We got started on inventorying the finish kit tonight. Typically we start by checking off all the big stuff and finish up with sorting/storing all the hardware bags. This time however, we decided to do things the other way around and start with the hardware bags. There are significantly fewer bags that came with this kit than in, say, the fuselage kit. At first, we assumed that this meant we could breeze through all the bags in little time, but it turns out there is much more assortment this time, and Van's decided to put many deceptively similar-looking parts in the same bags that must be carefully sifted through and separated. They've been known to do this from time to time in previous kits, but I feel like this kit has some of the most egregious instances of this practice. As it turns out, Sarah has "the right stuff" when it comes to distinguishing minute differences between things, or finding a tiny part masked by its background. Ever drop a tiny screw or earring in the carpet and fear that it's gone forever? Sarah can find it with the naked eye in under 10 seconds. She's also crazy good at traffic spotting in the air, by the way.
Sorting through a bag of washers that contained eight different kinds of deceptively-similar looking sizes.
Sorting through a bag of screws that contained six different yet similar lengths and widths.
I did all the easy stuff.
We got through most of the rivet, screw, bolt, nut, washer, and cotter pin bags, and realized we need more hardware storage. We'll need to go back to Harbor Freight and grab a few more of our favorite hardware trays (visible on the right side of the first pic above) and finish inventorying the hardware bags. Then it shouldn't be too big of a task inventorying the rest of the parts... after that it's going to be back to the fuselage!
