Well I feel for you guys. I actually got lucky and bought mine from Tower Hobbies when they were still selling them. My kit was missing the spectra string. Needless to say I could never get a hold of CBM. I just went to the fabric store...I took my mom with me so I didn't feel like a fruit...Anyways I bought some elastic cord and modified the gear myself. Blah Blah Blah. I bought everything seperately so I missed all the b.s. but as far as the model goes i'm really happy the way it turned out. Things may have changed though because I bought and built it about 8 years ago. Sounds like their customer service leaves much to be desired. Anyways I attatched a photo of my finished plane which again is 8 years old, the motor is out in the pic but I put a JETT .50 in it with a tuned pipe and a 10X10 prop...It SCREAMS!!! Who cares about the ducted fan. You can't see the prop when it's doing over 100mph anyways!