ORIGINAL: Tattoo
I learned on a Swizzle stick in 1977. At the time it was $19 for the kit. Balsa USA has refined the kit, and it is now called the Stick 40, it's the same plane with a more updated tail shape and a price to match the current industry's inflation (really too bad). If something cheap to bash around is what you're looking for go to
http://www.spadtothebone.com The guys who started that web site have combat roots and have used the old Swizzle sticks for combat. Much of what they do now was inspired by the simplicity of the Swizzle Stick...in fact, the very first "Spad" that flew took it's wing measurements from a Swizzle Stick.
Tattoo,
Hey...we have something in common! I also took my very first flight on an RC plane with the Swizzle Stick right around the 76-77 timeframe. That was the one that got me hooked. Had the older gentleman at the field not handed his tx to me and given me a chance to fly I may have never been bit by the RC bug way back when. If I was never bit there would probably never have been an RCU! How odd...
That was cool plane to learn on. I went from that to a Cox Sportavia glider (not good) and then to a Falcon 56 MK II built from a kit. That was the one I eventually mastered flight on. It would be decades from then until I tried my 1st 3D maneuver
