Welcome back to the hobby rzorro. Like you I was away from it for quite sometime and returned to it after moving to Georgia. I had to remember and or relearn a lot of my building and flying skills. The building skills were pretty much like riding a bike but the flying skills... Let's just say that's another story. Older eyes and reflexes should say enough.

Since I returned o the hobby I've been impressed by the advances in the radio gear but dismayed at the lack of full kits to be had. Seems that everywhere you look it's nothing but ARF planes. Building does seem to be coming back a little at a time though but the number of available kits isn't keeping up with it. You can often find some of the old kits on E-Bay or in the trader forums on sites like this and others.

As far as new kits go, Skybench is one of your best bets. Rays' kits are known for being some of the best ever released. All of the bird series can be converted to electric with little to no problem. I have only picked up one kit since I had several stashed away and am still trying to get through building all of them up before buying any more. Next up on my "must have" list is a Skybench Sky Bird. Also any of the Oly kits can have electrics added to them and are great flying planes. You might also want to consider the Viking models as well.

What part of California are you in? Until I moved out here to Georgia four years ago, I lived in San Diego and did a lot of my flying at Torry Pines. Maybe we flew together back in the day? I also did a lot of thermal and slope work up in the Ramona area. The forums are a great way to get back up to speed on the latest building tech as well as a way to find good places to fly and people to help you out if you run into problems.

Jeff