Maxford Fiesler Storch 63"

[skubacb]

Just received the 63" Fiesler Storch from Maxford. Overall, it is a very nice kit but they CAed half of the CA hinges to the ailerons and flaps. This is a really dumb thing to do. Also, a couple of the CA hinges are buried too far into the aileron and I will have to dig them out and put in new ones.

Talked to Maxford and the only thing they offered is to have me send it back. Oh, I get to send it back, not them, because they think there is nothing wrong with the aircraft. Plus they don't have any replacements right now. The service guy thinks that half gluing the CA hinges is not a problem. I guess he knows nothing about CA hinges and the proper way to put them in. Well, I happen to know that the next shipment will NOT have half glued CA hinges. Mmmmm, not willing to state up front that they are fixing the problem. Had to tell him that I knew. Basically, anyone that ordered the old batch gets to suck up the mistake from the factory.

I asked if he would give me any consideration since I will have to pull two of the hinges. Also, this is just wrong and will not allow for proper gluing. He was willing to allow me ........ nothing!

I like the way the aircraft is setup but I will never buy from Maxford again. Anyone else that sends out a plane with problems will work with you or give you a little discount because of the problems. But with Maxford, nothing.

Also, I cannot believe that Maxford thinks half glued CA hinges is a properly produced aircraft. He said they are only changing it because some customers complained. Yeah, right! The CA does not wick properly into the second half. The rest of the entire industry knows that CA hinges are only put in all at once, but not Maxford. At least that is what their service rep says. Oh, yeah. I could pin all the hinges if I don't trust them. Of course I don't since they are not properly installed from the factory.

[texasclouds]

looks like a fun plane.

in your defense...the manual and website doesn't mention that they are pre-installed:

http://www.maxfordusa.com/fieselerfi-156cstorch.aspx
http://www.maxfordusa.com/manual/f-156.pdf

Page 4 of manual says:

1. Insert the provided CA hinges into the precut aileron and flap hinge slots in the trailing edge of both wing panels; position each aileron’s and flap’s precut CA hinge slot onto their corresponding CA hinges.

[shlaes]

Mine came with the CA hinges glued into one side as well. And yes, two of them were so deep that they didn't reach far enough into the other surface.

This was also a problem with a Greenmodel Thrush, sold by Maxford as the Pretty Glider - but it was worse on this one - the rudder was fully glued to the vertical stab. Since the joint is at an angle, this left no way to install the vertical stab - the rudder was in the way. Maxford sent an (unglued) replacement when I asked, and was very quick about it.

That said, the plane is a great flyer, as is my maxford Jenny. Looking forward to flying the Storch. That seems to be the pattern with Maxford - great engineering and design, nice materials on the airframe - but not much quality control on the final details. Also the hardware that came with the Thrush was junk - threads cut too shallow on control rods, brittle control horns that broke on the first flight.

Going forward, I'd still buy their products (especially because they pick really cool planes to model) but be prepared to replace the hardware and look very close at the plane as you put it together.

[skubacb]

Let us know how your flight goes. Mine is not so fun to fly. Also, be careful with the struts. The way they are currently setup they really only function as straight wires. Mine fell apart after three flights so I just glued them into a single piece.