Mikecam,

It's a shame that you as a customer are being jammed between a rock and a hard place but it's not Great Planes that is at fault here but rather your LHS where you bought it that has let you down. They wouldn't let you open the box to inspect it while in the store??? What kind of a hobby shop does that?? Were they trying to hide the damaged parts inside?? And to tell you to deal with GP directly is BS. It sounds like they could care less about you as one of their customers. Did you notice any damage to the outside of the box because those photos sure look like shipping damage to me. I.ve never heard of such a practice in any LHS before.