Now we get to finally dig into the box!!! Yippee!!! Make sure you have enough clear area to take everything out of the box. What we are going for here to lay out everything and inventory it all to make sure we have everything, also want to make sure that nothing is damaged. We're not going to cut out anything at this time, just label everything and inventory it. Sig does a great job on their instruction manuals in the fact that they will include a key to all the die-cut and laser cut part sheets (see first picture) which will help you identify and label everything.

Anybody who has ever built a kit has at one point or another used the wrong stick of wood. A lot of times kits will have two different sticks with the same dimensions but different lengths. The longer sticks are usually needed for crucial items (like spars) so you can't splice a piece together, so if you use the stick in the wrong place you're going to be making a trip to your LHS to get a new one (yes, I have done this too!!!). Here's what I do, measure and label ALL of your sticks (and flat wood too, if included with kit). Measure carefully because it's easy to mix up sizes that are close, for example 5/16” and 3/8”. When you have to cut a length off of one of these sticks always cut off of the opposite end where you marked your measurements, that way you'll still know what size the stick it.

When you have all the sticks labeled, start to inventory them. Check off the parts on the included parts list (page 3 of the manual). After you have the sticks inventoried then you can do the die and laser cut sheets, and then the parts in the bags. Try to keep them neat as you inventory, because we are going to sort them out and separate them according to where you are a going to use them. As you inventory the parts make sure that every part is labeled with the part number on it.

One important thing you want to do at this time is look for damaged parts. As you can see in my pictures, there is a “groove” in one of the ailerons. This can easily be fixed by filling in the groove with balsa filler, but not all damage can be fixed. If you find damaged parts, as well as missing parts, you need to contact either where you purchased the kit or call the manufacturer and arrange for replacement. I've dealt with Sig before and they are really great about taking care of problems.

Pictures
1. All wood, parts, and plans removed from box.
2. Manual showing parts location on part sheets.
3. All sticks layed out to getting ready to label.
4. Sticks layed out to label and parts list in manual
5. Measuring sticks.
6. All stick sizes labeled and checked off in manual parts list.
7. Misc. parts labeled.
8. Hardware inventory and seperation into containers.
9. All parts checked off list.
10. Damage to aileron.


Until next time

Ken