I have gotten back into the hobby after about 9 years and was suprised at how arfs had become so big adeal. I have always built my planes from kits, and my first plane(my girl friend bought me) getting back into the hobby was a kit. being an artist(bronze sculpture) I take great pride in creating something out of nothing. I also like to be in control of the manufacturing process to my standards. I will probably buy an arf at some point just to have a "quick" flyer, but in general enjoy the building process. right now I am building a Ziroli Dauntless Dive Bomber and am excited to see it fly. some of the problems I see with arfs besides poor glueing is that if its something you built you tend to be more protective of your plane (i.e. is it balance properly, glued properly, thrust line? etc.)but if its out of the box some people assume all is done for them already and if it crashes ... OH well throw it in the trash and get another one. the other problem is that some new R/C members who have yet to fly show up at the field and dont want, or ask for help with ther new purchase and waste ther money (crash) or hurt themselves or someone else. when I am at the local public field and people find out I built my planes thier eyes glaze over and they mumble about it being to hard! Not at all... it just requires patience. something the world seems to be lacking. on the same note though I visited a local private club whose members are about 90% builders( I am joining next month) they take pride in thier creations and are protective of thier "babies" . well thats about a nickels worth of soap box time so I will hop off.