Kits rock. But I think I'd like scratch building better, if I ever tried it.........I don't have the tools right now to cut my own parts though.

I like scale planes........it seems I'm rarely totally satisfied with the look of even pretty good scale kits, there's often something in the basic design that I don't quite like. Plus many of the planes I'd like to model someday aren't available, at least not in the sizes I want. It would be great to be able to take a 3-view of the plane, draw plans based on this, and make the plane. I'd also like to be able to experiment with my own designs. But considering I've only built 3 complete kits (one of which was a Grasshopper, which barely qualifies ) I guess I better knock out a few more kits before tackling scratch building.

I've always felt ARFs were good for newbies so they don't have a huge time/effort investment only to smash the plane, and I can see how they are good for folks who don't have time to build or just don't care to, but I really get annoyed with the way they've take over the market. I just got a Tower catalog for the first time in several years.......it's only been about 3 or 4 years probably, and I could see the ARF activity picking up then, but I was surprised at the number of ARFs in this latest catalog. The saturation of ARF'ness is disgusting.

-Matt Bailey