ORIGINAL: elenasgrumpy
I agree. While I Know there is great satisfaction to be had by building from kit or scratch, sometimes it just isn't the prudent thing do. I think this may be one of those times. As the guys said, buying each item at a time can get very costly & you pretty much already stated that you don't even know what all those items are yet. No shame in that at all but not knowing what to buy on a budget & buying a bunch of wrong stuff is even costlier yet!! I think if you could manage to come up with an ARF, an engine & a flight pack you might want to think about getting some ARFs under your belt first. Then a little later down the road when you're ready to try a kit you will be in a much better position I believe. There is still a lot of work left to be done to assemble an ARF well, & done right you will have a very nice bird on your hands. You will have a much better understanding of what goes in to the building of a glow-powered plane. Then when you do your kit build you'll know what kind of hardware packs you like or dislike. Which control horn & clevis, little stuff like that you still need to buy with some kits while most ARFs come as a complete airframe including landing gear, fuel tank, push-rods & hardware pack, a spinner & a pilot named crash!
I just think you could still learn a lot of good stuff starting out with ARFs & working your way up to kits. I know that I have learned a lot of info about building in here & in hands on, just doing ARFs. Good luck in what ever you decide.
I find it a little disconcerning that so many people push ARF's instead of building. Before I continue with my rant, let me say that I do buy and fly ARF's for various reasons.
Building to me is 50% or more of this hobby. - remember I said to me... I understand that not all people want to or have the time to build a kit. Yes, it CAN also be a bit more expensive. - Usually not as much as you think. This guy aparently WANTS to build a kit and was asking which kit he should build and what is needed.
I strongly disagree that someone should start out with an ARF. There is so much to be learned from contructing an airframe, covering, ect. that will be missed by assembling an ARF.
My recommendation is to build a Sig Kadet, Goldberg Eagle 2, or Great Planes PT 40.
You'll need a flat building board like a ceiling tile (something that you can push pins into).
Glue- 30 min Epoxy, Med and Thin CA
Box of 100 #11 Exacto blades
Razor saw
Various grits of sandpaper
Drill bits and other various hand tools.
All of these items most likely would be needed to assemble an ARF anyway, so there really isn't any additional cost there.
The additional cost would be in the covering material, fuel tank, wheels and maybe some hardware. In the end, the builder now has a plane that he or she has something unique and they can be proud to bring to the field.