My Undercarriage/ Canopy/ and Finishing kit arrived today. I was able to do the full inventory in less than a day. For the first time all of the parts that were missing were accounted for and documented and it was only a few parts.
I was surprised that I was able to assemble the rims, get the nose and the main gear mounted without too much trouble. The problems I did run into were:
1) The nose tire inner tube did not come with a washer or nut for the valve stem. Sling manuals do not show or mention the washer or nut but the MATCO manuals do. I reached out to Sling Technical and to another local builder who both confirmed that Sling does not use the washer and nut.
2) The nose strut was initially very hard to turn so I had to assemble/ test/ disassemble/ sand the bushings/ repeat and large number of times. I actually lost count. Its pretty smooth now, I wish it was just a bit smoother but I dont want to over do it and number two I did have it smoother but during final assembly this last time it is just a hair tougher. The only change I am going to do here is the two AN4-5 bolts on top of the strut that prevent it from falling down thru the mount are not safetied in any way so I plan to get some drilled head bolts and safety wire them, call it cheap insurance.
3) When I went to install the M16 bolt/axle thru the nose tire bushing it would not fit. Using a micrometer I was able to determine that at the transition from the threads to the body of the bolt that it was just slightly larger at that point than the rest of the bolt. I used the Scotch Bright wheel and turned the bolts a few times and I was able to get the bushing on.
4) The main gear went on in about 20 minutes with the only problem being that on the right side there is a metal plate that protrudes up from the leg and it was contacting two rivets inside the channel which prevented me from getting the gear high enough to put in the bottom bolt. My solution was to use a cut off wheel and just take off a very small portion and each corner of that plate and the the gear went right in.
5) Installing the brake calipers I had to removes a little bit of material from the fiberglass leg to get the room needed for the caliper to fit.
Now the plane is sitting in its own feet and I feel like its a big milestone