Ernie,
You make some very good points on keeping the hinge line area of the hinge "clean" in the sense of not getting to much CA on the line. I don't think that was really the problem . I have other planes twice as old with CA hinges and many more flights that are still good. I feel that something was wrong with the hinges and was trying to see if anyone has had similar issues with these particular hinges. My last few planes i have buitlt, I've been using nylon pinned hinges with epoxy. These seem to me, stronger in addition more free moving and less force needed on the servo.

Marty