Well, the day turned worse this afternoon. I drilled and tapped all the holes for the gap covers, fitted nutplates for the fairing and then loosely bolted the horizontal stabiliser back in place.
When I screwed on one of the gap covers it just didn't look right. See first picture below. There's a horrible gap. I figured the fairing must somehow cover all this up, so I placed it in position and was horrified. It doesn't fit, not even close. It looks like the stabiliser is too far to the rear. What the hell is going on!?
It took me a little while, but I finally realised that I've been sent the wrong parts by Vans. I have the fairing and gap covers for a RV-7, not a RV-9. The rear wing is completely different on each of these models.
I now have mixed emotions. Very pleased that I didn't make a major stuff up, but very dissappointed that now I've got to get onto Vans to send me the right parts. That'll take best part of a month.