I don't know about Great Planes, nor if it is true in all cases, but I know Hanger 9 and Dave Patrick design, prototype, test and then spec the planes. They then take the specs to whereever and contract a manufacturer to build them to their specs. What they don't do in most cases is monitor the QA process carefully enough, hence the failures and poor glue in many cases.

I know in the case of Dave Patrick's Extra(which I have one and love) they had problems with it coming out tail heavy and a couple of other problems. Someone from DP went to the manufacturer and agreed on changes for the next run. I'm sure this is a common process for many of the ARF manufacturers.

Bill