This post got a little off topic... My buddy and I have been talking for some time about Hangar 9 quality problems. Extremely weak landing gear on his spit followed by the firewall coming out have been just two of the problems on this aircraft alone. What was said about once you beef up the firewalls and replace landing gear is correct but I agree with an earlier post that when we purchase an aircraft that is either ARF or RTF it should be just that. Why do something twice when it could have been done right once. Why should we have to do repairs before we ever even fly our airplanes. I am fairly new to the hobby (couple years) but I have tried my hand at building my own aircraft. It is actually fun and I feel they turn out well but I hate to do the covering (I would bet most people are in this boat) so I buy ARF's. Those little nooks and crannies that were so easy to get to during building are not so easy afterwards. Yet there are always two sides to every coin and it costs me about the same (or more) to build a plane than it does to buy a similar ARF. So there in lies the crux do we save a couple bucks and a bunch of time and buy an ARF for it to fall apart when we are flying because of cheap labor or do we spend months or years building a quality aircraft on our own. I personally will maintain a balance and build aircraft when I have time and when I need a quick diversion I will fly ARF's.