Roy, as info,

Never bothered to put the struts on mine. Never bothered to bolt the wings on, just using the rubber bands, can be a pain finding the right ones tho. Not sure how many flights on it, in the 100's or how many hours.

Not sure what the covering on the new version is, but the older ARF used a PVC material so make sure the paint will stick to it. Got kinda scary and stinky when it was time to tighten it up.

Ed M.