Hi

I know this thread has been dormant for a while and there's prolly tons of posts about this issue, but since I'm building an ARF and have noticed a coupla things, I thought I'd post them.

1) With a kit you get full size plans, very useful later on if you have to rebuild something. With an ARF you get a manual. If you buy an ARF where there is a kit version also available, it's a good idea to order the full size plans.

2) With an ARF, everything is covered and you 'assemble' it rather than 'build' it. If everything fits good (which it doesn't!) then you're fine. If not, then you've got a much more difficult issue than with a kit. With a kit you cover it after you build it. There you can fix things that don't quite fit right before it's covered.

3) With a kit you know what the joints are like under the covering. With an ARF, well...

4) And of course if you want to mod anything it's much easier and cleaner with a kit.

5) Most top name brands do a very good job of covering an ARF or an RTF. If you are good, you can do as well or better. If you are not so skilled in this area, it's very unlikely you will get a professional looking job.

Regards
Michael