18" Veron Fairey Swordfish

A great kit that i loved building! It looks the part and wasn't too hard to put together, although the parts that require the bending of the included wire (like the top wing mount and landing struts) were very challenging and breaking the wire was easier than anticipated - order some 20 gauge wire to have as a backup! I modified the kit to take micro RC components and it does fly, although some strengthening is required - 2s brushless puts a lot more power through this than a rubber band i think! The laser cut parts are top notch, and although the instructions are 'classic blueprints' they're not hard to follow 10/10 and i have recommended these kits to friends!

I live in Oregon. The kit was delivered quick enough. I built it for display. It turned out great. It's nice to see these kits in laser cut issue. I'm delighted to find a Swordfish model at all. The quality of the balsa was excellent. Being a very experienced builder, I didn't find the inadequate, all on one page instructions to be much of an impediment. Lack of detailed instructions are par for the course with every brand I've built. I'm not picking on Vintage. If balsa wants to expand, do the modeling building world a favor, the kits need step by step instructions like a plastic kit. Those observations aside, I'm very pleased with the results. I made a variety of additions not shown on the plans, including building up the vertical stabilizer for a more scale effect. All in all, maybe 15-20 hours because I did custom stuff. I think it went together relatively quickly. On a scale of Beginner to Expert, I'd say that it's not for beginners and slightly more difficult than average, as it's a biplane with lots of struts. I'm kind of wishing I had figured out how to make the wings fold. I'll happily recommend it. Five stars because it's laser cut and turned out awesome. Here's the link to the build album. https://m.imgur.com/a/GTE7AjP [originally posted on our old website 19/05/2019]