Hi I am building the Aeroworks 50cc Yak 55m and I have to say I am disappointed in how cheap some of the wood is, making the plane fragile.

I still haven't finished mine, about 90% done but this is my 4th Aeroworks airplane and I have to say the quality has gone down. The fit and finish are excellent but they have used super thin balsa sheeting in a lot of places, one place is where the wings go in to the fuse, I've put my finger through several times, that's how cheap it is. Another area is where you put the fuel dot and switch, cheap balsa that I had to reinforce and the fuel dot is cheap, you glue it in and when the fuel dot is in the fuel line using the recommended 1/8 i.d. , it won't fit, even when I put Vaseline on the line as instructed, it is a bad fuel dot and remember the cheap balsa it goes into, it is getting crushed while trying to put the fuel line into the plane since fuel dot doesn't fit when inserted into the fuel line, bad design, cheap hardware. Another area is in the fuse behind the cowl where you have to cut a vent hole and it is the same super cheap balsa. Another issue I see is the hardware for attaching the elevators the the fuse, looks pretty cheap and my previous Aeroworks planes always had great hardware. Another issue for anyone using gas, as I am, Aeroworks does not supply any gas tubing with their plane. I love Aeroworks and their planes fly great but I do not like to see them skimping on quality to save a buck, these planes have to last for awhile so they need to have good wood, sturdy wood not just look good.

Maybe instead of sending your planes to magazines or web sites such as rcuniverse to build it and review it for free, you should send a plane to the little guy who doesn't have a vested interest in giving the plane a great review even if it has issues, after all they get a free plane and engine and are paid to write the review. Try sending your planes to the little guys who don't build planes for a living or write reviews for a living and you might get some unbiased feedback from the general modeler who can't build it in 8-10 hrs and doesn't have 30 years building and flying experience because these are probably the people who are actually buying the airplanes and flying them and have to try and make them last for awhile.