I was so exited to start building, that I forgot to take a picture of the box's contents. So you'll
have to make do with a picture of the box...

Since this is the first time I build anything like this, I cannot comment on the quality of the
balsa in the kit. There was plenty of it though! Some of the parts (like the wing ribs) where laser cut,
and I just needed to cut them loose. As with building foamies, it is imperative you use a
fresh blade for this. Otherwise you tear or split the wood. There are two small balsa boards,
pre-sliced to use for strip wood. All you need to do is cut the ends. One thing that is not
mentioned anywhere in the instructions, which I think it should (especially since this is a beginners'
model), after opening the box, is to keep the heavy bits (like the glue bottle and the modelling clay) out
of the box. Otherwise there's a good chance of damaging the wood. Ask me how I know...

I don't have a proper building board, so I used a piece of 4mm thick scrap balsa. I like to keep
plans and instructions clean, so I photocopied the plan on two A3 size pages. This way I can cut up
the plan to a manageable size, in order to place the relevant pieces on the building board.

While reading the plan and instructions Friday evening and Saturday morning (anticipated fun as fun as well!),
I noticed two important little notes, hidden among the drawings and text.
One was a piece of very important advise.

TAKE YOUR TIME!!!

The other thing I noticed, was that for each piece of strip wood needed, there was a little drawing
which wood strip was meant to be used. For beginners, an invaluable piece of info.

To make the build even more fool proof, the pieces on the plan are numbered in sequence.
Start with number one, then two, then .... etc, etc. Those are the red numbers you see on the plan.
I'm telling you, they had me in mind when they designed the instructions...

So, without further ado, I started. As per the instructions, I started with the left wing.
The cutout piece of the plan was covered with greaseproof paper, so I wouldn't glue the pieces
onto the plan. I knew of this practice before hand, but it was also mentioned in the instructions. Just in case...
Following the sequence, I first placed and glued the outer pieces.

Followed by the ribs.

One thing not mentioned in the instructions is the importance of making sure that the ribs are at
a 90* angle with the surface. Also, I found that the top of wingrib #7 (W7) was so thin that I nearly
broke it by just handling the piece. I had to put a drop of thin CA on, to keep it in one piece.

While the winghalf was drying, I decided I had some workspace left, so I also build the rudder stab.
I would have thought that I would have difficulties handling these eensy weensy little pieces of wood,
but I had no problem at all.
While cutting some pieces at an angle, to make them fit better, I found it difficult to see which
way the angle was cut with a blop of glue on. So while cutting the pieces to size, I put a small mark
with a black sharpie pen on the wood, to see which way's up.

One wing half done, now the other half is being porcupined.

The instructions mention sanding the TE (=trailing edge=the back of the wing) and LE (=leading edge=the
front of the wing) at this point. The wings are very delicate at this point, and when I started
sanding the LE I nearly broke of the part on the inside of W3. I'll do the sanding when the wing is assembled.

After the wing halves and the rudder stab, the elevator was a piece of cake.

The wingmount proved to the most difficult piece to do. The wood parts are not square, but rectangle.
So to keep the piece in place needed some more patience, some more pins, some more care (or I would
knock the pins...), oh yes, and some more patience. I kept telling myself, "go slow, take your time".
I did, and the wing mount looks strong and straight.

To connect the two wing halves, I sanded the TE and LE end bits at an angle so they would fit.
I then pinned the right wing down, so it wouldn't move.

I then trial fitted the right wing a few times, to see where exactly I had to pin down the dehidral
gauge. I pinned down the gauge, put a blob of glue on the TE and LE parts, and rested the wingtip
on the dehidral gauge. To make sure it would all dry in position, I pinned down the right wing as well.

While that was drying, I glued the thrust bearing (that's that front metal thingie) onto the
fuse stick. When the glue had dried, I wound some of the supplied string around it, and rubbed some glue on the string.

I rearranged the pins on the wing somewhat, first glued in the wingbrace, and then the center wingrib.

Now, another dilemma; to attach the tissue to the wood, a 50/50 mix of white glue & water,
or glue from a glue stick as advised on RCGroups? To answer that question I am doing one side of
the rudder and wing mount as per the instructions. A 50/50 mixture of white glue & water,
was first brushed onto the balsa. A piece of tissue was placed on the frame, I straightened the
tissue and, again as per instructions, I brushed some more of the glue mixture through the tissue onto the wood.
This is how it looks while still wet. Looks awful doesn't it? Getting worried...

And this is after a couple of hours. Much better...

And again; the bottom of the wing wet:

And the bottom of the wing dry. I'm getting the hang of this. Now I need to try and get the tissue on without wrinkles...

With hindsight, I think it would have been easier to first glue the wingmount on to the wing, and
then glue the wing assembly on to the fuse stick. But being new at this I followed the instructions.

To keep it all in line and straight, I pinned the fuse stick down and then glued the wing mount on,
pinning that down as well. Ofcourse, after trial fitting and a bit of sanding.

When that was dry, again I pinned the fuse stick down, this time straight up, and glued the elecator stab in place.

After that I glued the rudder stab on top of the elevator, and the landing gear was glued in place.

To glue the wing on straight I first raised the tail till the fuse was horizontal.
I think this way it is easier to eye the wing in relation to the elevator in order to get
the whole thing straight and level. As per the instructions, I cut two pieces of scrap balsa
the right length to keep the wing stable while the glue dried.

The scrap pieces I pinned onto the board to keep it all in place.

And finally, a few decals from the generous decal sheet were put in place.
DONE