Is scratch building cheaper than building from a kit?

From : Don Stackhouse

Thomas,

It's seems contrary to logic, but scratch building frequently ends up more expensive than buying a kit. The kit has a lot less waste material, and the manufacturer (us) generally buys the materials at wholesale, while the scratch builder usually buys at retail. In the case of our Chrysalis, I don't think you could get all the materials required to scratch build it for what the kit sells for.

If you consider the fact that you will probably have to build several iterations of an original design before you get something you're happy with, scratch building starts to get very expensive. When we developed the original '93 Monarch we went through 6 fuselages, 7 tails and 8 wings (not to mention about 150 hours of computer time) before we froze the design. The desire to recover some of this investment is what motivated Joe and I to kit the model, we had originally just intended to build a better model for ourselves to fly. The Monarch 'D' required 2 tails and 3 wings, better but still a big investment. It also required the benefit of the experience gained from all the previous versions of the Monarch, and another huge chunk of computer time. The value of all this engineering and experience is also part of what you're buying when you purchase the kit.

If you enjoy the design process for its own sake, scratch building is a worthwhile endeavor, but if you just want something that flies well, you're almost always better off buying a top-quality kit. It will be cheaper, faster, and a lot less risky.

Don Stackhouse @ DJ Aerotech