I have no doubt you could build a kit in 3 weeks, but how long is it going to take a complete newbie to build it? You see, that IS the point in all this.

This summer I saw 3 kits brought to the field by guys who had inherited them after they had been abandoned. Needless to say, the original purchaser hasn't stuck with the hobby.

By buying an ARF I did learn the basics of model building and acquired a bunch of tools. I ALSO got flying in just 4 weeks, (I still shudder to think how long it would have taken me to get flying if I had dove into a kit).

So, now I am 1) Committed to the hobby, since flying IS as much fun as it looked, 2) Ready to spend the winter building a kit.

Surely this is as much a religious debate as anything, but I think it can be very difficult to remember how hard something was in the beginning when you have become an expert (like riding a bike). So, in my opinion, an experience modeler is not more qualified in giving ARF vs. Kit advice than a relatively successful newcomer.

In any case, free advice (mine included) is worth exactly what you paid for it.

GB