ARF's versus KIT's the saga continues
I must lean towards the argument saying that you should have an ARF as your first plane. The problem with a newbie building their first kit is "heck, I KNOW what I'm doing" Then proceeds to put the wings together without putting glue all over the joiner (yes I've seen this happen) or uses only 2 bolts to mount the engine (yep) and lastly uses all 3 feet of fuel tubing on a .40 sized plane (seen this too). Usually the ARF directions are much more focused at explaining every little detail, and the KIT plans assume you have some experience and tend to skip a few steps. As every hobby has a progression of skill and prestige, I have to say that ARF's are mostly easy and non-unique, and Kits tend to get all the "oohs and ahhs" All in all this hobby is for fun. What's fun to one person might not be fun to another....and who are we to judge what others think is fun? Some people just can't change.