I just recently finished building this kit. It took right at 40 hours but there were some parts I really took my time on It could be done in much less. The stock was pretty well shaped and the inletting only needed minor fitting. The European walnut has a very nice dark grain. All of the brass showed pretty rough casting marks and the packaging was adequate enough to prevent any damage. I started with the shaping of the stock. I used a medium rasp to get the shape I wanted and then sanded it smooth with 150 grit sandpaper. Then worked down from there with 220 grit and then 400 grit. All sanding was done with the hardware installed. Once I was satisfied with the shape and feel at 400 grit I started ﾓwhiskeringﾔ with a rag and hot water sanding with 400 grit. When no more whiskers appeared I did a final sand with 600 grit. I used Birchwood Caseyﾒs Tru-Oil for the stock finish no stain. I applied the Tru-Oil with an old T-shirt allowing 12 hours dry time between coats and sanding LIGHTLY with 000 steel wool. I canﾒt recall how many coats it took but it was somewhere between 6 or 7. As for the brass hardware I used a dremel tool to sand all of the casting marks and give a general polish to all of the parts then hand sanded with 400 grit paper. I used Birchwood Caseyﾒs Brass Black on all of the brass hardware. I was really impressed with the results. They came out looking more like black chrome without the shine if that makes sense? The breech plug came installed on the barrel already and the barrel showed significant machine marks on the flats. I cut a sanding block that was the same width as the flats and sanded them with 220 grit sandpaper and then polished with 400 grit. The barrel breech plug and tang were then blued with Birchwood Caseyﾒs PermaBlue. Following the directions to the letter produced excellent results. Being a cold blue it took about 5 coats to achieve a finish I was happy with. I then covered the blued pieces with gun oil after the last treatment to stop the process. Final assembly was pretty straightforward. A slight bending of the tang was required to make a tight fit. Once assembled I wiped the wood and brass pieces down with 3 coats of Birchwood Caseyﾒs Gun Stock Wax and buffed to a smooth sheen. This is a gorgeous representation of a Hawken rifle. I never hesitate to show it off and look forward to shooting it soon. If I had any complaints it would be the sights. The front sights fit well and look period enough but the rear sight look a bit too modern. They appear to be good quality and look just like the sights that come on the Thompson Center Hawken rifle. I have yet to install them on my rifle as I am looking for another set that look more like they were produced in the mid 1800ﾒs. If you are considering this kit I donﾒt think you would be disappointed. VERY easy to assemble and with a little patience you will have a rifle to be proud of!