Feral bees don't use foundation either, but they do build some crazy combs. I have a little experience, and have run all three, foundation, plastic and foundationless. foundation being my least favorite, wax moths or SHB, then you have to unassemble the frames order new foundation possibly rewire the frames. Plastic is much better in that regard, the pests can only get to one side of the frame at a time (wax moth larvae like to eat the middle), then like stated before you just scrape it and put it back in. Foundationless is my favorite, once you assemble the frame that's it, no foundation, and when it gets messed up you just cut it out with a knife and they build it back. The previous post was correct, the bees initially cluster around the queen cage, so the first box is usually drawn from the tops down if you hang the cage from the top, once you add the second box they are moving up and just start building, you have to give them at least one drawn frame or they will draw some pretty cool combs that aren't inspection friendly. I would second one of each, and compare.