Whether you build or buy it doesn't really matter. What does, is acquiring the skills to set the airplane up and fly it safely. I quit teaching newbies because time and again they would show up with an airplane that was sometimes not even finished, a radio that was not set up or had basic programing and expect me or another instructor to set it up for them. They didn't want me to teach them how to set it up, that was to much like hard work! That is your "checkbook modeler".