The rudder is pretty straightforward to build, except initially a little confusing to figure out how the spar, bottom rib, doubler, rudder horn and horn brace fit together and how to get rivets in all the tight spots. Like many builders, I ended up with a little oil-canning in one or two sections, but its nothing to be concerned with and I don't know what I'd do different to eliminate it.
Getting a straight trailing edge takes some care, and I managed to get mine very straight. It's also the first chance to get all messy working with proseal, which is a fuel tank sealant. It's used to adhere the trailing edges of the skins to a wedge shaped piece of aluminum that joins the two skins to keep the edge straight until the rivets are set. To set the trailing edge I used a beveled die in my hand squeezer that I borrowed from a friend. I used the same method for the elevators, aileron and flaps as well.
Total Construction Time: 42 hours
February 4, 2006 (2 hours)
Started working on the rudder. Cut all the stiffeners to length and angled the trailing end.
February 5, 2006 (2 hours)
Deburred the Rudder Stiffeners.
February 7, 2006 (2 hours)
Removed vinyl strips from all holes. Then match drilled left and right stiffeners to skins.
February 8, 2006 (2 hours)
Deburred and dimpled stiffener and skin holes.
February 11, 2006 (2 hours)
Deburred skin edges. Sanchem'ed the stiffeners and the skin at the stiffener locations.
February 12, 2006 (5 hours)
Applied Proseal the length of the stiffeners then back-riveted the stiffeners to the skins. Came out great except for one rivet which was off the end of the plate when I first bucked it. Also cut the shim and bottom fairing strips.
February 13, 2006 (2 hours)
Assembled and match-drilled the spars, ribs, reinforcement plates, rudder horn, horn brace and counterbalance-skin together.
February 18, 2006 (4 hours)
Beveled the edges of the counter-balance skin where the main skins overlap, cleco'ed and match drilled the skins to the ribs, spar and AEX wedge. Also match drilled the two bottom strips. Finally I drilled holes in the 2x2 angle along the trailing edge.
February 19, 2006 (2 hours)
Smoothed out the dent at the end of one of the stiffeners and added a slight outward bend to the left side stiffeners to eliminate some oil-canning. The right side was drum tight the first time. Then disassembled all parts and deburred all holes except for the skins.
February 20, 2006 (2 hours)
Deburred edges of all parts except for the skins.
February 21, 2006 (2 hours)
Deburred and dimpled/countersunk all rudder holes except for the skins.
February 24, 2006 (1 hour)
Dimpled the rudder skins.
February 25, 2006 (5 hours) Sanchem'ed and Alodine'd the rudder parts. Then rivets all the rudder bottom parts and also the counterbalance parts.
March 1, 2006 (2 hours)
Riveted skins to rudder spar and attempted to eliminate some oil-canning on one side.
March 2, 2006 (1 hour)
Prosealed the trailing edge. Set aside to cure for a few days.
March 8, 2006 (1 hour)
Riveted rudder trailing edge, using beveled die in hand squeezer, which came out quite nice.
March 10, 2006 (3 hours)
Riveted skins to top and bottom ribs and horn brace. There are just a few rivets I haven't been able to squeeze or buck because of clearance issues. Also added the top and middle rod end bearings to the rudder before I rivet the skins at the front of the rudder. Later rounded and blind riveted the upper part of the leading edge.
March 11, 2006 (3 hours)
Completed riveting the leading edge of the rudder. The rudder is complete except for a few, hard to reach rivets. Longeron yoke ordered today.
