I agree with you Jeremy. The demise of decent quality “builders” kits is a sad thing.
BVM used to do a Balsa version of the Electra.. This was a little bit smaller than the Bandit, and a bit bigger than a Mavrick. It was priced at just $1495, and could be fitted out with cheap retracts. They also did a turbine conversion kit as well, so a P 70 would be perfect.. Great looks, great performance, and not too expensive... (Well that is an opinion of course).
Alas, this balsa wing version was discontinued, no doubt due to poor sales.. Finishing one involved actually using glue and paint!!
You can still buy the Electra ARF, in plain white for less than $2,000 and I believe Tams does a turbine conversion kit.. It is still requires some building skills, and nowhere near the price of a Bandit.
Here is a build thread by k_sonn where i pinched this photo from..
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-j...tra-build.html