An ARF is nothing more than a kit that was put together in a factory. Same parts. Same hardware. Same need for an assembly doc (you don't honestly think the factory guys just magically know how to put these together, do you?). So, take the ARF parts, put them in the same box, slap on a sticker than says "Kit" and you now have a kit . . . minus all the assembly labor . . . . Yeah, different manual, but pretty much the same requirement for printed material, and after all, the assembly "how-to" is already done for the ARF factory, so no cost there, other than perhaps making is all "cutesy" for an end user, which is hardly necessary . . .

So, I agree with the original poster - why are kits so expensive? Perhaps to justify not making kits by deliberately pricing them out of reasonability? Or ? ? ?

- Tim