RE: The NexSTAR arf cost more to outfit than the RTF
I have a Nexstar that I picked up really cheap. In fact, it was free. One of our club members had crashed it, and rather than replace it, he took out the engine and electronics and put them into a Tower Trainer. He liked the Tower much more than the Nexstar.
I keep the Nexstar around to do demo flights for newbies. I've been powering it with a 46 LA that was sitting around, and I'm replacing that with a Thunder Tiger GP 61. Should be a hoot to fly with that.
Brad