I started in RC back in 1970. I built a Goldberg 1/2 A Skylane, a Sterling Mambo Special, a Little Stick, and a Sig Piper Cub. None of them made it past their first flight. No buddy boxes back then (heck, I didn't even fly them -- one of the club's veteran pilots was!) I was so disappointed that I dropped out of the hobby for many years. Ran into a guy who had been in the local club and he suggested I try it again (circa 1990). This time, with a buddy box, I STILL went through one or two Tower .40's (I honestly can't recall), one Tower .60 (bigger flies better....), and a second Tower .60, which I was able to sell after moving on to other planes. Despite the height of my learning curve, the fact that the crashes were ARF's is part of what kept me going. When you build a kit, you put a lot of yourself into it, and when it crashes without you getting any flying time on it, that's disappointing.
Since learning to fly on an ARF, I've built nothing but kits, and I enjoy building as much as flying, especially when weather, work, or life makes getting to the flying field out of the question. Building lets me enjoy the hobby year round. I also can apply the skills/tools to things around the house, or more importantly, toy repair for the kids. My oldest son, who soled with an Astro Hog last summer, and now can land better than me (okay, not saying much for me), is interested also in miniature figures, and I'm basically the technical advisor while he builds a replica of LOTR "Helms Deep". There's a lot of satisfaction in seeing your kids sculpting foam and balsa, detailing, spraying paint with a detail gun, etc..
Two more comments. First, I do think that there are a lot of "builders" out there, but that they don't frequent this forum because they are building from plans, and maybe don't consider them kits. I myself just discovered this forum, been hanging out in the warbirds forum mostly.
Second, nice 29% Edge! I just got mine flying the way I wanted, and a broken spark plug boot caused the plane to go out of control on the ground, as I was taxiing to the flight line. I've attached a picture of what I'm using from the wreckage to make a mostly new fuselage. Hard to do that with an ARF!
Sam