Hi @TigerCole
yes 5 years later there are better solutions for this 
I would now use the Table Validator for this.
You can in the dialog define what happens if certain columns are missing, and add them with Missing Values in case they are not there. The Missing Value can than add you a fixed value into these missing values.
If you have a second reference table, you can also use the Table Validator (Reference) Than you do not have to take care of configuring the node per column.