Morne, believe me I do appreciate all of the help you have given me on the F-86. You just have no idea how much crap I have been through with this jet.

Here is the abbreviated version:

1) I had the complete kit replaced once (a very long story). After receiving the new kit all of the following occurred;
2) The defective rudder was replaced (because as we know someone lost their F-86 when the rudder departed the plane in the air, incorrectly designed); the replacement rudder was sent after I already built and painted the original rudder of course.
3) The fuel tanks were replaced because Skymaster obviously did not do enough testing to determine the correct C.G. BEFORE they started selling planes.
-One of the replacement fuel cells was not usable because it is not designed correctly, had to redesign the fuel tank placement myself
-Because my plane was already completely wired and plumbed installing new tanks meant completely redoing the wiring and plumbing for new tank placement.
-On top of that I installed $50.00 worth of Jet Tech fuel fittings in the original tanks that are now useless.
4) I was missing the front carbon fiber rod for the wing mounting.
5) I had two defective speed brake cylinders that were replaced twice and still didn't work (finally purchased Robart's).
6) The stab carbon fiber rods were loose in the sockets in the fuse and had about 1/8" up and down play, required extensive refitting
7) Had to disassemble the brakes and sand the carbon discs so they don't weld together
8) Neither the struts or tires will hold air for more than a day presently
9) The spot welded mounting straps on the tail pipe broke off and had to be secured with bolts and aircraft nuts
and on and on and on

Don't think the stuff I listed is even close to being a complete list of all of the problems with this kit, but this should give you an idea why I am just a little pi$$ed about the whole Skymaster F-86 situation. And then when stuff breaks, my only solution is to come here on RCU and complain (which I hate to do, just so you know) because nobody at Skymaster cares enough to return my email. God help the builder who has lacks as much building experience as I have because if you don't know what to look for and fix this stuff I doubt your F-86 will be around very long. I have built over 30 turbine jets and this one takes the cake. I think it would have been faster to build a kit than fix all the stuff that was wrong. ARF, REALLY!! I spent a great deal of time covering this jet with Flite Metal, and the only reason I am dealing with all of the problems is because of all the time I have invested in the Flite Metal. If it was painted you would have seen it is the For Sale section a long time ago.