That happened to me just last night, but I did find the dowel, that was supposed to be in the box. It does look a bit intimidating at first, but as everyone said take your time, and you'll do just fine. My first kit was the 1903 Wright Flyer, I opened the box saw all that wood and [X(] I just started following the instructions, after reading them a few times and it all fell right into place, well most of it It actually came out very nice.
Oh in case no one mentioned it, Read the manual, a few times. Really no one is "joking" about that. It honestly does help.