Just to bring you up to speed...

I put a new DLE20 in the Sukhoi and flew it for two weeks before I planted it mid-runway trying to turn a deadstick upwind for a landing... the landing gear went through the fuse and broke the wing in several places... The part that broke my heart was that the motor was mounted inverted and the hit broke the sparkplug in half and wrecked the ignition wire/cap do-hickey.

I recently picked up a BH FW190 kit and assembled it this week and I put the DLE in it (new muffler = $20 and hoping the ignition still works). couldn't get it to start this weekend... still kinda broken hearted...

The Zen turned out to be a Zen 120 (not the 90 size)... It was hard to keep running but 2 weeks ago it started to fly EXTREMELY well... holy smokes... really very awesome... tracked like nothing I've every flown before... fast like you wouldn't believe... The only problem was that it wouldn't slow down.. on the third flight I heard the header come off the motor and it got bogged down.. nursed it around the pattern and came in for a final I porpoised trying to do too many things at the same time... flattened the gear and slid into a fence post... I'm gonna try to fix it... though i don't know how successful I'll be...

The Sonic keeps flying... it is super easy to fly... starts in a few seconds... the fuel tank is too small though (3 1/2 minutes from start to deadstick). I'll try to shoe horn a bigger fuel cell into it.

Since I bought these 3 1/2 weeks ago I've bought some other stuff too... I bought a foamie T28 and entered a race this weekend (lots of fun!). I bought a Demon F86 foamie ARF with a 70mm ducted fan (its a pig in the air and hard to transport!!!).

I'm learning that many of the gents at the field I fly at are just like me in that they keep buying new things and half-ass their way into the air. Some, not many, focus on making one or two models awesome and those are the ones i drool over.

at last count, I'm spending way too much on too many different planes... I've got to focus on something and make it great.