It seesm there is a bit of post regarding this model!
I purchased one couple weeks ago and yep I have the same issues, the elevator control horn is a "DO NOT USE", I made my own. I modified the rudder/tail wheel control setup by cutting the wire below the pull/pull horn and glued a plate with a bushing to support the shaft, it does make a difference! As the tail wheel goes I bolted a dubro setup on the same plate as mentionned for the rudder pull/pull support and ran a control rod to a micro servo. that way I get independant control of the tail wheel. Not sure about the durability of the plastic fuselage but sure it gives a nice amount of space to setup the electronics, also I was looking at the nose cone and thought that this thing could use a functionnal landing light so this is what I did. Went to Home Depot And got a $2.00 flash light, cut the front-end and glued it in the nose, replaced the light bulb with a Delwatt 9V spare instead, wired a switch with a 9V battery I got the thing controled with a micro servo "et Voila!". For the gear I bought the ASM gear also not sure about the durability but the set does look reliable, since the full scale has a strut on each side of the wheels I went on and machined my own and functionnal semi-scale struts, does looks nice! at last I modified the way the flaps are actuated, I didn't like the servo showing underneath the fuselage so I opened couple slots inside the flaps bay, installed a G10 made horn on each flap and setup a servo on the wing.
I setup two OF 70 FS and yep they do fit, Also I use 9channel: ailerons, elevators,independant throttle(2ch), rudder, gear, flaps, landing light, tail wheel steering.
It is a nice plane and like many other ARF saving on production cost might take over quality and reliability but still that elevator horn is a "DO NOT USE"
Bruno