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ORIGINAL: oneflyrn

I assisted a friend to build his Nitro Models Low Wing .40 trainer. Lots of pros and cons. The cons could kill this company though. It's like going to a restaurant with great service, great prices, great atmosphere, and great tasting food, only to find there's no utensils to eat with. I think this is a perfect analogy for this. I've built a lot of kits and a lot of ARFs over the last 20 years so it's not like I don't know what I'm doing here. My friend however is new to the hobby so I gave him a hand.

The plane.... Absolutely nothing wrong with the plane. Great covering, nice laser cut wood, and looks great. Tolerances a little too tight around fuel tank compartment cover and had to sand it down quite a bit so it would fit. Holes for landing gear not drilled in wing and nothing in instructions on how or where to drill them. My beginner friend was completely lost and didn't know what to do. Any entry level builder would be forced to find an experienced builder at this point, return the product, or get rid of it.

The instructions..... low quality photos, missing information, need decide which way to perform a step (one step has two different methods that contradict each other for steering), and no measurements. Where to drill the holes in the wing for the wing bolts is very important! A low quality picture of adding holes in this area is absurd.

The parts... this is worst part. Missing control rods for ailerons. Fuel tank stopper parts are extremely low quality. The back plate is very thin and stripped out only 1/4 turn after it seated. This rendered the tank useless and had to replace with aftermarket tank. Rubber stopper also too hard. The vertical stab comes with screws but no nuts. The screws are great as guides and when nuts and washers added, assist with closing the gaps when gluing horizontal stab (a step missing in instructions). The notch in the nose gear for the steering arm is only 22.5 degrees off. If installed one of two ways the instructions show (doesn't matter which way of two different ways this is shown), you can only steer to the right. The steering arm was missing the set screw so had to find one that fits. A newby is not going to know this or know what type of screw goes here. Holes in the wheels are great pilot holes for the drill bit needed to drill the correct size. Why are these holes not the correct size for the axles? This wasn't something like being too tight. The hole was 1/8" and the axle is 5/32!

Solutions....
Verify the correct parts are included, such as control rods for ailerons and set screw for steering arm.
Revise steering arm or change notch in gear.
Improve back plate for fuel tank stopper. A softer compound for stopper would also be nice.
Drill correct size holes in wheels for axles or include this step in instructions.
Better photos and add a couple of missing steps.
With an awesome looking web site and most people having web access, why not put a more detailed instruction manual with color photos of all of the steps on this site? This would be easy fix for company, builders can refer to site for clear instructions or print their own high quality instructions. Potential buyers can also view these to see how easy the planes go together.