I built a SPAD for my first trainer and love it. It flies just fine and is extremely durable. Last saturday I nosed it right into the ground(apparently I needed more altitude before doing the loop) I pulled the engine out of the ground cleaned it out real good and was flying again in 1/2 an hour. There are other people learning at my field with balsa planes that have not soloed yet due to the fact that if they screw up like I did they would not have a plane to fly any longer. I learned faster than they have due to the fact that I am not so concerned about destroying my plane because it is stronger and cheaper than a balsa. The trainer I built is called the BUHOR and the plans are at www.spadtothebone.com .