ORIGINAL: crankpin
My 2 cents. I have build many a plane in my day.. I believe that ARF's have brought more flyer's, or person's into the hobby. This increases AMA and other SIG membership. What does this do ? Brings down the cost of radio gear, the kits, and more participation in events.
What if we had to go to a dealer, order our favorite car or truck, in kit form ?
Crank
I agree with that 100% and I think ARFs are very valuable to the modeling community. As I said, I have both types of aircraft in my collection. I also think that most guys that do ARFs are knowledgeable and lots of them are experienced guys who used to build, but now, because of time constraints, etc., go the ARF route.
I think Ron's comments though are for *some* of the noob segment of the community that want the big, complex, fast, etc. hardware without being willing to gain the experience necessary to operate, repair, inspect, etc. themselves, and in cases related by several individuals here, including Ron, *expect* to be able to get "free" help from those who have gained the experience the hard way...
Not all guys who assemble ARFs are "ARFers"...
Bob