Brad,
You mentioned that the MkII has a steerable nosegear, but the LT40 has one as well. I think you'll find the operating costs of planes to be much cheaper than rockets of any sort, barring any crash damage/repair. I could easily fly 20 bucks worth of D engines in a day (that's only six flights), but it takes some time for me to go through a 15 dollar gallon of glow fuel.