This has been discussed before but its worth mentioning again. Whether or not ARFs upset you is directly related to how much you liked RC Flying being a "Niche" hobby. Back in "the day" you felt special that you were one of the few that had the skills to build and fly a model plane. You got together with like minded fellows and "Strutted your new Plummage" out at the field and loved every minute of the time that people "oohed" and "aaahed" at your building skills.

Now, anybody with the money can buy a plane that looks as good as the one you put months (years) of work into. You can claim that its not true and that "built is better" but truth be told ARFs LOOK great. Build quality may vary but they LOOK great and you can't see the quality under the covering at the field. If you build kits be proud of that fact. If you ASSEMBLE ARFS be proud of that.

I feel so bad for people who's entire identity in this hobby is being threatened because of ARFs. The problem is not with the ARF but with your attitude. Building is still a skill worth maintaining. You should be proud that you built a great plane. I'm not sure if you noticed but for the longest time this hobby was filled with the "too rich" to work and the retired. Now its filled with more and more kids and fathers flying ARFS. If you want to wait until all the "Builders die" before switching to ARFs than you don't really care about the hobby at all, becuase it would be dead too.

People want to work, raise a family and fly model planes at the same time. Maybe even take a few years to build a kit. They don't have the ability to spend 8 hours a day on a plane. What is wrong with that? Instead of RC Modeling slowly shrinking into a smaller and smaller niche before disappearing altogether, ARFs brought it back to life. Mock Chinese knockoffs all you want but but for every old Kit company that died, two ARF companies have taken their place. More planes for everyone. There are a ton of new companies in this space because they can make money and supply us with planes.

Instead of complaining that ARFs are the end of RC you should get out of your workshop and thank them for saving this hobby for your grandkids.

Time marches on......