Kit electronics aren't dead, they're just ... resting.
Elecraft (http://www.elecraft.com/) is the spiritual successor of Heathkit, at least in terms of some of the Ham radio kits. They're not cheap and contain a lot of ASICs, so you're not really putting them together from bare components, but it's still a fair bit of work with the 'ol soldering iron.
There are sometimes similar things for other test equipment. The key indicators of whether you can find something in kit form are: 1) is it expensive to buy assembled? 2) is it expensive less because of the underlying technology than because of manufacturer markup? 3) is it something that a lot of hobbyists would want to own?
Hence a lot of oscilloscope and function-generator and counter kits, some radio kits, but not so many digital camera kits. I have seen an increasing number of MP3 player kits though, which is interesting; it suggests that the underlying parts aren't the main cost drivers anymore.
I think the prevalence of MP3 player kits is tied to the fact that they are simple, and nearly everyone can enjoy a MP3 player, so it seems like it has become a little bit of the hobbyist hardware equivalent of "Hello World".
Elecraft (http://www.elecraft.com/) is the spiritual successor of Heathkit, at least in terms of some of the Ham radio kits. They're not cheap and contain a lot of ASICs, so you're not really putting them together from bare components, but it's still a fair bit of work with the 'ol soldering iron.
Qkits also has some neat stuff, including a software-defined oscilloscope (http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/PCSGU250).
There are sometimes similar things for other test equipment. The key indicators of whether you can find something in kit form are: 1) is it expensive to buy assembled? 2) is it expensive less because of the underlying technology than because of manufacturer markup? 3) is it something that a lot of hobbyists would want to own?
Hence a lot of oscilloscope and function-generator and counter kits, some radio kits, but not so many digital camera kits. I have seen an increasing number of MP3 player kits though, which is interesting; it suggests that the underlying parts aren't the main cost drivers anymore.