RE: How would you like your ARF WARBIRD??
My first choice would be to leave the ARFs alone and maybe offer different decals as an option/upgrade. I've always felt that an ARF is there because many of us don't have the skills or the weeks/months to put a kit together. If someone likes the ARF and has the time and skill to change the scheme, it's not much work to strip and recover before you build. Especially when you consider how much time it takes to scratch build a bird.
If I had a second choice it would be to offer more of the ARFs as ARC. I agree that the covering also protects the model during shipping. Something to overcome. However, you can't please everyone. I doubt you will find a manufacturer that will build several different schemes of the same bird. Too much inventory. Plus it takes away from the pilot creativity designing their own bird or the research to find pics of a 50 yr old plane and bring it to life.
Mike