On Saturday I had a package arrive on my door. It was a nice double weight corrugated box taped up nicely. Here are some pictures of Joe's work at Kit Cutters. First, I am very impressed with Joe's communication with me during this process and his concern if I have any problems when I get into the build to let him know and he will correct the pieces for me. Second, the packaging of this short kit was excellent and the pictures show how things arrived minus the packing peanuts. The parts have been packaged in plastic bags in the appropriate groups they belong to. Parts are also taped together to prevent them from getting interlocked and broken during shipping. Another thing I didn't expect was the part's description being laser printed on the part. This alone is a great help and makes this short kit more like a regular kit just minus the stick and sheet wood. Joe included the hardwood landing gear blocks and the cowl mounting blocks. I mentioned earlier that the first cutting of the ribs Joe made to the individual rib drawings proved to be ever so slightly oversized so he cut a new set yet included the others. Those were packaged separately and marked accordingly with a red "X". There is a lot of thick wood in this kit and Joe's cutting is very good with only one piece of ply a little splintery on the edge. If I was judging the entire kit's manufacture I would probably rate it a 95. A few little edges that need some cleanup don't faze me one bit and anyone who is a builder shouldn't worry either.
Another thing I didn't expect but am excited Joe did was make ply formers for the canopy. In the plans drawing it shows each segment of the canopy but only in half segments. Joe cut full segments out of 1/8" ply. I can now take these and attach to one end of each plug segment I'm going to make. I can also take the adjoining segment (which is just slightly larger) and make another ply piece that is just 1/16 of an inch smaller all around to go on the other end. I can then make each canopy segment using these two ply formers as a guide. It might be hard for some to understand but once I start the build you will be able to follow what I'm doing.
What you see is as far as I've gotten so far as I have two others to finish first but they shouldn't take too long. Hopefully within the next 30 days or so I should be able to start building this wing. I will also be building in the split flaps on this and most likely going with a glass cowl instead of the wood one shown. I also need to step the firewall back slightly for the FS engine I will be using. I might be powering it with either a Saito .65 or a Magnum .70 I have. Both use about the same amount of distance so the firewall change has to be done. This is normally a .40 TS sized plane but with the floats and the fact that we have wind here in New England most of the time the .65 or .70 should be about right.

NOTE: Forgot to mention that during my communication with Joe I asked him if he would cut lightning holes in the ribs for me. He told me to email him with the details I wanted and he would do it. If you look at the ribs and the size of them you will understand why I wanted to lighten them up. Joe again did a great job accommodating my wishes. You should be able to see the holes in the ribs in the picture.