That's a story I can laugh along with you about but also feel the pain. I've lost stuff that practically crashed 100 feet from me..!
That's a pretty Big Hit to take. My biggest loss was a $250 Cyclon .061 and about 15 cents worth of 3/16" plywood it was attached to.
The best thing about a Demon build thread, is that 90% of it is finished the first night and if you don't get carried away with the final details it ought to be wrapped up in just another few sessions. There was a guy who used to post here called Da Screw who was building a .40 sized delta about every other day.