I don't mean this to sound like I am trashing the vendor, but I have e-mailed William 2-3 times over several months about the Perigee, trying to get one. He always cites the fact the fuse sides are too long for a normal box, and will only sell three kits. He suggests I find two other people wanting kits, and reuse the original box. I have suggested the fuse side could be cut at an angle and shipped in a smaller box then spliced later. I have also inquired what the three kits he says he will sell would cost, but have never been sent a reply. I still don't know what a kit, (or three kits), would cost. I don't really know what the problem is, or why I can't work something out with him, but this has been my experience.

Bob Harris who started Early RC before selling to Wing Mfg has an original kit, and has said he will develop a Perigee kit at some time in the future, but he has a pretty full plate.

I knew Tom Brett as a young teen as a fellow member of my club. I saw the Perigee and its sister ship the Apogee fly first hand. As I said in my May 2006 Model Aviation article, Tom Brett was an inspiration and a role model. The Perigee is a very special plane to me, and that's my picture you used on your thread--taken at the AMA museum in Muncie where the original resides. The picture comes from an earlier thread discussing the plane, and its flight characteristics.

The Perigee was small, sleek, and fast--especially for the times. I remember at the time some magazine critics saying you HAD to build it light, otherwise there was a high chance of stalling at slow speeds. Part of the "blame" was perhaps placed on the kit itself where wood selection was not always the lightest possible. The die-crunching was not the best either, and the plans drawn by Tom were quite complex compared to other planes of the day.

My father built and flew an original kit back in 1965 that I inherited, but it is quite brittle now. I really would like to build a new Perigee, but I'm not quite up to the time commitment involved in scratch-building.

Duane