Here's one I've been playing with lately. The Clancey Baby Bee. I bought it at Hobby People. It comes with a geared 180 motor. After flying it around like that for a week or so I attached an MP Jet brushless motor with gearbox. ($49.00). It's a bit stronger than a speed 400. It swings a 7x6 prop and is powered by a1500 mah 3 cell li-po pack @12.4v($48.00). Using a Castle creations 25 amp esc ($75.00). Now it will go vertical! What a fantastic improvement. I'm getting 3d performance from a 3 channel plane. I get appx. 30 minutes on that pack. If I use the Thunder Power 2 cell 2100 mah pack I get 56 minute flight time with some throttle management. If you've bought one of these little planes and want to hop it up. Try throwing the brushless and Li-Pos' in it. Wow!! What a difference.
Just a few months back I was whining about the prices of brushless motors. They're still too high, but they sure are fun.
Don.