My first build was a scratch build in about 1952 at age 7 or 8. It was a simple stick and tissue, rubber powered plane with just a bigger stick for a fuselage. Plans were in a magazine, and I even had had to cut my own sticks out of sheet balsa using a metal straight edge and a single edge razor blade, no x-acto knife yet! Soon started to build a series of Comet rubber powered kits,De Bolt control line, Berkley 1/2a control line and free flight kits, and even a 6' wingspan Cleveland models Condor sailplane. When you're only 4 1/2 foot tall, a 6 foot model airplane is BIG! Ah yes, Ambroid glue!!!!! Remember that smell? I never got to RC planes back then. RC was in its infancy and I couldn't possibly mow enough lawns to afford that. I dropped out of aeromodeling after high school, and after a "40 year break", returned in 2001 expecting to glue sticks together again to get a plane, but there was this strange thing called an "ARF"! What the heck is an ARF? Well cool, I didn't have to glue sticks together to "build" an airplane. Quickly learned to fly RC and built up a hanger full of ARFs. My previous building experience allowed my to repair and keep my ARF fleet flying. After 2 or 3 years of ARFing I had the itch to build a kit again and a G.P. Super Sportster 40 was my first kit build in 45 years. No sweat, "like riding a bicycle". My goal was to make it as good looking as a good ARF, and (just bragging a little) I nailed it! I continue to do ARFs and once a year or so I glue sticks together (build a kit). A mix of both keeps me happy, and my hanger is overflowing.