My conclusion is I have to get the skills and the tools to scratch build canopies, cowls, landing gear, etc. That's the main reason kits help, and I'm not sure it's really that bad once you get into it. The balsa certainly isn't to deal with, and you get better control of the wood and the fit.

I found an old Tower catalogue when I was cleaning out my shop, from only about 15 years ago, and we're never going to see that range of choices again. So people are getting a kind of desperate feeling about the old kits and the prices sometimes go berserk. Yet what was actually in those kits was often not that great. Look at the prices of old Sterling kits. You can buy some nice tools for those prices. And build a MUCH better airplane. Also, there are lots of cottage industries to assist you.

Jim