ORIGINAL: sylvie369

As a complete newbie last spring I built a Sig Riser sailplane, one that is very similar to the Gentle Lady that red head suggested. I second his/her suggestion - I built mine from a kit, with essentially no experience (unless you count little Guillow rubberband-powered ones), and was able to get her flying from an Upstart (bungee cord launcher). Very very satisfying. I've built a second one which will fly if we ever get a day with less than gale force winds again. You should be able to come in well under that $250 budget, even with a low end 2.4 GHz radio included.