I also started building about 30-odd years ago with Guillows, Goldberg and Comet kits. The Comets really sucked but I learned a lot doing the Guillows ones. My most recent Guillows was the 1/12 scale Sopwith Camel, which I built about 15 years ago and still have.

Like the others have been saying, the Guillows kits are old-fashioned "builders' kits". That is, very few short-cuts and a fairly intricate construction. On the other hand the balsa in the kits was always mediocre quality at best and often really poor, and the die-cutting left a lot to be desired. Still, with patience and a willingness to occasionally re-make a part you can make a nice model with those kits.

I only started building RC three years ago and I found that the experience of building those kits was very helpful - but also that I needed to learn some new things about building bigger more powerful planes. I always tell people who ask about building - RUN, don't walk to Cafeenman's wonderful website [link=http://www.airfieldmodels.com]Airfield Models[/link] and soak up the marvellous advice he hands out there free gratis.