RE: Building vs Assembling [kits vs arf]
I am beginning to get a sense that at least some modelers are starting to get bored with ARFs, and that there is an increasing trend toward building your own kits. Some of the evidence for this can be found in the increasing interest in two AMA Special Interest Groups, (SIGs)--namely the Vintage R/C Society, (VR/CS), and the Senior Pattern Association, (SPA).
Be on the lookout for an upcoming article in Model Aviation magazine that highlights in detail these two great groups of modelers, and what they are all about. Both groups promote Vintage R/C, (and the traditionally-built models of that time). It is gratifying to see that everybody in this thread is making one of the points I made in that article--that these groups are growing partly because there is a tendency in each of us to be individuals, and fly something different than the crowd--in this case, vintage R/C. Article should appear sometime this winter.
Building is making a comeback--it won't take over, but it will always be there.
You heard it here first.