ejp,

Rubberbands are good for trainers during the first few flights because of wing tip touches and a few other student issues. The key is not to use too many or not enough.Too many and they will not snap off during one of those inevitable boo-boo's but not enough and the wing may shift in flight or even worse, come off.

The other thing is never reuse rubberbands that have been fuel soaked and not cleaned as the fuel eats at them. It's best to store rubberbands in a jar of baby powder. This helps soak up fuel plus keeps them from drying out.

Granted bolts are better in the fact that the alignment will be spot on everytime, but when using rubberbands, all you need to do is make a mark at the front and back of the wing on both the wing and fuselage to help with alignment. A Sharpie or even 1/8 trim tape will work well although the Sharpie will come off when cleaning the plane.

If you do go with bolts, please use 1/2X20 NYLON, not steel, you want the bolt to snap off in an accident and do not tighten them too tight. There is no need to worry about strength. You will find allot of 1/4 scale and larger planes using nylon bolts to hold on the wings.

Just to give you an example, I had the Extra Easy 2 from Hangar 9. I used 8 bands and never had an issue. I pile drived it into the ground because of dumb thumbs. When I walked out to pick up the pieces the rubberbands had done their job and the wing and wing saddle were in one piece with only very minor damage to the covering. but the rest was a total write off

I then replaced it with an LT-40 with bolt on wings. I tip stalled it and the nylon bolts did not give and when the wing twisted around it took most of the fuselage with it. It was repairable and lived to fly again.

Both have their advantages and disadvantages for a new student and as Bruce has mentioned it is your plane so do with it what you wish. We are just making points to help you out.

Good luck with your training.