Steve, Congrats on your new DG-400 -- wonderful glider, and to me, the real "sweet spot" in the price/performance continuum for self-launchers. I have DG-400 No. 150 from 1985 and assemble alone with a home-built rigger. Dirk's points above, especially numbers 2 and 3 are spot on. The other thing that is critical when putting the wings on is that the gap between wing root and fuselage is parallel -- I use a couple of fingers inserted into this gap as a visual gauge, then adjust the wing fore or aft to get the gap even. If this is even slightly off, it displaces the lift pins relative to their sockets and the wing won't join up. I put the right wing on first, then tape the gap on the top surface, leaving the roll hanging so I can finish taping the underside of the wing later. This keeps the wing from sliding out while I'm installing the left wing. Like Dirk, I then use the manual crank on my ramp to adjust the height of the fuselage, until the spar holes on one side are visually aligned. When I have this right, the pin slides in smoothly without any significant force. Then I go back to the crank and change the fuse height until the other pair of spar holes are aligned, and insert the other pin. You will learn to recognize when it all looks just right, and I prefer to take a few more moments to get it right visually than to try to force things. While you are securing the pins, check the soundness of the small spring-loaded pins that lock the handles into place: there's been an instance of one of these failing, resulting in a spar pin working it's way out during flight.

The Yahoo Group "DG Owners" is the main online resource for owners of 400's and 800's and there is a real "brain trust' there, eager to help out -- I can't recommend it too highly.

Enjoy!

Paul Villinski,
NYC