Ted Wagner wrote:
I've read about a dozen back issues of the Soaring magazines laying
about my local club, but I have yet to come across a layman's buyer's
guide (or any, for that matter). I've done some 'Net surfing as well,
with no luck. And I'm surprised by the variety of manufacturers and
models.

You can also go to

www.google.com

and type in "johnson flight test L-33"
or whatever sailplane you want instead of the L-33.
This gives you .pdf files of the back issue soaring
articles. He focusses heavily on flight, of course,
so that doesn't do much for assembly/price/wing weight,
etc. Some great stuff there about how to "tweak"
aerodynamic improvements of particular sailplanes too.