This web site is dedicated to the construction of Harley Michaelis' Genie Line of Sailplanes as well as the general promotion of build your own or scratch built models. Building a model is slowly becoming a lost art. The commodities of time and space needed to build a model have moved RC model enthusiasts away from building and flying toward buying and flying models.

This is true not just in radio control soaring but in RC cars, boats, helicopters, model rockets, plastic models, die cast models, model railroads, the list goes on and on. You don't buy a model kit to build anymore, you buy a completed model, partially or close to completely assembled with a high quality finish ready to use, and sometimes it even comes with the batteries.

I know that the quality and price for almost-ready-to-fly models has greatly improved over the last few years. I have a couple myself. But it's not the same thing as building your own and flying it. Just ask your buddy that does it. Harley Michaelis has been a tireless promoter of the "Build Your Own" for decades. Many of his published plans can be found in magazine archives.

Over the years he has refined the Genie line to a degree that is not rivaled. He has made available instruction pages and material lists, and parts sourcing at no cost, plans and small parts packages at a minimal cost to help novice do-it-yourselfers stay motivated.

The Genie has become a favorite of mine in no small part thanks to Harley. I have started this web site to share my love of building and to help promote what Harley has advocated all along. Building and flying is better than buying and flying. Find a space, make some time, get lost in the dust and see your model fly in your head before it leaves the bench.

Michael "Augie" McKibben
LSF 7720 - Level IV