When time and tools are limited, as well as for younger children, Guillow’s sells all-balsa slip-together  planes that can work well.  Assembly consists of punching out a few balsa pieces and sliding the pieces into slots. No glue, sharp cutting tools, or building board are needed. The plane will fly with no modifications, but longer rubber and additional dihedral will improve the flight characteristics.

Much can still be learned from working with this type of plane such as basic aerodynamics, trim adjustments, and refining performance.

Mpeg Video of ROG* Take-off (1.2 mb)         *Rise-Off-Ground       

Guillow’s

If you can not find this Guillow’s plane at your local hobby shop or toy store, they can be ordered direct from the Guillow’s website at http://www.guillow.com. Be sure to read the Guillow’s History, the link is on the bottom of the opening web page. This is a very old company with it’s beginnings in 1926, founded by Paul K. Guillow. Lucky for him, the next year was the year Charles Lindberg made his famous flight across the Atlantic Ocean sparking an interest in aviation of all types in the US.

Ended up gluing the major components together because over time the slip-together pieces begin to work loose. It was then impossible to keep the plane in trim because of the shifting. The propeller/landing gear assembly also can work loose, sometimes in the air. Might be best to test fly first to determine where the wing should be positioned.

Strato Streak Indoors

My modified Strato Streak appears to fly well indoors on 1/8" width rubber. Slightly larger rubber might bring it to the ceiling.

Mpeg Video of Strato Streak Flying Indoors (2.7 mb)

Additional Materials Needed and Possible Sources

Rubber Strip - FAI Model Supply

Winder – Midwest Products Winders

Glue – local sources

Comments About This Webpage

Bill,   I am new to free-flight and have been using your web site for building tips and links.  It is an invaluable resource for a beginner! While at my local hobby shop I saw the Guillows Strato Streak kits and remembered your page.  I had to get one!  I flew it completely stock a few times, then removed canopy, tail surfaces, and landing gear noting the changes in how affected flight.  Next I switched to a loop 1/8" rubber which would barely pull it through the air, and then tried two loops to get it to ROG.  It was a great learning tool, but I didn't know what else I could do to improve performance any further, and set it aside.

A few days later I decided to completely hack up the plane to see what I could make using just the wood included in the kit.  I shaved the motor stick, cut  half inch section from the from and rear of the wing, and
used the center section dihedral bend to make under camber wing ribs. This gave me a larger under camber wing with a significant increase wing area. The tail surfaces were increased by using 1/4" strips from the original pieces again removing a considerable amount of wood, and increasing surface area.  Next I mounted the wing on two pylons glued to a small piece of balsa slipped into the original wing slot.  This turned out very nice and makes for easy CG adjustment if anything is changed or for experimenting.  The wing warped quite a bit when I attached the tissue so wing struts were added to get things back in line.  I have settled on a single loop of 1/8" rubber and have had a thirty second flight on 400 turns.  Once I can get in a gym and really wind it up we will see what this thing can do!
 
Thanks again for the great site,  Tim Macy 

Bill -- Just wanted to say that I have enjoyed your Web pages. 

I decided a while ago to give free flight modeling a try. I used to fly things like the Strato Streak as a kid, and also in my college days, and built a Javelin (which I converted to Jetex) a long time ago. My plan for getting educated in the subject was to read Don Ross's book, build and modify a Strato Streak (thanks to your Web page for the inspiration), build a Peck ROG, and work up from there. Since starting I have bought both of Don's books, attended the FF NATS at Muncie (as a spectator), built a Peck One Night 16 (best flight time 1 minute 45 seconds so far), and built a small scratch-built model. I'm currently working on another Javelin (nostalgia project, perhaps?) and have a bunch of kits sitting here to be built, including a Peck One Night 28, a Micro-X Taylorcraft, and a couple of Guillow's 500-series warbirds.

 Anyway, what I wanted to tell you is that thanks to your inspiration, I am still using and improving my Strato Streak, and am still learning from it. Improvements include a polyhedral wing, a trimmed and sanded fuselage, a movable rudder (using small copper wire), a relocated (toward the back) motor hook, longer and better rubber (FAI Tan Super Sport), and the landing gear has been removed. When I crank in 1000 turns and let it go, it looks like a miniature Mulvihill climbing into the sky. A few days ago I achieved a one minute and ten second flight, my best so far. Thanks again, -- Bill Parmley