I like 'em both! I enjoy building, but I am s-l--o---w at it. I take my time, and usually build WAY too heavy. I honestly had to buy an ARF sport plane a couple years back to attend a fun-fly because everything else was uncovered or nowhere near completion; and that ARF is still my most often flown plane (including skis in the winter). It's had three engines and I use it as a test bed because I'm a little more willing to risk it. I even have the center-of-gravity slightly behind the recommended range just to make it even snappier.

Not all ARF's are created equal. Some at our club have had wing ribs work loose from insufficient glue (NO glue in one case), and there have been several that had other glue-related failures. I had an RCM 40 that had the firewall seperate on an 'enthusiastic" landing.

Thinking back, I can recall only a couple airplanes I built without modifying the design in some way. One I even built "upside down" and made a low wing out of a shoulder wing. That's a BIG part of the fun in kit building. Making something unique or different.

Now if we could just get Great Planes to kit the Big Stik.