I think you are fooling yourselves about ARF's slowing down with respect to kit sales. I would say: As goes the ARF sales, so goes the RC hobby sales. ARFs are what the market is demanding and I suspect that if the demand for ARF's decreases, it's not because of a resurgence of demand for kits; it's because the whole hobby is in a slump. I just look at the field every weekend and see that 90-100% of the planes are ARFs, those of us that like to build ([link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3322308/tm.htm]me included[/link]) are out numbered by folks who just like to fly and have no interest in building.

I don't subscribe to the half the hobby mentality either. Building is a hobby in itself and many folks just don't have the interest/skills/time to participate. It's great that they are no longer forced to slog through month(s) of building to gain access to the flying hobby. Unfortunately, this means some companies may discontinue some kits that we like to build.

I don't think I'll be holding my breath for Great Planes to go under or “cut their own throats”, if they did it won't be due to their sale of ARF's, it'll be because the whole hobby has gone into the crapper. That would be bad for all of us; the builders and the flyers.

My .02,
Scott.