Paul_c, I tend to agree with you, although I misread your post and thought you were building a kit, not an ARF!

There are some procedures that are just frustratingly and unnecessarily difficult, and as a newbie, you don't know any better. For example, Sullivan (and other brand) fuel tanks! Why the heck is it so difficult to assemble all those little pieces, bend the tubing, figure lengths of tubing, put on little wire "clamps", etc.? That's just nuts, particularly when there are plenty of fuel tanks that just have molded nipples you push the fuel hose on. The reason they build factories is so we don't have to each of us do little tedious jobs.

Another really hard part even ARFs leave for you is mounting the servos and getting all the push rods right, not to mention the different ways of connecting rods to servo arms, different control horns, etc.

The only consolation I can give you is that things are getting easier, the manufacturers are getting smarter, and you'll get more skilled after you've put a few planes together.