I think you've touched on what I believe is the root of the negitivity. It isn't the material. It's the effort in vs. fun out. With the coro and pipe it's already fuel proof, doesn't require special tools, doesn't require finishing and it's cheap and inherantly tough. Foam and fiberglass don't elicit such a response because it takes special tools, expertise, expense, time, finishing and reinforcing. One of the best "unfair" examples is Kraut's Ultraspadstick built from $20 worth of plastic in about 10 hours or so, with no finishing/covering/fuelproofing etc needed. From 20 ft away or on the Tx end you can't tell it from it's Balsa brother. This doesn't set well with some people. Designing/scratch building today, flying tomorrow for less than the cost of a Taco Tico meal deal just doesn't fit into the hobby's "ideals" yet. Heaven forbid it equals or out performs a "due payer"...but the more people doing it, and the more great ideas and designs people come up with, it's all changing. This being the beginner's forum, a better place to carry on a materials discussion would be the Spad topic here at RCU.