Me?... Get in on the ARF/Kit debate?... Nawwwww....

Well, since you asked for my opinion... (we did?)

(Yes, you did, so sit down, shut up, an listen)

Ok, I will no longer say not to get an ARF, That just get's taken the wrong way. But if you get an ARF for your first plane, I STRONGLY recommend a KIT for your second (and most of your future planes). Here are some reasons why:

Building a kit will give you building and covering skills, something that all modelers will need at some point.

Trainer kits are much easier to build than more advanced kits are. So if you start with ARF's and stay with them, by the time you're ready to try a kit, you don't want to build something easy.

Let me rephrase that: Your flying levels are such that the type of plane you want to fly is a much more difficult build.

Here's an analogy: Suppose you went to Kindergarten, and 1st grade learning reading, writing, and 'rithmatic. Then in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade, you just learned science, math, geography and so on without the reading and writing (i know it's ridiculous, everything is oral ok? Just follow me here)

Now, 5th grade comes along, and you decide to start doing written assignments again. But now the books are full of words that you've never seen before! And CURSIVE WRITING!!! You are trying to read a 5th grade book with first grade reading skills! Of course it's tough! So you do the obvious thing... you stop reading and writing, and you tell everyone else not to bother to learn how to do it.

That's how I feel when someone says there's no reason to build a kit.

Time involved? When my son was a youngster, I got him a Goldberg Eagle II. I took a week off from work. We got the kit on a Saturday morning, and flew it the following Friday evening.

Something else that ARF buffs fail to consider is this: Framing up a kit (IE, building it to the point where it is ready to cover) takes so little time it's ridiculous. And so much of the work involved in assembling an ARF would take much less time if the parts weren't already covered. I have found that the things that take me the most amount of time on a basic kit are the things you have to do on an ARF anyway (such as mounting engine and radio, setting up linkages etc). The only real time-saver with an ARF IMHO is that it is already covered, and that's fine if you want your plane to look like all of the others.

I promise you, that If I had a trainer kit, and 3 hours a night, I could have it ready to fly in less than 3 weeks.

Send me a kit if you don't believe me.

An ARF is a great way to get something into the air quickly, but they shouldn't replace building. If you don't have time to build fly your ARF while you're building your next one. If you can't build, go back to 2nd grade and learn. You want an ARF cause it's a good one and you like the way it flies? Fine, get it, enjoy it if you already have building skills.

But I look at it like this: I'm half Italian, and to me, buying an ARF is like buying Spaghetti Sauce in a jar.

It just ain't natural.