It's here! It's Here! IT'S HERE!!!

Out of town for work on a Monday, I get an email that says "You have a UPS delivery scheduled for tomorrow". I click on the link and, as I was hoping, it was from Airdrome Aeroplanes!  My rudder kit, and the first part of my construction journey was about to begin!  My wife sends me a picture Tuesday of the long package, proving that it was there safe-and-sound.  I admit I was giddy, thinking that I couldn't wait to get home to actually touch the aluminum that I would some day trust to carry me skyward. Home now on Wednesday, I eagerly take the package to my shop.

 

I unpacked the plastic wrap, laid out the parts, and secretly wondered if it was all there. Seemed like not many things for $385, but hey, everything with aircraft is more expensive, right?

 



Now, the worry sets in...

I go through the instructions (the standard 8 1/2 x 11 paper in the lower left of the last picture) and figure I'll  lay all the pieces out to get a sense for the job.  The first thing I notice is the small drawings of the rudder.  It is recommended to draw it to scale on some large paper sheets from Lowes, but I'm not entirely sure how to do that.  For example, the curved edge of the rudder has different curves at different points, and I have no clue how to "enlarge" the drawing by hand to the appropriate size.

On top of that, I can't help feeling that I didn't get all the parts.  The parts I have are labeled, but I am not finding them all and some of them are completely different shapes than in the drawings.  One of the gussets is on the drawing as a semi-circle, but the part with the corresponding label is a square.  Am I supposed to trim the square to a semi-circle?  The instructions don't say that, and I have two semi-circle gussets in the kit that are for different spots, so I am a bit confused.

I think I'm going to need a lot of help on this...

First thing, I'm going to have my dad (a full-fledged A&P) come down and take a look at this kit.  He will be able to tell me for sure if I am not seeing things properly and the kit is fine, or if my concerns about not having the right kit with all the parts are founded.

Time logged:  1 hour - research