I have one ARF. I have two kits under my belt. Super Sportster 60 (now discontinued *#&@^&$, oh that's another thread) and a Yak-3 from Redstar RC. I have built 3 planes from scratch (a SS 20 scaled down from my SS 60 planes, and two trainers though one was a little heavy and has been retired).

The ARF that I have is a GP Uproar 40 that was a gift. I will tell you that this plane can fly. So much so that I am trying to fly it into the ground. But having said that, I don't think that I will buy another (except for a $69 trainer from V-mar if need, I have a 6 year old that is learning). I personnally think that ARFs a great, they offer a product to a lot of people who love to fly but not build. The only problem I have is with manufactures of kits. Many of these guy's are dropping their kits and offering more and more ARFs. I am assuming that they get more margin off of these. The real issue that I think has most of us kit builders concerned with is ARF at the expense of Kits. That is what I see happening, fewer and fewer kits of the planes we love only to have them be available as ARFs only.

Remember, building is a hobby, flying is a sport. But I will tell you, at least at my field, even a not so pretty kit plane will glean a lot more admeration from the club than the prettiest ARF that some one just assembled.

Build a plane, make it unique, make it yours and then show it off to everyone you can!