Steve,
In reply to your quality question. The wood we use for the model airplane is not balsa as you already know. It is not inferior to balsa nor is it superior to balsa. We are in the process of refitting machinery and stamp press for the change over to balsa for all of our planes, which hopefully would satisfy most of the modelers out there. Balsa which is not native to southeast asia, must be imported in. I hope that answers your concern Steve.
Sincerely,
Mike
www.vqmodelaircraft.com