I learned a valuable lesson in the ARF vs Kit debate this past weekend.

A new member came out for his first instruction with a brand
new Hanger 9 P51 trainer. As club flight instructor it fell to
me to make the initial trim flight.

On the VERY FIRST landing the landing gear folded up.
And it was a good landing. Investigation revealed that the
torque blocks for the wing mounted landing gear had
broken away. His day was finished before it even started.

I would be willing to bet that if you sliced open the wing
you would find the torque blacks were inadequatey glued
(probably the hot glue that is so common in ARFS these days)
and with no reinforcement.

I cant believe that something that is being billed and sold
as a trainer could be so fragile.

Mike Hammer