I had talked to Horizon rep a few years ago at Toledo, asking about new warbirds and ARF's they said no axis planes (this was before the Me109 came out) due to poor sales/ low demand of axis planes- but The CMP 109 was sold out for the over a year due to high demand. Now their 109 does pretty darn well but with a whopping price-tag for a .60 size plane. Now they have released their new P-47 (which is a work of art -Actually looks like a Kyosho styled covering & build up), but at $369.00 for a .60 size ARF...I find it almost impossible to justify purchasing- Especially when ESM & the likes are that price (or even less) for a 72"WS bird of excellent quality.
Don't get me wrong H9- beats VQ & VMAR & Nitroplanes quality- But with electric retracts, their aftermarket struts, a 2.4 system, a 15cc gas engine and their ARF, would make their new H9 .60 size P-47 over $1000.00.
That's a lot of $$ for a "Hobby"...I started in this as a kid, and can afford such an addiction. However, this begs the question: How can a kid these days afford something like that ?
I'm all for building, but hardly anyone does it these days.
I fear with prices like that foamies may push out built-up planes from the market all together based on such absorptive costs alone.
This hobby should be accessible to our youth- Hardly any newcomers to our club know anything about building and Built up arf's are essentially disposab;e commodities given the lack of building knowledge. - but that's another conversation in itself.

I get the impression someone there said: "hey lets create a .50 size class that is really a .40 size class and we can bump up the price of all the other lines too- it's a win win for all Horizon models".
They brought in their .50 class birds and priced them as .60 size birds so they could charge 1.20 price for their .60 size planes.
I understand inflations, rising costs, and all that - ( I also know that ARF's in the USA are less than most other countries) However, I still think someone is getting taken advantage of here.
If anyone ever complains from Horizon that sales are not as they had hoped...maybe it's because they price their new over $100.00 too high.
I rarely rant- but these prices make me sad for the future of our "Hobby".