Hi Doug, You said that SuperTurbine ™ was the logical continuation of Laddermill. But The Pyramid seems to be considered by his author as "my “Superturbine” ". by a similar reasoning.
Indeed we have a large number of theoretical studies around AWE, and also some data from real experiments that are valuable. A cross-check with necessary extrapolations specific to the investigated method can be sufficient to determine if such a method can be promising.
With a little practice we can debunk our own bad ideas, without having to build prototypes.
And yourself @dougselsam , do you never debunk some AWES (kite-reeling for example)? Do you build prototypes for this?
That said, when a thorough investigation finally holds up, building a prototype eventually becomes necessary.
Concerning the Pyramid, it seems that the Using Durafly Excalibur for rotary takeoff in The Pyramid topic is already a step towards a material realization, by using model airplanes.