RE: Modeltech Magic Extra 300L
Mine were NOT drilled, the blind nuts WERE installed, but I wanted larger nylon bolts anyway, so I replaced the cheezy, soft blind nuts with larger, better quality ones, and they worked fine. I also replaced the engine mount blind nuts,which were already installed, and used larger bolts there, as well as my own larger allen head bolts to mount the engine to the engine mount. I used the existing landing gear nuts/bolts, and they weren't a problem. One thing I do on ALL ARF's, is add glue in all the joints I can get to, and sometimes I had wood or glass cloth. In this case, just glue and some wood. The aileron control rods were to short, so i replaced them with 2-56 rods, and used the new heavy duty Dubro plastic clevises with the built in keeper. One thing that I hated about mine, was the poor quality covering. It is the absolute worst I have had on a model. The plane flew very well, however, and was about the easiest landing plane I have ever had. I also added tail wires (nylon braided sturgeon fishing line) as a precaution, based on other's experience of breaking horizontal stabs. I traded it and $60.00 for a Goldberg Extra 300, with an OS .91 FS. Best plane trade I have ever made.....
I doubt I will rush out and purchase another Modeltech brand ARF, unless or until they start using better quality materials and covering. I buy ARFs because I don't have much building time, so I certainly don't have recovering time!