I would suggest you don't build the Skyshark kit as your first kit - and I own the company! In the past 13 years, I don't remember anyone who has been successful building one as a first kit but I do remember spending hours upon hours on the phone with people only to find out they have never built a kit before! I know that I could never have done it when I first entered the hobby. The Top Flite instructions are a little more detailed, however, there is a lot of sanding and fitting parts - it will also be a huge challenge unless you have an experienced builder helping you. Now if you have someone experienced helping you, then you will be ok with either kit.

My advice if you really want to start with a warbird and don't have help is to consider the Great Planes sport P-51 or Corsair kit. They are substantially easier because they go over many of the basics. You will end up with a lot of money invested in a scale warbird, so you want to keep it as light and straight as possible in order to make it enjoyable to fly. In my experience, first kit builds tend to be heavy because it takes a few builds to learn all the tricks and techniques.

I guess you have to decide if you want to build or if you want to simply have a built-up warbird. If you just want to have a balsa warbird of your choice, consider paying someone to build it for you. There are a lot of people out there who just love to build and would be willing to build a kit for almost nothing.