I've been there and done that with R/C for 25 year... with 6 or 8 years of C/L growing up...I remember tissue and dope VERY well, in fact my first CG Falcon 56 was a tissue and dope job...Monocote was available already, but old habits are hard to break.

Dura-Planes and AirCores have been around for about 10 years or so, but it wasn't untill about 5 years ago that some of us began to realize that the materials they use (gutterpipe and plastic sign board) are dirt cheap when bought at home improvement stores and sign shops. The evolution of designs with these materials has caught up to and in some cases exceeded the performance and especially durability of conventionaly built airplanes...so I've traded in my Monocote iron, $100 kits and sand paper in for $10 airplanes, screws and zip-ties... and am having more fun scratchbuilding and designing than I ever imagined possible in this hobby. It's not for everyone, and like I said, old habits die hard, but it is an option to check out if you're interested. http://www.spadtothebone.com