When I started flying in 1971 there were no good ARF kits. There was Lanier but their plastic fuselages gave them a bad name. I you wanted to fly you had to build your own or buy one from somebody else. I discovered Ebay last year as source of the older kits and picked up about 6 of them, including a couple that I had back in the 70s and 80s. Prices vary based on who is bidding. I got an Andrews Trainermaster for $200 and a Southern R/C Bobcat for $160. That might seem high but if you figure inflation, that is about what they cost in the early 70s. I did pick up an OK Models Pilot QB40S that I just finished, and flew that is a wonderful kit and nice flying plane. The QB40S was only $41. Often on Ebay you have to compete with the "collectors" who have no interested in building the kit. A couple of years ago someone bid $700 for a Top Flite Taurus. A man at the field did tell me the other day that the market for collectible kits and engines is cooling off though.

And for me also is the personal satisfaction of flying something that I built, not someone in an overseas factory.