 | |
| Industry | Hobbies |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1926 |
| Headquarters | Wakefield, MA US |
| Products | Balsa wood model airplane toys |
| Website | Official website  |
Paul K. Guillow, Inc., commonly known as Guillow's, is an American manufacturer of balsa wood model aircraft kits.
The company was founded by Paul K. Guillow in 1926 in Wakefield, Massachusetts, and was originally called NuCraft Toys. [1] [2]
Born in 1893, Paul Guillow was a naval aviator during World War I, and returned from Europe with an interest in aviation related toys. [1] He later went on to graduate from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. [3] Guillow died in 1951.
Among the company's earliest products were a card game called The Lindy Flying Game, which was introduced in 1927, and a board game called Crash: The New Airplane Game which was introduced in 1928. [1]
Soon after Charles Lindbergh's famous solo transatlantic flight in 1927, a craze for all things aeronautical swept over America. Guillow's capitalized on that fad by introducing a line of balsa wood model kits. The first line of Guillow's balsa non-flying shelf model kits consisted of twelve different World War I biplane fighters with six-inch wingspans that retailed for 10-cents each. Each kit contained a 3-view plan, balsa wood cement, two bottles of colored aircraft dope, a strip of bamboo for wing and landing gear struts –this was considered relatively good value for such toys at that time. In 1933, demand for the kits were high enough as to enable Guillow's to move out of the family barn where it had started, and into its present-day location in Wakefield. [4] In the 1940s, the company also supplemented the production of model airplanes with the publication of several books on the construction of flying model planes . [1] [4]
During World War II, the supply of balsa wood was diverted to the war effort for the manufacture of rafts and life jackets. Guillow's was forced to use alternative materials like cardboard or pine wood to manufacture the model kits. In the meantime the company also diversified into building target drone aircraft as training aids for gunners. After the war, to meet changing customer tastes, it shifted its emphasis from stick & tissue kits to concentrate on the mass production of inexpensive hand-launched gliders and rubber band-powered toy planes that were sold at a variety of retail outlets.
In 1948, Paul Guillow applied for a United States patent for a model airplane glider "which can be made in various sizes and can be used for instruction in the principles of airplane flight and design, as well as for the amusement and entertainment of possessors. A further object is to enable such practicable glider planes to be constructed of a minimum number of parts, which can be packed in disassembled condition for shipment and purveyance to purchasers, and can be assembled in condition for flying with the utmost ease and almost complete elimination of any liability to wrong assemblage." The patent was granted in 1952, after his death, to his wife Gertrude. [5]
Guillow died in 1951. His wife Gertrude expanded and modernized the company, until she retired in 1980. [6] In 1953, the company introduced a line of mass produced, simple, inexpensive balsa gliders, packaged by high speed machinery. They sold well. [7]
In the 1990s, Guillow's acquired competitors including Tiger, Inc. of Los Angeles and Comet of Chicago. Tiger specialized in "promotional flying toys imprinted with company names and graphics" and Comet was a "direct competitor in balsa kits and gliders". [1] Tiger Inc. was a manufacturer of glider toys made out of foam, and Guillow's still manufactures this type of product. [8] In recent years, the company has converted to laser cutting of balsa parts, resulting in increased accuracy, making assembly easier. [1] In 2011, sales were estimated at US$5-million to $6-million per year. [4]
Toy balsa gliders are often used in physics classes to teach aerodynamics including Bernoulli's theorem. In 1999, an article about their characteristics was published in the American Journal of Physics. The article presented a "quantitative analysis" of the performance of the Guillow Super-Ace, which weighed 3.51 grams and sold for $1.99 at that time. [9]
The company's product line includes dozens of inexpensive slide-together balsa gliders and rubber band-powered airplanes, and dozens of more complex stick-and-tissue scale model airplanes. [1] Approximately 40 percent of the company's business comes from the simpler glider and airplane toys sold through hobby shops and other retail stores, 30 percent from the more complicated scale model kits, and 30 percent from promotional flying toys printed with advertising messages for various businesses, and sold in bulk through promotional product distributors. [4] Product offerings include highly detailed and complex models, including the 1903 Wright Flyer with a 20-inch wingspan, [4] and the B-24 D Liberator with a wingspan of 48-½-inches, [10] the company's largest model.
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A model aircraft is a small unmanned aircraft and may be a replica of an existing or imaginary aircraft. Model aircraft are divided into two basic groups: flying and non-flying. Non-flying models are also termed static, display, or shelf models.
Ochroma pyramidale, commonly known as the balsa tree, is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Americas. It is the sole member of the genus Ochroma. The name balsa comes from the Spanish word for "raft."
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Francis Melvin Rogallo was an American aeronautical engineer inventor born in Sanger, California, U.S. Together with his wife, he is credited with the invention of the Rogallo wing, or "flexible wing", a precursor to the modern hang glider and paraglider. His patents were ranged over mechanical utility patents and ornamental design patents for wing controls, airfoils, target kite, flexible wing, and advanced configurations for flexible wing vehicles.
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Testor Corporation is an American manufacturer of model kits, tools, and accessories based in Rockford, Illinois and is part of RPM International. It was founded in 1929 and its products are made in the U.S.A and marketed to customers worldwide.
Estes Industries is a model rocket company that was started in Denver, Colorado, USA. The company was the first to mass-produce model rocket engines with consistent and reliable performance. It is popular among hobbyists of experimental amateur rocketry for its simple and easily accessible engines, accessories, and rocket-building kits.
A paper plane is a toy aircraft, usually a glider made out of single folded sheet of paper or paperboard. A simple nose-heavy paper plane, thrown like a dart, is also known as a paper dart.
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Life-Like was a manufacturer of model trains and accessories. In 1960 the company purchased the assets of the defunct Varney Scale Models and began manufacturing model trains and accessories under the name Life-Like in 1970. In 2005 the parent company, Lifoam Industries, LLC, chose to concentrate on their core products and sold their model railroad operations to hobby distributor Wm. K. Walthers. Today, the Life-Like trademark is used by Walthers for its line of value-priced starter train sets.
Monogram is an American manufacturer of scale plastic models of aircraft, spacecraft, ships, cars, and military vehicles since the early 1950s. The company was formed by two former employees of Comet Kits, Jack Besser and Bob Reder. After thirteen years as a fully owned subsidiary of Hallmark Cards' Binney and Smith unit, Hobbico announced it was acquiring Revell-Monogram in 2007. Along with Revell, AMT, and MPC, Monogram is sometimes called one of the traditional "Big 4" in plastic modeling.
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A glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that is supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air against its lifting surfaces, and whose free flight does not depend on an engine. Most gliders do not have an engine, although motor-gliders have small engines for extending their flight when necessary by sustaining the altitude with some being powerful enough to take off self-launch.
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Kit 2003, Giant, detailed WWII flying kit, Wing Span: 48½", Scale: 1/28
