Greetings,

I am getting back into the hobby after many years (~15) away and I want to get back into flying electrics. I hope I can get some advice from all of you experts out there...

I live on the campus of a very nice boarding school in southern California, just 3 miles from the ocean. The campus sits atop a mesa and we have several airfields - I mean playing fields. That we are atop a mesa means that when there is a breeze, there is plenty of ridge lift for small gliders and the ball fields are large enough for medium-sized electrics.

As I am a teacher with three young kids, I need to be very thrifty with this hobby. I also do not have much free time or dedicated space for building in traditional ways, but I do not like the idea of ARF's. For me, most of the pleasure comes from flying something I built, and maybe even designed. I really like the idea of building with non-traditional materials like foam, foam board, plastic, etc. I have experimented a bit with a hot-wire bow and I have cut a few wing cores from blue and white foam.

I have flown a few gliders and powered gliders recently, but while I am fairly confident of my flying skills, I should probably start with a high wing trainer - preferably 4 channel. I would appreciate any feedback/suggestions/advice about building medium-sized electrics with foam (blue or pink) or foam board. I would love to see any plans for such, build threads, or links to other sites with good information, but ANY help would be appreciated.

How would you suggest I use any combination of the following equipment?

I currently have:
- a Cermark cobalt 05 motor with an AF gearbox (helical)
- two Magnetic Mayhems (reverse)
- Master Airscrew gearbox(3.5:1) w/ 12-8 folder
- a 50A ESC
- a 30A Kontronic Sun 3000 ESC
- a few battery packs (sub c's) 6-10 cells
- a Futaba 6DA radio
- an Airtronics Vanguard 6 channel radio
- a Hitec Focus 2 channel radio

Thanks a ton, and Happy Holidays!!!!

Joe