well barely made it to step one of the instructions and a couple of big challenges arose. Right out of the box I went for the wings and tried to move the ailerons and flaps. The ailerons on the left wing would move about 10 degrees up and only 1 or so degree down. Bottom line is that this aileron was binding pretty severely. The left flap was also binding and would only move in the downward position if pressed firmly. On the right wing the aileron had limited movement up and down and the right flap struggled with downward movement. No mater how I adjusted the hinges, the surfaces are binding. After some inspection I noted the following....
The hinge points were not aligned along the same axis. Some were above, others below centerline. This is causing the hinges to work against one another. One of the reasons I suspect is that the holes were drilled without the benefit of an alignment template. (simple $3 tool) In one case, the aileron attachment point was drilled and re-drilled in 3 places. (see picture) Most of the attachment points were drilled at least twice, with the bad hole being plugged. Some of these plugs were just scraps of balsa jammed in place. The end result is that I will have to repair and redrill nearly every hinge attachment point on the ailerons and flaps.
Here are some pictures of the problems.
Picture 1 shows a double drilled surface with plug
Picture 2 shows a triple drilled surface with plug
Picture 3 shows a double drilled surface with plug that extends out of the aileron
Picture 4 shows a double drilled surface with plugs
At this point I am a bit depressed over all the work that will have to go into repairing the control surfaces. The attachment points in the wing are a bit interesting and I will post some pictures when the repairs to the ailerons and flaps are done.