Are kits really dying???
Before I opened my hobby shop, I investigated the matter extensively and gotten information straight from the source, meaning other industry members such as kit manufacturers. They tell me that yes indeed, kits are dying. They would much rather sell kits and so would distributors, so they could sell all of the assessories that go along with kit building. Thing is, kits were just not selling so they had to do something to stay in business, which was mostly importing ARFs from overseas, since they could make ARFs in the US to compete with those made in Taiwan.
Business 101.
In their market research, kit manufacturers discovered that the public is being inundated with such negative info from the old hand that crashing in the learning process is all but assured, so why would beginners spend months building a trainer that will most likely be rekitted ASAP? Keep in mind this is not my opinion but info I gathers from kit manufacturers themselves. If kits aren't selling, for whatever reason, and ARFs are....
nascarjoe