RE: Dwindling kit suppliers
I have had kits with die cutting, which was superb! Most of the recent kits I've built are a combination of laser cut, machined parts and die cut and I have no problem with this, if the quality is good. Great Planes used to have a very strong following of happy builders and satisfied customers. They were the first (in my memory) to use lots of photos and check-off list instruction booklets. What I think has happened is, they have started focusing on the ARF market as we R/Cers are telling them to!