If possible, ask an experienced modeler to go with you and look the plane over. Sometimes, hobby shops have planes that are already built and ready to fly. Some of these have decent price tags. Shopping around, knowing what you want and what is a quality product will enable you to determine the cost. All kits require some degree of assembly, and most entail more than an hour or two of building effort.
Many modelers enjoy the building process.
Some kits are prebuilt but not covered with plastic film. Once you have your beautiful model all built and ready to go, you will need some field-support equipment that wasn't included in your kit. Members of the local flying club will offer a lot of friendly help on all the basics. Tools of the Trade To get started in radio control model planes, you'll need some basic tools and equipment. Most people already own most, if not all, of the tools needed to build and set up a radio-controlled model.