help identifying the new 500 laser cut kits please

[Viper1]

Howdy,

I'd like to pick up one of the new laser cut (as opposed to the die cut) 500 series kits.

As I'm on the other side of the pondI'm going to be mostly reliant on the internet for picking one up however i'm having difficulty telling the difference in box art between the old die cut kits and the new laser cut kits.

With the 400 series it's easy as they have the laser cut logo on the box, can anyone help me out?

[backyardbalsapilot]

For starters, who are you ordering from? If it's from guillows, they say what's laser vs. die cut on their website. Amazon is the same way. The kits do have a laser cut sticker placed on the box, but other than that, it is the same box, with (I believe) the exception of the spitfire. That has a red, white and blue box. Or, at least, I think it does. I saw one at my LHS while picking up a laser-cut hellcat.

[Bill Gaylord]

If you buy from Ebay, I would preferably use a reliable seller such as Penn Valley. Some of the smaller sellers are know to show the LC box art, but sell old die-cut kits. The ad should definitely say LC, and preferably even Laser Cut, to be fully clear. I would also save an ad screen, from any place I buy from other than Guillows. Wouldn't hurt to point blank ask the seller if it's the LC part numbered and labeled laser cut kit.

[Viper1]

Thanks for the info guys.

Unfortunately I'm in the UK so i can't order directly from Guillows which is a shame as it would cut out a lot of hassle

Part of what is causing me some confusion is that as you pointed out Bill many online sellers have a picture of a box with a laser cut sticker but then in the description have the model described as die cut. I'm guessing most sellers and hobby shops are still selling off the older die cut kits and it's going to take time for the new kits to filter through especialy over here in the uk. I

Thanks again

[Bill Gaylord]

My LHS still is trying to unload older, die-cut kits. An older WWII veteran friend recently wanted to build one of these kits, after seeing some of mine. He wanted a really simple kit such as the smallest Cub, but the only LC kit they had was the 16" Spitfire. I bought him the Spitfire, which is a much more scale model than the built up models, but more difficult to build. There are still droves of the die-cut kits on the market.