Anyone else have brittle hinges for Flatouts. (essentially break off when trying to put elevators onto stab, or rudder to stab. It's really becoming frustrating. Is there some trick I'm missing. I'm thinking these hinges would break off when the elevator departs the stab in a crash. This is happening while building, I couldn't imagine a crash scenario. Let me know.

I have the red bull edge and i used good old packing tape hinges on it. There hinges are way over rated.

There are several thread pertaining to this topic, if they were combined, it would be too long to read. Tape 'em and go fly.

Had the same problem (GreatPlanes took care of it like now!!!) stiff plastic.. But you need to FLICK YOUR BIC !!!! I just tried heating them slightly with a lighter, rocked them gently and they snapped on.. same with control horns... Warm it up!!!

Thanks Cosmic, I'll try the bic. If that doesn't work, then I'll be taping the control surfaces on. It looks overall like not a bad kit (for a foamie), just surprised they used such a delicate hinge material. Oh well, can't expect the moon for $50 Canadian. Need something for indoor winter flying. Thanks guys.

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.

i heated mine with a hair dryer for about 30 seconds or so prior to putting them on the plane and it worked perfectly

Hey Loswave,
I did just that, emailed GP and told them the problem. They were fantastic, came right out and said that mine was not the only one. They think it may have been some bad batches. They're sending me another one as well. It's really not that big a deal, I've got 19 aircraft from GP. From my first PT trainer, to a new Ultimate 1.6 waiting to be built, and a couple of Patty Wags that I beat on daily. I really think that for mass production company, their customer service is way ahead of anyone else. They produce a good product for the money. So, if I have one bad kit, I really try to give them the benefit of the doubt, and realize that it's small potato's compared to all the great things I've gotten from them. Like I said, for $50 Canadian, you can't expect absolute precision.

Yea, they're really good about it. Mine is now finished charged and waiting for a nice day, a rarity here! Like I said, I had like 10 people tell me they had good customer service and was not let down.

I had the same issue with my Flatana; broke 3 out of 4 control horns (and I was being very cautious). I think I only broke 1 of the normal hinges though becuase they were a lot thicker.
I too called GP & they sent me a whole new sheet of hinges so I'm ok with that.

I think on my next one I'm going to slide all the hinges on before I glue the hinge rod to the TE of the wing. Then I'll glue them onto the Aileron/Rudder/Elevator while attached. (then I won't have to worry about burning my plane up with the lighter.)

Here's a tip that I used that worked really well. Slide the surface onto the carbon fiber rod. Once you have the clips glued in place on the elevator, rudder, and ailerons glue the carbon rod to the other side and then slide the clips over the rod. This was the only way I could find that would not break the clips.


Bevo

I wish I knew who you all talked with because I was building one of the Extra 300s' and all but two of the control horns broke and this is not even my first Flatout, the others were great and built without any problems. The wing and horizontal stabilizer on the 300s are also cracked and broken. This plane is a total waste and I never even got to fly it. I emailed G.P. (had to do this twice to even get a reply) and they want me to ship them my broken plane and they will ship me a new one if it falls under warranty. This was a Christmas gift I was giving to a family member so shipping it back is not an option. Also I'm not paying $10 to ship this thing back and HOPE that they will replace it. I've herd nothing but good things about their customer service but I am having a very bad experience with them. If it is not taken care of then I will not be purchasing anymore G.P. products. And all of my planes are G.P. except one so I'm hoping for the best.

Tremec, I would try calling their support number (217-398-0007). Sometimes it's easier to convey your frustration over the phone versus email.

good luck

I sent G.P. anther email and linked this thread and they replied within a few hours. They are taking care of it for me and shipping me out a new plane. This is exactly what I was wanting. So I guess their customer service is great after all. Thanks tuwood for your help.

Wow... I just started building one too... I have built MANY foamies... every single hinge broke while "snapping" them on to the carbon...

I guess Blenderm is still the king of foamy hinges