Hello folks!

New member here, & new to RC Planes. Recently, I decided to build a Great Planes PT-40 given to me as a gift from my wife & daughter about 15 years ago. While the box was opened and a few supplies purchased, it has basically remained untouched, but I've recently developed a real interest in getting it built.

Unfortunately, I have only just begun & I have a building question I hope I can get some help on. Following the build instructions, the second step is to glue the fin & forward fin together but my pieces don't match up well. Laying the pieces on the plan, it appears the forward fin might be cut a little short in height.

If I align the bottom of each piece on a straight edge, the top of the forward fin mates to the fin as in this pic:




If I align the leading edges on a straight edge (you can see the bottom of of my dial calipers acting as the straight edge in the pic), the bottom edges look like this:



Can anyone offer advice on the best way to deal with this? My thought is to align the bottom edges, glue together then plane & sand the leading edge of the upper fin (NOT reducing the overall height) to match the forward fin, but I'm not sure. There are trim pieces that attach to the bottom edge of the fin assembly covering where the mating surface attaches to the stabilizer, effectively hiding any gap that might be present if I align the top but I don't know if that would be wise.

Advice is appreciated!