I just got one monday, had the brittle plastic, broke every single hinge. I then e-mailed Great Planes telling them that my horizontal stab was ruined along with the clip hinges and hlip hinge control horns, they sent me a whole new plane the very next day. I got the new plane on friday, started building that night, almost finished it this morning, just got the radio today, so I will finish tomorrow. However, the new plastic parts were just fine, they cliped on without heating or any other special techniques. So, I would reccomend e-mailing Great Planes, everyone told me they had great customer service, and they were right! As of now my plane is only waiting for me to install radio gear, ESC and motor, then it'll be airborne I hope. Good luck with whatever route you choose with it, and I hope you get it together and have fun with it.