ORIGINAL: opwan
Seems like everyone is leaning toward an ARF is OK opinion now. Which was the point I was trying to make in the first place. All aspects of this hobby should be taken into consideration and not looked down upon if they are not from a kit or scratch built. Simple. I will not ''keep quiet'' and I will speak up for my rights to fly ARF's. I did not mean to offend anyone in the beginning, I was trying to lighten the mood. Probably shouldn't have used the term ''stiffnecks'' but I get a little aggravated also when someone judges me and others by what we choose to fly. Different strokes for different folks. That is part of what makes this country what it is.
First off, nowhere in this entire ten-page thread has anyone ever made a statement to any person that ARF's aren't OK to own, fly, or even enter into any sort of contest/event/fly-in. "YOU" came up with that assumption from, well, only God knows where. Secondly, I own, and enjoy flying ARF's. Since I began in this hobby back in 2001, I've owned approximately 30, or so, different ones. Probably only one or two I couldn't have cared less about ever flying again. In fact, I've got six ARF's in my trailer as we speak, one of them being a Corsair. With that being said, I do own and fly one kit warbird, and I'm in the process of building another and will probably never enter it into a scale "contest". So, speaking for myself, I never made any mention of ARF's of any kind not being cool to fly. It sounds to me that the only people knocking the type of airplanes you fly are the people you fly with, which sorta seems hard for me to believe.
Getting back to the ARF vs. Kit subject, there's no question that ARF's should (and I feel that they will) have a place in "judged" events, whether it be straight out of the box or bashed to all get-out. Let's not confuse "judged" events with fun fly's/fly-in's. In my honest opinion, the public should never be able to vote. I, for one, have never been to any sort of event where that happens. I've only been to events where "registered pilots only" vote for their favorite plane, and this is generally the "pilot's choice award". Also, if a plane never flies during an event, it shouldn't be eligable for any award.