ORIGINAL: CGRetired

There are an awful lot of people that bought and assembled a Nexstar Arf and did not experience any of the problems you mentioned. Either you got a bad one or you didn't follow the assembly directions properly.

But to truly gain the experience and knowledge of the model, a kit is the best way for that. You get to see how the airframe is built, see how the wing is constructed, and get to make some modifications that you cannot make with an ARF.

I've done both.. assembled arfs and built kits and can say that I like both.. just that the ARFs take much less time to assemble.

Notice that I used the term assemble rather than build. Build implies that you did something from scratch, which you almost do with our modern kits.. after all, most now come die cut or laser cut whereas the ARF is already built, and all you do is assemble the built up parts.

CGr.