Well it seems the side ribs of the fuselage are not damaged. Gus from Van's got back to me and since the only think holding the sides of the fuselage apart are the aft bulkheads, firewall and mid cabin brace, it is not uncommon to have this kind of buckle. He assured me it will straighten out once the roll bar and tops of the other ribs go into place. Photo 1 shows the buckle, photo 2 shows how the top of the fuselage is entirely open, it still has most of the parts in the fuselage that is how it gets packed if you pick things up uncrated. The third photo is my flying fantasy photo, the rear fuselage skin is just resting on the sides of the fuselage, and the tops of all of the fuselage ribs are not there. I just had to have one dork picture!
Gus also confirmed that the step and tail tie down block should have been in the QB kit, and they are being sent to me along with the missing bags of hardware.
