I recently payed a visit to a company that produces small free flight airplane kits from balsa. Here's what the company's all about and how the kits are made.
The Vintage Model Company is situated in the midst of the beautiful English countryside over in the UK. When I rocked up, I entered a workshop packed with hundreds of boxed aircraft kits, laser cutters and models everywhere. After being offered a cup of tea immediately on arrival, I quickly decided that I liked it!
There are a whole bunch of different models in the company's main Magnificent Flying Machine range. Many of these are classic warbirds from WW2, including a P-51, Corsair, and a Spitfire. There are also some more classic looking planes such as the Tiger Moth and SE5. 
Some new designs in the range have taken a lot of inspiration from classic models seen back in the day. One of these is called the Osprey which is an easy to build kit for beginners. All of the models in the range, including the warbirds, are built with the same old-school method of 'stick and tissue'.
Standing outside in their natural habitat, the models look fantastic. Scale details like the vacuum formed wheels, canopies and spinners are nice little add-ons that go a long way to enhancing the finished appearance.
Each model comes with a hardware kit that includes a propeller and the rubber used to power the machine into the air.
How The Kits Are Made
Each kit of the main Magnificent Flying Machine range is cut on one of the workshop's laser cutters. It's a very similar process to how we here at Flite Test cut our speed build foam board kits.
After a plank of balsa has been processed, the cut sheets are stacked up along with hundreds of others. These are then ready to be boxed up along with the extra accessories needed to finish the model.
These formers are used in a vacuum forming machine to create the canopies and various details used on the models.
The company also produces kits of models that were around back in the mists of time. As they're no longer made by their original manufacturers, The Vintage Model Company can build these kits on demand.
Each kit is cut to an impressively high standard and comes with a nice instruction manual that makes it clear how the whole thing goes together. With the 21st century tech used to bring these older style kits to life, the models now go together like Lego models - everything almost snaps together without a problem. The whole concept is to provide a satisfying, hassle-free experience right out of the box.
The models themselves are reasonably sized to make ideal desk models as well as great little fliers!
If you want to find out more about each one of these retro style free flight airplanes, check out The Vintage Model Company's website for the entire product catalogue. There are some super looking designs there including two versions of the famous Supermarine Spitfire.
Over the next few weeks, I will be building the Corsair and Bird Dog kits from The Vintage Model Company and sharing my experience here on flitetest.com. Be sure to check back on the website for those articles soon!
Helpful Links
The Vintage Model Company Website
Magnificent Flying Machine Range
Article by James Whomsley
Editor of FliteTest.com
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