Geraldo, I will take your word that you're an excellent builder. Good for you. Personally, even though I started this RC hobby more than 20yrs ago and have since kit built and scratch built countless planes of all sorts, I do try to keep an objective eye when it comes to evaluation these latest ARFs - without my ego clouding the picture. Fact is, most ARFs today are built better than 90% of the kit builders can muster. An even for the other 10% who can build better than the ARF factory, the deciding advantage is TIME, not skill. And unfortunately, time is a scare commodity for the vast majority of us today.

I would much prefer a newbie show up at the field with a well-engineered factory jig-built 95% finished ARF, leaving very little for the budding RCer to screw up, rather than requiring the poor sap to try to learn to BUILD and FLY all at once. The chance of success is much higher and so is the retention ratio.

As to the complaint that ARFs needing work to "get right", well..., by all means, do it! I made modifications to my ARFs all the time - some questionably necessary, others pure builder's embellishments. Everybody's idea of what is good construction is different. ARFs and kits can end up being identical airplanes. Difference is: kits give you a package which is 20% finished; ARFs are 80% finished.