here are my feelings, lets hear yours!

[associated addi]

The day before i left for a trip, I was excited to see I had just received the new Model Airplane News in the mail. I quickly picked it up to scan the reviews and just buzz the pages once to see all the new stuff. Now, I love to build planes as much as I like to fly them, so I opened the book to a review and thought wow that’s a nice kit.... Or is it? Oops, it turned out to be another ARF. So I paged through again, and what do you think happened when i saw the next review? Yep, another ARF. After a few of these trials I found that every review in the magazine is an ARF! So finally I turn to the infamous Tower Hobbies page and out of the 25 aircraft pictured on the main page, 21 of them were ARF! What is happening to the hobby part of the hobby? It seems as though technology has made everyone so lazy, that the guys that want kits have to look elsewhere to find them. Just because it’s "easier" doesn't necessarily make it more fun. I would simply like to see more kits brought to attention in the magazine so us builders could still get ample information on them. It’s not the fact that ARFs are ruining the sport. In fact they make the sport better, it’s just the hobby that they are breaking down. I’m all for the guys that buy them, because we are all family in this hobby/sport. Its just that I think the hobby half (or less than now) is decaying, and the way to keep it from doing that is keep with it. From a modeler in distress,
Mathew Rhode

[Dave Robelen]

Hi Addie,
Thanks for sharing the feelings. For what it's worth, you are far from alone in your concerns. One of my favorite models is a peppy electric ARF, but I still love to build and experience that first flight thrill.
Hang in there, Dave

[simply_joe]

Hey addi,
I also agree with you that building is half the fun. It also gives me time to save up for the other parts (engine, radio gear, etc....). I have found that many arf's are also kits. The dazzler is a good example, In a recient model airplane news they had it as an arf, but it is also a kit. It does seem that the planes that I want to get are never kits, the magic I would love to get as a kit but it's only arf.
Simpily,
Joe

[phuffstatler]

With folks in China more than willing to work for 14 cents an hour, the prices of pre-built planes has come WAY down, and most folks (Americans, at least) are very willing to pay for very scale planes they can have together in a few hours, instead of a few months. I agree with you, I like building too, but when that GP Fokker triplane came out, and I remember the MANY hours on the Proctor one I did from years ago, and that I assembled the new one in about 15 hours... Whew, it's a hard sell to build from scratch or kits, especially the larger scale planes with complicated features (like three wings!)

I also scratch-built a little electric A-10 last week, so you see I can play all positions on the field.... :)

And most of them (ARF's) look SO good, too. And, they've gotten quite a few folks flying that would not have taken the time otherwise. If an ARF can 'hook' them in, and then they decide to build more later, then yay for us.... I suppose.

As far as MAN reviewing all ARF's this month, they have to make a profit, and the ARF's are what's "hot" right now...

my two cents...
Phil in Austin