My wife Lisa is happy I have this hobby, like other wives, she prefers it to me being out at bars at night, or sitting in front of the TV.
Because of the technical and high pressure aspect of what I do for a living, I do need to blow off some steam. Flying C/L and even the pressure of competition is a totally different kind of pressure than work, and a welcome one. At work I'm meeting someone else's goals, in competition, I set my own.
I suppose I could be building ships in bottles instead of stunters, but I don't think the beneficial effect would be even close to the same. When I finished a ship in a bottle, I guess it would go on a shelf. When I finish a work session on a stunter, I get to dream about how I will paint it, how it will fly, etc. Then when I do get to fly it, I know I've accomplished something with my own two hands and brought it to life. How cool is that?
As far as kit's go, I have built both from scratch and kits. I still build kits, and find that even if I throw away some substandard stuff like if I don't like the pushrod etc., that the wood selection and laser cutting is still better and more convenient than trying to hunt down good wood and hand cut it myself.
On the other hand, building from scratch or plans can sometimes actually go a little faster for me, because I'm less constrained by the manufacturers step by step stuff, and I can just build it the way I see fit. Somehow, that goes faster for me than following someone else's idea of how to build, and worrying about missing one of their steps.
Either way, there is no wrong way to have fun!
Thanks for the kind words, enjoy the kit Matt,
EricV