I have one of these beauties. The covering on mine was just fine, you must have gotten a fluke there. I started out with an Irvine .53 in mine. I used wire control rods instead of the dowels. I opened the bottom of the fuslage and braced them internaly. This plane flew great. Flys like it is on rails. Need to keep the speed up on landing though. After about a dozen flights I noticed the horizontal stab was cracked. I sheeted mine and recovered them. I also stuck a Magnum .91 4s in it while I was at it. What a blast to fly. All kinds of power and sounds great. This however is not a 3D plane. Just one great flying airobatic plane. I used the stock landing gear and left the servoes where they called for them and have never had a problem with the setup. Stock landing gear is tough as nails as is the whole plane. One of my all time favorite planes