Dave, yes they are flat. I hesitated on previous builds thinking that they were overkill and hard to use. By no means can you blow through them like CA hinges, but turned out to be very easy to use. 30 min. epoxy lets you move them around if you need to. The hinge line is perfect, the resistance is zero with more servo torque going into movement of the control surfaces instead of fighting the stiffness of the solid plastic CA strips. I don't want to sound like a product spokesman but these hinges are worth the effort. On those hinge point things, my concern is the 1/8 diameter of the probe that goes into the TE and control surface. Thats a big hole. Okay the stock on the wing is thick but the hor. stab. is only 5/16" that does not leave much. If something is going to break it will be at the weakest point. To me that 1/8" hole is it. The stab couldn't take the hinge point type. Here is a pic of the little buggers. Joe