Quote Originally Posted by Tench745 View Post
I noticed that the number of scratch built homebuilts, like the Piet. and Baby ace have declined steadily over the years, but the more expensive kit built aircraft like the RVs, Sea Rays, and Sonex have steadily increased.
Do you suppose that's a reflection on the longevity of the design, or perhaps something else?
Pretty simple, really: People are more willing to pay money to reduce construction time.

You see the same thing in a lot of hobby fields. Thirty years ago, you either built an RC airplane from plans or from a kit where you still had to glue all the ribs, spars, stringers, bulkheads, etc. Nowadays, most are sold ready-to-fly or Almost ready-to-fly (ARF). People are less interested in spending time constructing.

Same thing for the full-scale airplanes.

Ron Wanttaja