Please don't get me wrong. I think most of the higher quality ARF's nice planes. I just wish more attention was payed to the skills of building rather than as you say, showing up with a 1/3 scale plane a week after solo.
I have to admit, I have built models since I was a kid and I just got back into this last year, and have found my building skills took little or no time to reestablish. I'm having more fun with it now than ever.
I think for guys who want to fly ARF's prefer it, then that is their perogative, as you say. It is in fact their money. Maybe I am just too frugal. I really think we are not disagreeing that much if at all here. I just think that this revolution is having an effect on the hobby that has alot of guys new and old, questioning where it will take us. Will it be a benefit or a detriment? It has saved the hobby in many ways by bringing lots of people into it. But, it has started to erode the old skills of building and the availability of kits I think.
I have to refer you back to my earlier thread, where I specifically said I think it is our job as builders to really get as many ARF'ers into the hobby as far as they can go, and teach them about the skills of building rather than bash them for flying ARF's. I do my best to try and cheer guys on who have built ARF's and no want to try a kit. I think that is awesome to see. It is better than bashing, which can essentially balkanize the hobby into builders and flyers. But sometimes the disgruntleness gets the better of all of us.
I have come to the realization that ARF's are not going anywhere, they are here to stay, whether the most die-hard builders like it or not. I guess what I am doing here is trying to do in essence what you were doing by modifying your plane as you stated. The more you get a guy to dive into repairing and modifying his plane, the more he may be headed into the direction of building a plane of his own someday with the acquired skills he recieved from us earlier on.
I am not sure we are really disgreeing here. I think the safety issue is one we both agree upon. All I can say is this, it is imperative to constantly press the inspection and thus the safety of ones ARF to make sure they can enjoy many safe and happy flights. Of course the same really goes for a kit built plane too. But, I think with ARF's it is even more important to constantly address in order to prevent complacency with a plane that has been pre-built.
I know this seems presumptuous, but from my observations, it seems that ARF'ers tend not have as much caution when they fly arf's vs. flying a kit, as they have no personal time invested. This not ALWAYS the case hoewever, but overall I think it seems to be that way. Which is why I refer back to the previous statement of pressing safety and inspection as much as possible.

Patriot