Gents,
It really comes down to supply and demand. If they the manufacturers kit a particular plane and it does not sell, they wasted a lot of money on die cutting and tooling. If they kit a plane that is a hot seller you will see a ton of knock offs, God how many Yaks and extras can this hobby produce. If I was to start a company that was a kit supplier I would go all laser cut, because yo u can take plans and change them for size, do running changes and not have to re tool etc. I just wish teh big boys would get there heads out of thier backsides and offer kits in all sizes...say a 1/4 scale, a 1/3 scale and maybe even larger. people I think would pay the price if the kit was good, well designed and had good quality wood. Where they often make a huge mistake is they cheap out on the little things and that is where they lose interest. However having said all that, with the increasing demand for ARF's (which get people flying quicker), park flyers (for those that do not want to invest a lot) and foamies, (for those guys that just want to fly in a park somewhere) as well as electrics, it will be a frosty day in hell before Great Planes, Top Flite, Sig or Midwest as well as numerous others tool up to produce kits of any quantity. There are a ton of good kits out there that have been discontinued, the key is for more people to demand kits again...NOT arf's.