A very generous friend used to build gutter downspout/coroplast planes to help get people in the air. They flew well and could withstand a great deal of abuse.

If club members are generous with used engines and radio components someone can start flying for less than $30.00. It seems everyone has the old radio, .40 size engine and servos that are still fine laying around. As long as the stuff is not from crashes a beginner can have good luck following this path. Once we give them a taste and get them hooked on the r/c drug we can introduce them to all the cash draining, time sucking aspects of the hobby.