Where to start?

I think you're more than good to go. For people not used to solder on PCB (not hard) DIYRE used to have a small practise kit, but I believe it's discontinued, so why not start with this instead:
www.diyrecordingequipment.com/collections/for-beginners/products/safe-audio-interface-protector-kit
Will probably come to use sooner or later, and soldering those 6 components will probably be enough practise.

Hairball's build manuals are superb and educational so if you're not afraid of working with 120V units, and you don't start rushing things or being impatient you'll be fine!

I think there's a lot of info here on what equipment you'll need:
realgearonline.com/thread/419/started-diy-master-tools-list

But the short version is: Good soldering station (this is where I wouldn't save, even from the start), angled cutter, cable stripper, some kind of magnifying glass/light (can't work without my $10 visor), DMM (you could start w a cheap, but later you'll probably need RMS and HFE for measuring transistors), I also use my simple lead bender all the time, and since you are building stuff I guess you already own some kind of vise. You could probably wait with a desoldering gun until you get really hooked

I bought the same Weller almost 10 yrs ago and it worked until last summer. And re 120V, yeah, you're obviously much more confident than me with that. And again Hairball's build manuals are really ABC, and with your assembling skills you'll be fine! Check them out to get the feel for the build, first part here for the 1176 build: www.hairballaudio.com/blog/resources/post/welcome-to-diy

Yeah, go for the Hairball rev A, it's great! PM if you want it with carbon resistors. I saved a Mouser cart with all resistors in the audio path replaced with carbon ones.

I don't think it could be said more strongly, but for DIY, nothing beats Jeff's VP26 kit or Colin's ez1073 kit as a first project. in the EZ1073 kit, all of the component leads are already cut and bent, and placed in individual labeled bags. You *literally* just pick a bag, and place the component. takes about 4 hours to build that ez1073 kit, because Colin did all the hard work with sorting/cutting!! Jeff's VP26 is great as a first kit because the component count is so LOW, other than the single opamp you need. note that I said VP26, not VP28.

If this helps, here's my build thread for my two 500 series racks and all the modules that went into them.

groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=46108.0 Part 1 (Total Newb!!)
groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=49545.0 Part 2 (not a newb)

I started from zero experience as well building gear and you can read about some of the troubles I had during my builds.

you'll run into issues with Calibrating those 1176s if you've never built anything. that's why I'd start with a build that doesn't need calibrating. Yeah, the pics are gone for me as well, because they're 3+ years old.

Thanks again for the vote of confidence.  The way I've learned the trade stuff that I do is to go slow and if there's anything foggy at all, find someone who knows more than me and ask them.  Most people that have been doing something a long time are happy to share their knowledge, at least in my experience.  After awhile, you're not slow anymore and people with less experience are asking you for advice.  

What's the hard part about calibrating?  I assume it's outlined in the Hairball literature?  I guess I look at it methodically.  There's got to be a tool to do it and a way to use the tool.  If I don't have the tool I'll buy it and if I don't understand how to use it, I'll ask someone who does understand.  

I don't expect it to go fast but I think I can get it built.  Sounds really fun to me. 

The combo of the therapy when building, gear love and the reward putting audio thru something you've built and liking what you hear is hard to beat.

Oh Ragan you are gonna love it. Building DIY recording gear uses an interesting creative/academic part of your brain. I believe its the same part that crafts songs but that's just my own theory. The whole enchilada though is great. The advice you have received is top notch and I'll echo everyone else in saying definitely start with CAPI. It introduces you to what is what in a clear and concise way. I'd move on to a G-SSL or a Hairball 1176 next personally because I think they teach you a lot and you have to source your own parts which I think teaches you more than most will admit. The Hairball comes with guides while the GSSL has probably one of the largest support threads online. You could literally spend hours just perusing GDIY threads and get a glimpse at the projects people have taken on. Some are just jaw dropping and there are a lot of them. Holgers Krassemaschine is a wondeerful example which is an unbelievably ambitious 12 channel tube based mixer that won a mixing contest when put against a 56 channel SSL 9000. Look up Holger Krassmachine and I think you will understand.
Others have built 1081's from scratch. I literally mean they etched the pcb's at home and sourced every NOS part to make a clone.
Very cool stuff.
And then you have here. Where i think you can feel free to ask away anything.
I took a year long sabbatical to build and learn. I sold off more than half of my factory made gear in favor of the stuff I built. In all honestly mine in many cases was made better. I know what parts I used and that makes a difference. Which is a really good point. Don't skimp on anything DIY. Just buy the one suggested.
and remember most of all its fun.

Hmm,, with you love of mikes,, have you thought about one of the 251 projects ?

Hairball , what a hair brain idea, you must be a drummer !

Not to rain on your effort, but a warning, I modded one of these as far as you can take it, i even put a tube socket in it to swap tubes, it never approached a U47 in it's performance or sound, and was so lurchy in it's dynamics that it was begging for a completely new PSU just to possibly give it reasonable performance on a moderately dynamic source, the removal of the inner mesh will also make it more susceptible to plosives and dynamic failures, an acoustic guitar at 2' off the 12th fret may be one of the only viable sources to record with this mic, unless you're looking for a paper flat image from a very small dynamic source, thats is my experience, it's possible that maybe i started with a crappy unit?

Heheh. Yes I know it's not a 47. I only meant that as a jump off point, meaning it's a center terminated, transformer coupled mic that's mid forward with a soft(ish) top.

I got it for $149 so I'm not looking for the moon. Not worried about plosives, I use a windscreen and they're fine (though I'm not gonna track my vocals with it). I've had a few Joly modded mics and so I'm familiar with the single layer headbasket game (which, you're right, can be touchy).

I'll likely only use it on acoustic guitar. Actually there are a couple spots where a 219 shines on a drum kit as an accent/color/kit mic that I bet this will do well on (same capsule).

I wonder if you have a Chinese power supply? Maybe you know the story but the UK distributor went behind Oktava's back and had some PSU's made that were noisy and problematic. Lots of info out there on identifying them.

But also, Oktava is known for inconsistency. You may just have a bad one and I may just have a good one.

As a beginner, I would go with the rack unit. I just finished a hairball 500 rev d and though it's not terribly complicated, the led meter adds some fun. Calibration is also a labor of patients!

The La500a would also be a good starter. We have a decent exchange rate right now with Australia.