It's nice to see someone that wants to tackle and solve the problems rather than makeout they don't exist. I have built quite a few of the CMP planes for myself and others and generally they are good quality for the price we pay with a few minor issues and one or two major ones.

The major issue I have faced has been the internal wing structure.
I had one of the first Katana 140 size aerobats of which had a complete left wing failure in flight which destroyed the plane. The wing failure was due to the shear webbing being fitted with the grain in the direction of the spars giving no strength at all. I know newer versions of the Katana the wing issue was resolve and my plane was also replaced with a new complete kit which I was very grateful for. I have had no wing issue with the new one.

But I also have the CMP Zero 71" Warbird and after the retracts coming out a number of times on reasonable landings and having to beef up the retract area I found the shear webbing in this wing again in the wrong direction and splitting. I absolutely love the Zero. It is a beautiful flying Warbird and the fuselage has held up nicely but the wing is coming apart. Also the servo mounts for the ailerons in the wing are very weak and need to be strengthed. Mine were flexing all over the place. I hope that CMP take a look at the way they are building the wings on all their planes so there are no more wing failure issues as it is no fun losing a complete plane. Paint chipping off was also an issue on the wings of the Zero. Fuse was ok.

Another major issue especially for the newbie modeller is the dowl pushrods for rudder and elevator. With the length they have to be to reach from the servo tray to the tail there is a great chance of flutter if the rods are not encapsulated at the halfway point. I have seen this happen first hand with one of the Spitfires. Flutter on the elevator caused the rod to be flexing and hitting the sides of the fuselage at such a rate (sounded like a machinegun) that it broke the control arm off the servo ending with the plane crashing.There needs to be some mention of this in the instructions or a piece of ply added to the kit to feed the rods through which can then be glued to a former halfway between the tail and servo tray.

I have one of the latest P-40E 140 size and have found this to be excellent quality with only minor issues none of them being with the build but more to do with things like the shape of the spinner (more like a P51 spinner shape), the counterweighted elevators (not scale to the P-40E) and the size of the wheels (way too small for this scale). I know they are minor things and it hasen't stopped me from buying what is a great kit but it would be all the nicer with these few things corrected.

I know lots of people complain about the hardware and I am a little the same. I generally replace it, some if not all because I won't risk loosing the plane due to the hardware.

I really like CMP planes especially the Warbirds. They are great for a gas conversion like the Ryobi. So if some of the issues can be ironed out before we puchase them all the better.

Hope some of this helps,
Cheers Tim (KMM)