Mike, what they didn't tell you, is that ARF is an acronym for "almost ready to fix"!

I once spent about 30 hours total in order to get a Cermark Pitts (really deserved the name) flight worthy. The defects of this (first series) kit were too numerous to liest and I'm certain that it would have broken-up in the air, if I hadn't taken the time to fix its many defects.