ORIGINAL: Ken Bryant
PNP, is good for those people who just lack the time to put an ARF or kit together. It's really not that new of a concept. It's just now reaching people with pockets that arn't very deep. People have been paying builders to put thier stuff together for a very long time.
PNP will introduce or re-introduce people to the hobby and get them flying. After they go to a field a few times they will see all the other planes, engines and equipment being used and they will find the time to build too
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They are good for folks that lack the time OR INTEREST to assemble an ARF.
There have been times in my life when I really enjoyed building. I've even designed, built and flown models that came from my own brain. Then there have been times when I have been busy doing other things, but still wanted to keep my hand in at flying, but would have paid handsome money to have a model that I could buy that was ready to go. I learned to fly R/C on two RTF Testor Skyhawk plastic and foam .049 powered single channel models in 1969. I was working full time and playing three nights a week in a bar band. I simply didn't have the time to build. But those two Skyhawks got the job done and taught me how to fly, without me building a single thing. Keep in mind that this was in 1969!
Sometimes I'll go through a phase of just having to create my own model and flying them. Other times, the Plug-N-Play concept would be absolutely perfect for the situation that I am in at the moment.
Notice that the two leading model suppliers in the country offer PNP models with their housebrand engines only, these days, IIRC. That is how they keep the price down and profits up.
Frankly, it isn't much work to pull their engine and to replace it with an OS, then sell their housebrand engine here on RCU. I doubt you will ever see the PNP models coming equipped with an OS, or other name brand engine. But I have been wrong before.