Gary, the term is ASSEMBLING an ARF and BUILDING a kit. Just a fine point in terms. A lot of us call building from a set of plans SCRATCH building but true scratch building is to build from plans you have designed and drawn. Some of us are very touchy about the terms. I build a lot from plans but I still call it scratch building from plans, that way people know what and how I am doing something. Over the years terms have been a heated subject a couple of times. I don't worry too much about it unless I see ARFs called kits and assembling an ARF as building unless I see it written in a magazine. Then I know the writer is an idiot and it's not an article worth reading. If we know you are speaking of a glow engine but you say gas not too many people care but you will be corrected by someone.
In a crash or shall we say a hard landing the wing is almost always a survivor, it's the fuse that takes the beating. Most people have a good collection of wings. If you have an instructor he will set you up on a buddy box. I tell my students to not give crashing a second thought. Most the time the student can't get the plane to do something I can't save it from. I have one old student I have to keep telling to take the plane higher because he is too low for me to save the plane if he does something silly. He soloed and is a pretty good pilot but he has been out of it for a few years, It's a re-train. I don't worry too much about him but he tends to do things with the plane without telling me he is going to do it. Not good on an old guys hart!!!