I like kits that have the main gear under the wing (wide stance), so I can modify it easily to a tricycle gear. Also like the wing to be sheeted on the leading edge, and cap strips on the ribs.
I don't like plywood fuses, prefer balsa with vertical balsa doublers. I like conventional aileron linkages (single servo). I like precision aerobatics, not frantic antics. I hate 3D, especially "Hover". But to each his own, no offense intended. I don't like cowls or wheel pants, struts, flying wires. I don't have the time or patience for scale planes anymore.

Believe it or not, many of the planes I scratch built (my own plans) have ended up as kits (close copy of mine, pure coincidence I'm sure). For example, I scratched a "Super Sportster" 15 years before Great Planes introduced a dead ringer. I used a canopy from an old Andrews kit, turns out it is the same as the Sportster canopy. I built several 4* like planes long before Sig introduced it. Go figure. Face it, a standard sport plane is pretty "generic".

I bought a GP Easy Sport about 5 years ago. I hated it when I built it, and disliked it when it was finished. It looked like an orange crate on wheels. Luckily on the maiden flight I forgot about the barbed wire fence at the end of my pasture runway. (the FS 52 was unharmed, the rest was "re-kitted". ) I was happy. I hadn't crashed a plane in 10 years, was getting boring. My favorite is a Tower Kaos 40, very simple build. (I cut all the parts and saved the kit).

So when I look for kits, I don't see anything new to me. Then I think, why spend $100 on a plane I can build for a few bucks of balsa. I almost bought the new GP Rapture, but after reading the manual changed my mind. Kits are getting too expensive.

I've built (and sold) 3 senior telemasters, maybe I'll start another one.

BO