I put at least 200 flights on mine before retirement. I never had a hinge failure. I did however use the GP hinges. Putting them in to tight will cause them to fail every time. You can't push the AILE all the way up and then glue. You have to deflect the surface to whatever angle your max throw will be.Then apply CA. I put 4-5 drops on holding the plane tail down and do the same tail up. If there is any that dosn't soak in dab it up with a paper towel.
As far as the noise. Yea they all do that at certain RPMs. One thing I would check is the diaginal sticks in the wing. Mine were cut to short and not glue correctly. I had to open the wing and replace them. I'm talking about the ones that run from the spar to the ribs.
later david