$1000 in 1985 is equivalent to $2100.10 today according to several inflation calculators I checked, so not that far off. And it doesn't cost 3K to put together a competitive plane right now, my Vanquish cost about 2K all up using a high end motor (Hacker Q60) and servos (JR HV). My Griffin, admittedly, was a bit closer to the 3K mark all up.

Edit: A bit late to the party I guess, since I missed that there was a page 9!

Anyway, I agree with the points already made we need a rule change to level the playing field (increase fairness) between IC and Electric, the current system is fundamentally unfair. Anytime I describe the current weight rules to someone at the field (regardless of whether they are glow or electric fliers, they get crosseyed and say "that's kind of unfair, isn't it? Shouldn't you weigh the glow plane WITH fuel or the electric WITHOUT battery?" If people outside the sport see the unfairness on first glance, why do we have so much trouble making a reasonable adjustment to create fairness?

Peter+