Acam,
Sorry to here about the pattern plane.[
] What was it? I'll be buying a pattern ship soon for the upcoming season. I thought of getting the balsa SIG Something Extra kit myself. It depends on how well the new spad extra performs. I have a 4 star 40 kit that still needs building. Thinking of bashing it into an Airtractor or a Thrush cropduster.
I flew the Spadet yesterday in about 15 to 20 m.p.h. winds. First time I flew a nitro since this past fall. I have built and flew a few Foamy electrics during the past few months. They are fun!
My next spad on the building table will be a profile fuse with fully symmetrical wing, once the extra in complete. Sometime this year a group of us in the club will be building Spad race cars (hopefully 6 of us) to race in our Labor Day Airshow.
I know what you mean about balsa planes hurting your wallet. Spads are definitly the way to go for building your confidence back up. You don't have the worry so much about, how much is this going to hurt my wallet if I crash. It allows you to concentrate on flying instead of what will happen if I crash. I think my Forum signature explains it well.