I m a relatively new flyer with only a short 2+ year experience, and age in the forties. I learned flying with an ARF trainer, and have since put together 6 ARF, ranging from sports, pattern ships and a war bird. My latest on-going project is a low wing kit from MK.
My personal experience so far ...
1) Had I started off with a kit, I would have been too eager to get it completed to fly, and would have made a lot of beginner's mistakes such as not taking the time on alignment of the wing, stab, and vert fin, or even ending up with a warped wing.
2) Even when building ARF, I did learn the importance and the effective ways of aligning the wing, stab and vert fin, right from my very first ARF, all thanks to the coaching from my club members.
3) With ARF, I learned how to fly, and in the process, realized and internalized the major contributing factors such as the above, and plus more.
4) With ARF, AND coaching from my club members, I managed to learn to fly reasonably straight and level, less elliptically loops most of the time
, and in a more controlled manner and constant speed throughout many of the basic and intermediate precision maneuvers.
5) For points 2, 3 and 4 above, I observed the same for a buddy who started flying around the same time as I.
6) Have I had bad crashes before? Yes, and all due to my own errors, no fault of the planes. I had to scrap 3 ships, but all other ships that had bad damages - wing tip to tip somersault on cross wind landing, 85 degree vertical dive into ground due to receiver failure - had been repaired successfully. All are tracking well and one is doing high G turns (e.g. A 46 size Dago Red with a YS91
). I think reinforcements at the right places and the patient repair jobs had been key to these successes.
7) As I build the kit now, every so often, I count the blessing of having planes to fly (ARF ones), and enjoying the satisfaction of seeing the parts being formed at the same time - for I cannot stop myself from imagining that if this were to be my 1st plane, I would have been spending time thinking about how many more days to completion, instead spending those time on thinking how best I can fit the parts in and get them properly aligned.
8) Am I learning things from building kits that I could never have learned from putting ARF together? A resounding yes.
9) Would this knowledge help me in repair jobs in the future (ARF or not)? I am certain that it will be. As for now, I have already learn which joints need to have epoxy, and which joints need only to have CA.
10) If I were to start all over again, which path would I choose? I would still choose to start with ARF to learn to appreciate flying, and then go for kit building.
11) Why would I make such a choice? Because that is me, and that is my learning style, and I wanted to learn flying first, and then move on to building as I enjoy the flying. To me, this is best of both worlds.
12) Did ARF make my entry into this hobby easier? A resounding yes.
13) Does going ARF mean less personalization? Well, IMHO, this is quite debatable. What if everyone buys and builds the same few kits? What if I tear off the stock ARF covering, and put on my own color scheme? Of course I have to balance between time to build a kit vs the additional $ to be invested on a set covering job on top of the $ spent on the original ARF.
14) Is building making a come back? I m not sure. At this time, I am very much inclined to build, that make me a +1 in kit. Bu then again, I m not ruling ARF as my next purchase.
IMHO, I believe each type of build has its place in this hobby. I think different facets of the hobby gives a different set of satisfaction, hassles and pains. Combining this with the various stages of ones life and personality, the hobby gives different answer to different people at different time - it all depends on what does one wants out of this fascinating hobby.
For me, my learning so far is that the common denominators, regardless building or ARF: -
a) coaching, suggestions and advice from good meaning club members had been an invaluable resource.
b) coaching, suggestions and advice from good meaning flyers (e.g. you) had been an invaluable resource.
c) non-warped wings, stab and vert fins must be sufficiently aligned
d) enjoy --- this is a hobby.
And yes, I'd love to see both ARF and kits being kept alive and kicking - more choices for everyone means more people coming into this hobby, means more attractive market, means more innovations and better prices, means more choices ..... [sm=thumbup.gif],
Good building and flying to all!
gc