Well, the Stearman I have is by Cavacraft. Only 1/2A model on the market specifically made for power, unlike the Sterling model.

And, Sterling Models were never anything to write home about fitting together well. All that extra balsa in the box was intended to be glued to the end of certain parts in order to make them a bit longer and thus fit. However, the interlocking slots for tabs were often very wide and you may use up a sheet for gap filling purposes. If the tabs were still on the end of the part.

Worst fitting kits of the era were those by Sure-Flite. I have heard they scrapped all dies and made new ones, but I swore off them, and will never buy another of their's.

I found the code to kits offered by Ace. If they went on sale, stay away as they have problems. If not, it was a good fitting kit.

One of my model employers makes box type fuselages. When you put the two tops together they always align up, but the bottoms ususally have a 1/8 inch variance, and seldom resemble the plan. As he says "Odd, no one complained up until this point"

Over the years, haven't bought but a couple of kits by Top Flite. They fit together OK, but were not all that exciting sometimes too. Had more problems with poor quality wood inside their kits than construction.

Wn.