I agree. I too had similar QC oversights, such as the left pull-pull tube was directly behind the tail wheel mount and I had to cut away a large portion of the mount and run a smaller tube through it into the original to get the wire in. There was no way the wire would run around the mount. Also the cowling mount holes were in the wrong place, so I had to redrill them and several small cracks are throughout the fuse and one on the side window. Some hardware was missing, but I have spares. Like you said, the problems were small, but for the price there shouldn't be any QC oversights like this! I haven't gotten to the balancing yet and I'm not looking forward to it from what I've been reading in this forum. Also, I wasn't aware of the main landing gear mount problem until I stumbled on it in this forum and hate having to remove the gears and check to see that the mount blocks are properly glued in. Getting the doors to align properly was a PIA in itself! At any rate, I'm looking forward the maiden and hope she stays together and flies as good as she looks!
ORIGINAL: goldenhawk11
I have just finished assembling the Staggering Wing. I have assembled many kits and ARF's over the past 65 years but with out a doubt this one is, as far as quality control the worst, ever. I spent ( as did one of my friends) 10 hours minimum working on the covering wrinkles were all over the covered surfaces. This is not to mention the miss located pins or maybe it was the holes. One wing has a slit in it right out of the bag. The pull pull wire tubes were not in the correct place. The cowling is not the same color as the rest of the aircraft and the paint is very britle. It is already cracked is several spots. I am now deciding where to mount the 1.7 lbs of lead to get it to balence. I have assembled two of their Pitts and had no problems like this one. I would think that for the price this one could have been looked at much closer than my ARF was. There were parts missing such as the wire fthat actuated the landing gear door flaps. One wheel was missing. I will say that there was pleanty of nuts and bolts that went nowhere. Top Flite has done a grate job on this offering as far as it goes, the problems are small ones and it looks GREAT on the bench. I sure hope it fly's as good as it looks. I this will be my third Staggerwing, Two from Byron and one from plans built from the Old Sid Morgan Plans.[&o] Top F;ite arf are good but some one missed the boat on this one.....[&o]
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