An ARF still needs to have all it's wood cutout and assembled. Once assembled it still needs to be covered. An ARF still has the goody bag with it that has all the screws, control horns and such. While not as extensive, an ARF still has and assembly manual of sorts and they all typically come with more parts than most kits. (wheels, axles, spinners and such) I to am not seeing the real reason that kits are so much more expensive. I fully understand the profit and loss column thoughts, and the supply and demand thoughts, however a kit is a box of wood that has been die cut, had an instruction manual tossed in with a few corprate decals and away it goes. As I said an ARF still needs to be cut out and or die cut first. Not sure why the ARF's are so much cheaper. Good Luck, Dave