Empennage arrived!

The RV-14A empennage arrived today, via XPO Logistics.  Although there was minor damage to one end of the crate, fortunately it does not appear that any parts were damaged.  After ~6 hrs of unpacking and inventory, I am still not finished.  There are a TON of rivets and other hardware bits - no wonder constructing an RV-14A takes several years (for most of us mortals).

So far, I'm only missing a few blind/pop rivets, and one of the fiberglass pieces has a ~3/4" crack (likely prior to shipment) - I'll be asking for replacements.  Otherwise, an impressive crating/packing job - it is almost an art form how the pieces fit together.  Here are a few pics from today:

After most of the sub-kits have been removed:

Looks like I need a new one of these (note crack). I know nothing about fiberglass, so maybe this is easily repairable:

Van's must use gorilla tape to secure many of the larger sheets of aluminum; those sheets aren't going anywhere in the crate.  But, the tape takes off the blue vinyl coating on the alclad sheets when you try to remove.

I segregated the parts for the first project (Vertical stabilizer), which I'll hopefully start this weekend:

Sub-kits in some semblance of organization:

I am still amazed at the number of fasteners and other little parts:

I ordered the Toolbox kit to practice - well worth the $30:

... and, ~6 hours later: