Ugh!

The plastic parts in my Reflection kit are obviously defective - the hinge clips are as brittle as antique glass. Being very careful, I broke two installing the elevator and rudder. Since I had a couple extra, I proceeded with the build and figured I would replace them later. When it came time to install the ailerons, I went as gently as I could, but ALMOST ALL OF THE CLIP HINGES BROKE [:@]. Between both wingsets, only 3 went on without snapping and pieces flying off like toenail clippings.

As you know, this is at the end of final assembly, right before starting the servo install. Even if I had more clip hinges, digging the old ones out to glue the new ones in is going to make for a hacked-up build. What a pain in the neck - I feel like I just wasted my weekend.

It looks like the brittle parts all came off of one of the two parts sprues - the control horns (other sprue) popped on without issue. I guess I'll be calling GP tomorrow .

P.S. Also, noone has mentioned that this kit is shy two hinge retainer rings. 10 are provided on the sprues, but the build requires 12 (8 for the wings, 2 for the elevator, and 2 for the rudder). No biggie, as these are easy to make from scrap, but how does a kit get through dozens of prototypes and production testing without someone noticing missing parts?