It's been my experience that there is a little disappointment in nearly every ARF. Most of the time the CA hinges that come with them have worked fine but I have had failures of them at least twice in the last 3 years, one was a catastrophic failure that caused a total loss of the plane. Hobbico stood tall and replaced the plane and all damaged components including the engine.
The CA hinges on my P-51 have done well with no failures. As for the covering, I've had to shrink and iron mine nearly every time I've taken the plane to the field. Beefing up the retract mounts is a necessary chore but if you add shock absorbing struts you will probably never have a problem. It's my belief that the shock of a hard landing travels up the wire landing gear and into the wing causing cracks, and soon after, mount failure.
Keep pushing ahead and you will be rewarded with a really nice looking and flying plane.