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ORIGINAL: jollyroger
I have to agree that ARF's are not a hobby. I enjoy building kits and and a few so far from plans.
ORIGINAL: mike31
Arf's are not a hobby. Building from scratch or a kit is more like it. One gets a better sense of self worth when something he or she builds with their own hands and mind flys, floats or runs. It's has to do with pride.
ORIGINAL: lazy eight
The hobby would be better off if there was no such thing as a Chines ARF. It has killed the local hobby shops and made us LAZY!
It's self-centered egotistical crap like this that drives a lot of newbies out of the hobby. Some of us, for whatever reason, don't have a scratch-built plane. It may be a lack of time, it may be a lack of skill, it may simply be because they don't want to build. Doesn't matter. Deal with it.
For me it's a lack of skill. I'd rather learn to fly on something I know is going to hold together and that I can just order a new wing/fuse/tail feathers for if I stuff it. I'll have the new part ordered and on the plane within a week, which lets me practice my flying AND learn how to build via repairing the broken parts in the time between flights, and as an added bonus I don't risk crashing something I spent months working on because I lack the skills to fly it. I will eventually get into building, hell I may even build one of my own design, but right now, the ARF hanging on my wall is my gateway into this great hobby, and any kit snobs that want to tell me otherwise will just have to stuff their comments where the sun don't shine.
I also own a few ARFs and while they fly ok, it's not the same as building. I noticed there are a couple who seem to lack much patience for even putting an ARF together. maybe its because the young people of today are so used to instantaneous gratification of TV, and computer games, etc.
If I had a penny for every time I heard someone mutter this rant I'd be able to buy all the ARF makers and move production back to the US.
Not all youth are spoiled by instant gratification, and I've seen my fair share of old folks who are.
I'm not knocking ARFs
Yes, you are. If you weren't, you wouldn't have said they weren't a hobby.