I have had the F7F TigerCat and the Cessna 185. I purchased the F7F about a year ago in hopes that it would be my first war bird. Upon inspecting the kit, i noticed extremely poor quality of the fit and finish. The nose gear door was warped. I complained to the vendor that I purchsed the kit from. He was quick to send me a new nose gear door however, the one he sent was warped also. Covering on the flaps were torn and again the vendor sent me new flaps. I felt that the over all quality was poor and is sold the plane prior to starting construction. I did let the person that perchased the plane what issues I had. I felt that may be I just got a bad kit.

I purchased an ESM Cessna 185 from TroyBuiltModels.com for a Christmas present this year. I did not open the box unitl Christmas day. I began construction day after New Years Day. I was hoping that the poor quality of the F7F TigerCat was an isolated event. Well I was wrong. As soon as I pulled the fuse out of the box I noticed that there was a lot of dirt in the paint. The fuse is fiberglass and painted. Below is a list of things I found and what I did about it.

1. Dirt in fuse paint. May wet sand and buff. I hope there is enough clear to do this.
2. Root rib template to position anti rotation pins appears to be for a different. Rear anti rotation pin position on template is over a large open hole in the wings. I called TroyBuiltModels and they were not interested to trying to get me the correct root rib template, they put on an employee that built a 185 and he told me to put the wings on and us an incidence meter to align the wings. I can do that but it would be a lot easier to have the correct anti rotation template.
3. Cabin Hatch - the hatch is warped. rear of hatch is warped where each side is warped up. Should be bowed down to follow lines of fuse. I did not notice this unitl I had installed fasteners to front and back of hatch. Not sure what I will do with this yet. Hatch looks like fiberglass. Will probably have to make one out of balsa and fiberglass.
4. Stab anti rotation template - another anti rotation template that appears to be from some other kit or just a poorly made template. The rear antirotation pin hole on the template in half over an open hole in the stab and half over solid balsa porition of stab. The rear hole on the template is too far forward. I may be able to drill another hole in the template and make it work.
5. Aluminum tube through stab - The aluminum tube fits perfectly into each stab however, the hole in the fuse for the aluminum tube is too large and the tube does not touch the fuse. No alignment or support is provided by the use.
6. With the stabs fitted to the fuse with the aluminum the front of the stab is not touching the fuse. It appears that the holes in the stab for the aluminum tube are not straight and causes each stab, front of stab root, to pull away from the fuse. Without the aluminum tube installed, the stab fits great, cant glue this way, have to have the aluminum installed. Guess I'll have to work on this situation.

There is one other thing I noticed when I initially inspected the fuse. The fiberglass of the fuse is wrapped around and covers the front of the fuse. Inside the fuse there is a sizeable piece of plywood acting to the firewall. This firewall is glued to the fiberglass that wraps around the front of the fuse, where the motor mount goes. There is no additional support for the firewall to be tied into the other structure of the fuse. Looks like the fiberglass could easily break.