Glad to see your plane appeared on your deck Paul. I admire your determination. I think one advatage you have in this endeavor is patience, and I think that comes with age (not an old joke). I started flying when I was 13 back in the mid 90's and there is no way I would have had the patience to go it alone with no instructor. Youth does not bring patience and great problem solving skills, age does. Many people crash once and give up. Whether that has to do with age, personality, government conspiracy to hold the modeler down, I have no idea. This has been a thouroughly enjoyable thread to follow. Hopefully you can get the plane back together and get it back up in the air. If not I second the vote for the SPADFlyer trainer. I have flown one of those models and it is a great flying plane. Plus coro is so hard to destroy. Good luck Paul!!