I hear this argument at my field at least once every weekend or so. The answer is simple, there really isn't any way you can build a plane for the same cost that ARF's or RTF's are produced for. That's all there is to say in regards to the original question.

But now for the flip side of the argument. When people tell me that an ARF would have been cheaper than what it cost me to build a plane. My simple answer is "So what?" I don't build planes to save money. I build planes because I like building them. Nothing more, nothing less, no economic factors involved at all.

Ken