Balsa may be reducing as a percentage of the market, but this is more related to market growth in other segments. Once you've done a bit of RC flying you figure out that foam is fun but balsa really does fly best.

Sharpshooter - doubt gas/glow/diesel is not going anywhere quickly, but by the same token it's never going to catch on in the parkflyer market which is by far the fastest growing. So I wouldn't panic about stocking up on motors just yet. Also, I think it will stabilise for a while (probably quite a long time) before going into gradual decline.

When you say you haven't seen a brushless setup for less than $60 and then speak about how glow is better bang for buck I'm taking it that you aren't a parkflyer and are talking about larger aircraft. Mind you - those larger aircraft could never fly on speed 400 brushed motors so we are some way of the starting topic of the thread.

Yes a glow engine can make more power. But is it also heavier, less environmentall friendly, more troublesome to maintain (as are the aircraft that fly on glow) and with fuel costs probably aroudn the same cost, or maybe more expensive in the long run. Electric on the other hand is largely maintenance free, generally results in a lighter plane, and whilst having higher startup costs (including the LiPos) are in the long run probably cheaper to run, and certainly demand much less of your time (like that 15 minutes you spend soaking up the unburnt fuel covering your model after a flight).

For the moment there is probably a point in model size which if you go past glow becomes a significantly cheaper option (certainly in terms of startup costs). However, glow is at the end of its innovation curve - things don't change much. Brushless motors and LiPo batteries on the other hand are being innovated on all the time. 18 months ago a low end brushless system cost $120. Now it costs $20-30. The point is that this is changing, and will probably continue to change.

I reckon we will always have glow because there will always be those who are passionate about internal combustion, who love the exhaust note, etc, etc. But we are well on the way to electric surplanting glow as the most effecient and cost effective form of RC flight.

Cheers,
Oz.