Wow another new generation conversation. I would just like to present another view. I am a member of the younger generation and really don't like how we are all lumped into a large sterotype. I am now 25 and joined the AMA when I was 19. My first two planes were from kits because I like to build and it gives me somthing to do when I can not make it out to the field. It is also a way for me to show off the craftsmanship that I have devolped over the past few years, each model gets better. I think that if you don't build you miss out on over half of the hobby and most of the sense of accomplishement when you fly your new model for the first time. You can say yes I built this, not some underpaid asian kid, and chances are you will not run into a plane that looks exactly like yours the next weekend.
The argument that people use for purchasing an ARF is that they dont have enough time to build a kit. That is a load of steaming fecal matter. I always have a project on my building board and I work 12 to 14 hours a day and travel on a regular basis. If you have an extra ten or fifteen minutes you can tiniker on your project. In short if I cant make it out to fly I can build. It can take a while to build this way, it just took me five months to finish my Great Planes 40 sized Cap 232 but the journey is great experiance in its self.
Well off the soap box I go, the point is that not all young guys are arf assembling rc operators (I have a hard time calling them modelers). Some of us enjoy the whole hobby not just part of it.