's a list of my scale kits. Maybe something in here will strike a "chord":
Proctor 1/4 Albatros
Proctor 1/4 Nieuport 28
Proctor 1/6 Curtiss Jenny
Proctor 1/4 Fokker DVII
Top Flite 1/5 Stinson Reliant
Sig 1/5 Ryan STa
St. Croix 1/4 LongEZ
AceRC 1/3 Miles Reed Weeks Special
Pica 1/5 Waco
Plans of 1/3 Halls Bulldog
Plans of 1/4 Siemens Schuckert DIII

GM Precision Sunbird

My favorite build were two diferent models. The Midwest Cherokee and the Midwest "Little cap 232". Both were very easy to build and took very little time to build. The Cherokee flew as easy as any plane I ever had and but for dumb thumbs would still be in my hanger. The Little Cap will be flying next week, if the weather holds.
I have a TF Stinson SR-9 that I can hardly wait to start on which I think is going to be the most fun of all.

jrbmoto:

Nice looking sunbird! I all ways wanted to build one but never got around to it. How does it fly?

Thanks Walther!
They are fun to fly, not smooth like a pattern plane but they do some amazing snap maneuvers! You can get a short kit from www.lazer-works.com

-Johnny-