MODEL plane fans hoping to build a magazine’s Spitfire replica face paying out £1,200 over two years.
Hachette Partwork tempt readers with a £1.99 first edition and £5.99 for the second.
3
But the remaining 118 weekly issues of Build a Model of the Spitfire Mk1A are £9.99 a pop — making it £1,186.80 in all.
And despite its moving rudder and sound effects, the 1:18 ratio model of the RAF World War Two fighter cannot fly.
A remote-controlled model can costs £399, while an Airfix 1:24 Spitfire kit is £43.95.
To sit in a real Spitfire costs £79 and it is £419 for a 20-minute flight alongside one.
Hachette, who were contacted for comment, had to drop TV and web ads in 2018 for a magazine series to build a Routemaster double-decker.
Advertising Standards Authority chiefs said it was not “sufficiently” clear that it needed 30 issues costing £1,150. The first was also £1.99.
One potential Hachette Spitfire buyer wrote: “For £1,200 I can buy a few remote control spitfires which actually do fly in the bloody sky, which has got to be better.”
Anthony Hill, of MoneySaving Expert.com, said: “You should consider the total cost, and not just the tiny proportion you’ll pay up front.
“If you just want a new craft project, there are cheaper ways of doing it.”
3
3
