ORIGINAL: rcmiket
Good point. I guess R/C has gone through a natural progression. In the beginning if you wanted to fly you bought a box with some sticks and limited instructions and plans. Today we have cheap labor overseas providing us with some really nice AFR's from trainers to some pretty good scale stuff. I don't think any of us can build as cheap as a ARF. There will always be a portion of us who will build from kits and plans. Some complain of the lack of kits out there, well these companies have to remain profitable or close the doors, they have to sell what we buy. Since we din't buy the kits offered are we the ones to blame?
Not an intention to flame, but Building a model airplane has never been an inexpensive hobby. If building as cheaply as possible is the driving focus to being in this hobby, then It's probably not working out very well for you is it? I enjoy building to the best of my abilities. I still enjoy the modelling aspect of this hobby. I believe that to be a modeller, you must be able to make one, not just buy one. While I cannot possibly build as cheaply as I can buy an ARF of the same model airplane (I already have well in excess of $600.00 invested (tied up) in my 1/5th scale PICA Waco YMF. I could now purchase this same airplane in ARF form from COX for under $400.00. So why do I still build them? It's simple, mine do not look just like the next one out of the box. Mine have details and features that cannot be replicated with the ARF. You won't be able to customize yours to the point that someone cannot still tell that it is an ARF (unless you totally strip the covering and rebuild the model)(then why bother). I like to have something that everyone cannot have. Therefore, I build it.
Bill, AMA 4720