ORIGINAL: ChuckW

I think what happened on some of these kits is the switch from die cutting to laser cutting. Laser cutters require a digital drawing. My theory is that the original parts weren't duplicated accurately when digitized and therefore the resulting laser cut parts is way off from the plan. That's one possibility I thought of anyhow. It's definitely more than just paper growing or shrinking. My Tiger-2 kit had pieces that weren't even close. A little trimming and sanding couldn't get them right; they needed to be cut new from balsa or ply.


Then there was the notched TE... the plans showed the ribs even spaced with corresponding notches on the TE stock. The TE pieces included in the kit had notches cut at seemingly random intervals; as much as 3/16 off on a couple notches. This is just plane bad quality control. It would be a piece of cake to use some sort of jig on a table saw or something similar to make many identical pieces all with notches in the same spots. With modern CNC equipment, the accuracy should be even better yet. The manufacturer did not do this.

I'm not afraid to break into the wood pile and cut new pieces but that's why you build from plans. I personally think a kit should have the majority of its contents at least suitable for building the airplane.

Like I said, my Anniversary Cub kit appeared to have been from the 80's or early 90's and it was a joy to assemble.