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I think the key is finding a balance. What do you enjoy spending time on? What would you rather not spend time on? We are at an interesting juncture in the hobby. RTR locomotives and cars are not what the RTR of the past were. When I first got in the hobby HO RTR seemed to be Brass (way to expensive even then) or lesser quality stuff (the old Life Like, Model Power etc). If you wanted decent running relatively inexpensive stuff you went with Athearn the RDC/Roundhouse kits. RTR was the equivalent of "junk." Today that is not the case, although I think perceptions sometimes are what governs (how long did it take for people to realize stuff made in Japan wasn't junk?). We have accepted RTR track (snap track, manufactured turnouts and flextrack when compared to handlaying is RTR) and controls (remember the numerous articles that used to be in the mags concerning building your own transistor throtte?). We've also accepted RTR DCC and other electronics (remember Wescotts Twin T detectors? Yes, I enjoy building kits and would prefer that everything be kits. I'm sure that there are people that would prefer everything be RTR. Neither view is, I think, entirely realistic. As much as I enjoy building benchwork (I really do) I realize that there are people that hate it. I am actually glad that there are manufacturers of benchwork "kits" and that foam has made a big showing. I also actually enjoy wiring and making electronic things (like some of the transistor throttles) but am glad that lots of this stuff can now be bought off the shelf. How many people would not be as into this hobby if these things weren't available? It would be interesting to see in a couple of years how many folks that entered this hobby by purchasing RTR equipment decided to weather and repaint their RTR. Then do some RTR bashing and then decided to try kits? Would be interesting! Bottom line - the more folks that get into this hobby, the more products that will be available - at least that's my hope!
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