I am not sure of the US situation, but while we are at it we should nail International freight costs -- adds 20 - 30% to the cost down here in Oz.

A positive thought -- in such a small market isn't it great to see a set of people abslolutely passionate and committed to what they do'. Sure they dont get it all right as this thread well explores', and they all have different philosophies, and depending on which way you go you commit to investing your time in fixing different things. So I have an old Fascination (scratch built, including belly pan); a ZN Line Hydeaway (great fuz that has survived extreme torture including a mid-air -- on third set of wings -- couldnt get response from facctory first time so have rib templates and good strong wing tube mountings!); and Oxai Impression (awesome initial finish but now beginning to show hanger rash, least work to build, perfectly aligned out the factory but if ever I damage it it is almost in the camp of 'no user serviceable parts' -- it is not a readily fixable structrure and I could never get even close to the paintwork); and an Impact (great in flight -- after wrestling with oval wing tubes, wing warps, and seams that annoy each time you look at them)

What gets me is tha JP is so passionate about the stuff they build (have a look at his swipes at C-ARF), the guys at Oxai will do anything to protect their reputation for finish, Andreas at C-ARF has got closest to low price and responsive parts service, and PL are passionate about their models too (F3A and female!). And then there are people like Mike and a couple down here who take the time to build awesome 10lb wood models that are world competitive -- I only wish I had that skill! The Arresti started that way as a scratch built down here.

We may not be there yet, but with this level of passion and investment in R&D there is at least some hope that we will continue to get a choice of models, make pattern increasingly accessible to budding pilots (and not purely Formula One style for zillionaires or building professionals), and can get the flying to building ratio more on the flying side!!

And until someone gets to the perfect model (which we assume is impossible and will never happen and won't be to everyone's taste) it is great we have a global forum like this where people openly share their views and we all understand and can work around the shortcomings of our purchase decisions.

Happy flying!