Well today ended with something that looks like a rudder. Pretty exciting. I prepped the spar and ribs. This involved match drilling all the holes in the rudder horn, reinforcement plates (on the spar where the bearings will eventually connect to the Vert. Stab.), and ribs. The top rib and counterbalance rib required some fluting to straighten them out.

Today started with match drilling the bottom rib to the spar. The center hole in the rib flange had to be enlarged to 3/8″ using the spar as a guide. A unibit (step drill) made this prett easy.

Next a shim had to be fabricated so the bottom row of holes on the rudder horn can sit flush against the back of the spar (i.e., the top row of holes on the rudder horn are on the rib flange).

Afterward, the top and counterbalance ribs were fluted and then attached to the spar along with the reinforcement plates. All ribs-to-spar holes are final drilled to #30 as well as reinforcement plates. (Note: The manual doesn’t explicitly tell you to match drill the reinforcement plates to the spar but I know it’s needed because I tried fitting a rivet in and it wouldn’t fit).

And then I clecoed on the skins. The skins need to be match/final drilled to #40 where they connect to ribs, spar, and trailing edge.