My concern is the term "scratch built". What does that mean to anyone here? For me, it meant, started from scratch, the first line on a blank piece of paper. I've done a few of those, VERY early in the game, in the 70s. Simple, 1/2A types, .049s.

Now it seems to mean anything from built from a kit to plans built. Yeah, that's really getting anal but where's the pride in creativity these days ?

Having said that, it's been a long time since I did that and I do have a few Chinese built, "kits" still to be assembled.

I will say though, that this is the golden age in our hobby. You can do it any way you want. You can buy some really very fine products at insanely low prices. I bought my first Cannon, "micro" servos for 60, 1985 dollars. Factor in inflation and that would be some 100 of today's dollars. Now you can get truly micro servos for 5 dollars, like these. http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=11737&Product_Name=Hobby King_Ultra_Micro_Servo_1.7g_for_3D_Flight_(Left) Yes, that's 1.7 grams.

The Cannon servos weighed something like 10 grams. But you know, they were designed and built in the good ole U.S.A. Ah, well.