I really hope this thread doesn't degenerate into another "We're better than them ARF people" rant. It's been covered and at this point it's just boring![:'(]

The originator asked why kits are so expensive. Here's my take. I think it's because with the popularity of ARF's they've been pushed into a much smaller market segment (a niche in fact) with higher costs as a result of less volume. As an example, if a producer needs to make $5,000 profit on a run of 100 kits he needs a $50 margin per kit but if he sold 1000 he only needs $5. There's also material costs. An ARF producer can use less wood and lower quality materials than a kit producer because no consumer will see it. High quality balsa is getting much more expensive and I don't see much of it in ARF's - just cheap ply. I think these things help offset the higher cost of assembly and shipping of an ARF over a kit.

However, as energy and Asian labor costs continue to go up ARF's may get much more expensive and breath some life back into kit sales. Volume is the key.