Andy,

actually, what was meant is that classic pattern models weren't powered by electric in their day (for obvious reasons) and hence, in some respects the designs were not optimized for electric power. That's not to say that classic pattern models can't or shouldn't be electrified. Personally, I intend to do exactly that - take a classic such as the Tiporare, reduce the scale and make it electric. Why reduce the scale? Because, for me, the margin of where electric models make sense is in the sub 60 size (~65 in) airframes. Although I don't mind having a few 3s and 4s packs for flying small models and being able to replace them without having to recharge at the field, requiring a triplet of 4s packs or a couple of 6s packs to fly a 1/4 scale model isn't financially viable.

Rationally, to me the power breakdown works out in the following order according to model size: electric, glow and gas. Ecologically (and those with young kids might tend to think more about this kind of thing), I like the idea of having a wind or solar powered generator that produces AC/DC on the fly (no need to store it) and, when needed, put that DC into batteries for flying. Of course, there is also the discussion of the ecologic friendliness (during and after manufacture) of reactive metal based piles vs the CNC processes required to, primarily, manufacture glow and gas engines.

Good stuff, David.

P.S. Loved the Kaos and the flight report - of course.