I just finished a hangar 9 corsair and noticed the same thing with the retracts. The manual is backwards for setup! I tought it was just me. However, the rest of the kit was easily put togther. I agree about the firewall though. Do yourself a big favor and reinforce it. I noticed from your picture that it looks just like the Corsair and that firewall was pretty flimsy. I used epoxy and fiberglass tape back to the second former and for this to break the whole front from the cockpit forward will have to come off. I can't wait to see the finished product, looks like a good looking plane.

Tom