It's sad when I get to the end of this post and see an ad stating, " Your receiver + 30 minutes = Ready to fly " , I now see where the hobby has main-streamed into instant gratification and away from building and rewarding yourself with creating something from a pile of sticks and sheets. I see a old gullows kit or set of plans and I think of the small equipment we have now and how I can fit 4 channels into something I could only dream of having two channels years ago, and I get my gears turning thinking about it. But it seems that today's modelers just want to fly and "bigger is better" motto or crede has stuck. But to me, "if you can fly 1/2a, then you can fly anything!" is absolutly true, and if you can build too, then your only limited by your imagination.
Have fun and fly.