If you are talking about the aileron link control horns, they should stick out past the control surface a little. To be clear...these are not the "clips" that hold the control surfaces on, but the horns that connect the upper and lower ailerons together. One tip I can give here in addition...make sure that the z-bends move very freely in each control horn. I had a little drag still in mine to keep the slop out...but ended up with binding in the ailerons, and they would not center correctly. I ended up cutting the original hardware out of the aileron links and built that from scratch...no problems now.

As far as your other problem goes...that is a bummer you are 1 short. I think that this kit is the only one that requires all 12... If I were to leave it out somewhere, I would leave it out of the fuse in the rear X section. After everything is installed, take some thread and tie the unsuported piece to the piece that has the plastic support right in the middle. Use a few loops of thread. Then put some CA on it to help hold everything together.

If you can wait, and really want this part...you could call Great Planes, and I bet they will send you one. Just a thought.