I thought this was an all-metal plane...

Inventory

After hunting all over for Rib 1, it turns out that I mis-inventoried this part when checking it against the backorder list, and it in fact wasn't included.

Things are pretty tough pandemic-wise in South Africa at the moment, but they and local dealer have very kindly arranged it to go out with another NZ shipment leaving in the next week. Hang in there, guys.

Test fit

Looks good apart from missing rib 1.
Looks good apart from missing rib 1.
The top rib/spar gussets were trickier than advertised to fit together for some reason, but makes sense once the parts are all oriented right.
The top rib/spar gussets were trickier than advertised to fit together for some reason, but makes sense once the parts are all oriented right.

Parts prep

In the meantime I've got on and unwrapped, deburred dimpled where necessary and primed the parts as per the manual. The rudder hinges come pre-assembled by sling and so are alodined.

Passed quality control.
Passed quality control.

Unfortunately it seems I have an over-enthusiastic dimpling problem, and have dimpled the front 7 holes at the top of the front rudder skin (where the composite tip attaches) before match drilling the tip.

The dimples obviously interfere until these holes are drilled and countersunk, so I've gently flattened them for now and will redimple once the drilling is done.

Note to self, always re-watch the video before starting the part!

Primer applied.
Primer applied.

And with that, all ready to assemble! I'm still waiting for rib 1, as well as my balance counterweight which was also backordered, but I'll be able to get the skin on and prepare the composite rudder tip.