Rare Bird : DPR Towline Free-flight Sailplane Balsa Wood Model Plane Kit Wingspan 900mm

This was something I bought myself for a little fun. It was very simple to build and a nice little flyer. Good for a first build. Read the instructions though; there's some bits that aren't obvious. For example, some of the balsa strips are hard and some are soft, depending on where they go. I found this out too late. My fault though

First up - I’m a 70+ OAP building my first model plane in half a century. I’m findin* the instructions a bit hard to follow, not exactly comprehensive or clear ... but the plan, when laid out, is good and the basic product also seems pretty good. My mission continues !

A excellent starter kit hours of fun with the son building and flying

Bought this (from elsewhere) for some entertainment for my 9yr daughter, and for a trip down memory lane for me. It's been a while since I built a stick n' tissue model, but this kit goes together very well. The laser cut parts are all an excellent fit and it's a quick build if you use thin CA to wick into the joints after a dry assembly. After a few weeks of anticipation, we headed for the field and did some small test glides - looked promising. We had a few false starts with the line, but after some time we had a successful launch with me running. This is where it all went pear shaped, as the photo shows. The wing simply folded up after about 3 seconds on the line - poor design and obviously a bad stress point. If you're going to buy this kit, reinforce the wing somehow; maybe 1/32" sheeting on top, or even a 3mm spruce top spar. My daughter didn't seem overly upset, but for me it was a huge disappointment.