Anyone knows this design?

About 20 years (and more) ago having post send by boat was still a option from the states.
Those days i used to buy from both hobby lobby and tower.
Even still have a cox flying saucer that "america's hobby centre" from New York sold for $11 one time.
Here glow plugs alone where more expensive then that so with a friend bought 6 of them.

A few years later a bottle of green zap ca had leaked that was part of a order from tower.
Send them a email with a picture and asked if they could resend me the bottle of glue.
They did .. and the whole order again too..

These days even shipping from the uk (almost next door) is expensive IF they send international at all...

Yes, @cmulder, I remember those "good old days". Sea mail then was an option, it took a good month, sometimes a little more from Continental US to Hawaii, but it was very reasonable pricing.

In the early 1970's ordered from Hobby Shack in Fountain Valley, California, a CG Jr. Falcon kit and OS Pet .06 engine. I wanted a little more power than a Golden Bee would provide. To my surprise, since the Pet was not in stock, they substituted a new boxed, OS Max .10R/C engine at no extra cost. I bought a Golden Bee from one of the local military hobby stores and used that to power the Falcon.

Later, I put that .10 engine (only 3 oz. with exhaust baffle for idle, loud as a .049 on full throttle) in a 39" Top Flite Ken Willard R/C Schoolmaster. That was the best stunting rudder only with auxiliary 3 position quick blip throttle on my Ace R/C Pulse Commander proportional radio. At full throttle on a 7x4 nylon Tornado prop on a Cox fuel mix, it would climb out at a 45º angle. Half throttle flew like I had a .049 in it. At idle, then could even shoot touch and goes. (Field was all grass, no paved runway, so I would come within 6 inches of ground then hit full throttle.)

Yes, sea mail was a very good and viable option back then. Even bought camera equipment from T.M. Chan in Hong Kong (remember the then new Olympus OM-1 compact 35mm SLR? cheaper even with duty than elsewhere, paid with money order). Unfortunately, sea mail has been discontinued for air shipment, which now is even more expensive. Because of cost, I didn't mind the wait. May be one of these days they will bring it back.

Sure many people prefer to save the money and don't mind to wait.
Especially with bigger volume items it was a greath option.

Though i must admit..
The one time I been in the states i "went shopping"
Back then the Euro the Dollar exange was $1.60 for each euro..
Now its about equal ...

Ended up using a box from a kitchen refrigerator (a 2 door full height american one, not the small euro sized)
To get it all home found a freight forwarding company at the local airport and they aranged it to be transported if there was "room left" on a flight. (so cheap)

Few weeks later got a call got a call from a lady at my local airport here who was a bit confused.
She was from customs.
So i went over to the office there we unpacked the whole box and explained what each item was.
It included things like a tower 40 trainer , a robbe futura se helicopter, and loads of wood/hardware/covering film.
In the end since many items where used they only charged me a nominal handeling fee

None of that would be possible these days...

GallopingGhostler wrote:................
Given the high cost of shipping these days plus taxes, unfortunately, appears one may be better off taking one of the on-line plans and rolling their own.
................

Unless you're buying a substantial amount of an item or a high dollar item, HIS many times turns out to be more than the product. While Amazon Prime helps out, many items I purchase aren't available there. Six dollars to ship four screws is just wrong!

I did have the larger Miss Stick Senior kit when Hobby Lobby was still selling them, but our windy conditions here made it impractical to build. So, after having it for a number of years, gave it to a friend who builds Pat Trittle lightweight design models. He usually flies with Pat Trittle, when he's in Albuquerque, where winds at Balloon Fiesta Park are shielded by the mountain range there.

May be one of these days I may live where the winds are milder during summers. Then such would be practical.

Problem we have here is very few trees, wide open prairie. For us, calm is 10 mph winds. When it builds to over 22 mph, then it is time to call it a day. We may be get 4 days a year of total calm. I used to gather weather data for utilities consumption reporting for the base. Every month of the year, we had at least a day or more with wind gusts over 50 mph. Highest winds we have had was in the 90 mph (gale conditions).

Riding motorcycle is interesting. I used to ride a Suzuki LS650 Savage, a lightweight entry level cruiser. Because it was lighter, I learned how to handle the winds, basically hold the handlebars light, feel the hand opposite to nudge into the wind to keep tracking straight. One time riding home from the base heading east, have a 12 mile trek, was watching scads of tumble weeds rolling along side me may be 10 mph slower along a farmer's grazing field as I was doing 55 mph. That was a weird, eerie sight.

For CL, the smallest practical plane is a .15, although I witnessed Ron Cribbs doing an excellent job with a Baby Clown and hopped up .049 Medallion doing its rounds in the wind. For RC, a hot .09 like the Enya III is a good minimum, hard to fly half-A reedies. Flying single channel rudder only is out, elevator control is a must. They say you need ailerons, but I have managed to do well on rudder, many philosophers out there.