Sorry Dai but the quality of an ARF may be good these days but it will never be as good as A home built if the builder does his or her job correctly. Just yesterday I had to straighten out the tail feathers of A nice little trainer for A fellow, it was very warped.
On any of the ARFs I have assembled for people I have to reinforce the fire wall and landing gear block just to make them hold up for A while. Even then I have seen what passes for ply wood peal apart too often.
I have one 1/4 scale Extra ARF and although A great plane in the air it took A lot of beefing up in too many areas and I still ended up replacing the LG block after it split.
The wood in A kit may not be up to par either and I often replace A number of parts with wood I have stock piled from plans built planes I have made over the years.
By building myself I have the option to see any problems and make changes as I see fit during the build.
I don't mind the ARFs they have out today but I do think the ARCs are A better choice just because I can see things and get to them for repair or replacement. That and it's easier to get in there to fuel proof things, something that is still lacking in the ARF industrie. I also like to change the control rods and sometimes the complete system they come with. The ARC is just A better choice to be able to do this.
I have seen more ARCs these days and the quailty is quite good and with A little extra work they come out almost as well as A built model. Almost!!
JMHO