Well ARFs, RTFs, PNP's, BNF's, etc. do have their place in r/c. These are for people who want to fly but do not want or cannot build for various reasons. Over the past few months I purchased a PNP and a ARF just to "tide" me over while I was building the SIG Kougar and Komet.kits. Being involved in both building/flying kits and simply buying/flying something already built pretty much, I do notice a difference in how I treat the two. With the planes that I actually built, I take greater care in flying, handling, and maintaining the planes. With the PNP and ARF, it's more of a "temporary" feeling so I tend not to fly, handle, and maintain them as meticulously as I do with the one's I've built. In fact, my outlook on the PNP and ARF is that if it gets damaged or crashed, no big deal, I can just go out and buy another one.
Now since my Kougar is complete and the Komet is about 90% complete, I probably will be selling or giving away the PNP and ARF that I have. I've also got two more kits that I'm planning to build starting this spring. I've got both a Great Planes Patriot .40 and Patriot XL. I'll be doing some things with these birds that I've never done before like adding flaps and retracts to each one of them. These two may be the very last kits I build, as I will have four pretty nice birds operational and all I will need to do is maintain them. Building does take a very large amount of time and is very messy. I love the SIG kits and from my experiences in building them, there is a lot of sanding involved, especially in the construction of the wings. Looking over the Great Planes Patriot build, it appears that there isn't nearly as much sanding involved with the wings on those two birds, very big contrast compared to how SIG kits are designed in that area.