Inventorying the Empennage Kit

After a wonderful time in Portsmouth, NH and Southern Maine, I'm home and it's time to get unpacking!

Here's a shot of the smaller box after removing all of the packing paper:

And a shot of the bigger box containing the skins and stiffeners:

There's not much shelf space available in my basement, so I laid out parts on pieces of wood on the floor. Here you can see the skins all separated and sitting upright:

I unpacked every part and checked each off on the packing slip. Vans gives you thirty days to notify them of any missing parts, so they recommend a thorough inventory as soon as possible. As I unpacked and checked each part, I laid them out according to subassembly. Top-left is elevator parts, top-right is rudder, bottom-left is horizontal stabilizer, and bottom-right is vertical stabilizer.

Here are all of the rivet and fastener bags that come with the empennage kit:

This should give you some idea of how big this project is. To give you some perspective, the skins are laid out on two full-size closet doors. And this is just the empennage??? Oh man, I must be crazy.

Time spent: 3 hours