hey dennis! I like that prop rotation and flexy mount idea!
I know what you mean, some of the things parent's are willing to spend money on is absolutely nuts. no WAY would a kid be getting a $1000 phone in my house.
on those same lines, also goes my ideas. for some reason, people are willing to spend stupid amounts on "stylish" things, but not so much on things that actually teach life skills. considering it's a model, and it'd need to be built, I have a feeling many parents would be like "yeah, no.... not spending money on something that's not even ready to go". So, the idea of having everything in the box and ready to go is what I'm going after, and easy enough to assemble w/ directions clear enough that just about anyone could do it is what I'm going for. once I get my prototype built, I'm going to make another "kit" and give it to my girlfriend to build first, and get her input (she's awesome at writing procedural documents, a byproduct of being a government employee). then another for my niece or nephew to build solo (10 and 11 years old), get their feedback.
from there, beta testing (maybe send it to school with them to fool around with or around the neighborhood).....
this entire thing has got to be something a kid of say, 10 years old, can make the decision on himself to save his pennies and reach a target of savings quickly. I feel like I may be fighting a one man regional battle, but some of the words of encouragement I'm getting from you guys is helpful! AMA or industry isn't really going to help our cause, it's up to us. and I'm not a huge fan of complaining without putting effort in to it first! you hear a mess of "it'll never work" comments and the such with new ideas, but, at least we can say we tried!