I wanted to look at a master list (or final list) of items to be brought to the shipyard to build a Dent.
No waypoint is given unless a reactor has been built - how is anyone to know that?
And I don't wish to remove all inventory just to look at the mission, since one must accept it first and I don't want to lose what i have.
I used an alt to go in and find the station but it will not allow me to dock, my ship will just sit there inside the dock.
There is info on other sites and they all have info on what to build, which is fine, and I'm sure it makes sense if you have built one already, but there is no info on the actual list of individual items that must be brought in.

If one could dock and accept the mission without fear of losing inventory then it would be better.
The info could be provided on the 'info' tab for the mission as it is done for other items.
The task of building is big enough, there is no need for all the mystery.

While I agree with your suggestions, I wouldn't suggest holding your breath waiting for this solution. :) in the meantime try the /manu plugin available thru Mr.spuck's thread in community projects. I have been finding it very helpful in not only knowing what is needed for the build, but also keeping track of what I have and where it needs to be for all the components of the build.

Shadowhawke meant manu plugin, not many.
http://kitchen.nfshost.com/ven/plugins/#manu

You can dock at the capship station without the waypoint, but it can be difficult to find the docking bays. There are 22 exit bays and only 4 docking bays (all clustered in the same region).

Manufacturing missions used to not take inventory when accepted, but it was a pain because the items had to be in your ship and you had to undock and dock over and over again. The item list probably should be in the mission info prior to accepting it and is likely something the devs simply hadn't considered since the manufacturing missions were overhauled.

no dent / dent part manufacturing missions will take away your inventory if you accept mission prematurely. I don't know why people insist on believing otherwise. Have taken part in my own and several other dent builds and nobody has lost anything that way. I took final mission by mistake too soon and lost nothing.

+1 to clarity on mission descriptions

I'll sumarize what is required.

4+ months of your life being obsessed with (moving widget a to location b so that you can build widget c, which you need so that you can move it to location d in order to build widget e which you finally get to move to location f whiere you use it to build widget g.)^8

All of this so that when your done you can sit around and ask 'Does anyone need to use my trident?'

Why is that mission even visible to people who haven't built the reactor yet?

Here is an example of what you risk by simply accepting a manufacturing mission:

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/2/28876#348420

also from that thread:

08:43AM abortretryfail linkreply
If you throw a chicken, carrots, potatos, and cabbage into a pot and heat it up for 15 minutes then pour it all out because you decided to go out to dinner, you don't get the fixings for your stew back.

So providing info before accepting a mission is a good idea.

lol Fluffy -- that's a pretty good description