Pearl was my second plane, a Flitetest Simple Soarer because I really wanted to explore gliding.  This I cut from scratch using DTFB instead of a kit.  I printed the plans tiled and cut out that way.

I started out as just a glider for practice, and eventually put on a motor.  I later rebuild a custom motor pod to make it easier to battery in and out, as well as lengthening to remove the nose weight required with the original design.

Original wing in comparison to Sapphire's wing:

Original glider setup:

After awhile flying her as a motor glider, I built a straight wing with ailerons.  Using rudder and wing dihedral to turn didn't come naturally to me, and I much prefer the more active flying with bank and yank.  The straight wing was reinforced with a dowel, and later a second one so I could do more aggressive turns and loops.

With custom motor pod and straight wing:

The original polyhedral wing without ailerons was also much harder to fly with any wind, while the straight wing much easier. 

I started doing more sport and acrobatic flying, often flying Pearl with the straight wing.  Eventually the enjoyment of that style caused me to design Opal as a much more capable version all around.

Coming in for a landing: