I was in my early teens visiting my cousins and a neighbor of theirs was flying a sheet wood cox .049 powered plane. They let me take the controls and I was hooked. My mother then bought me a Cox plastic P51, which did not last one flight. So I made my own sheet wood plane that I designed just from rough memory of the one I flew at my cousins. I eventually move to .35 powered kits and then to RC.
I have been in love with designing my own birds ever since.
Ken