Rudder #2 – Day 2 – 2 hours

For the second time, I deburred the edges of all the rudder stiffeners and final drilled them to the skins. Things are going a lot faster this time around even though I’m taking my time more. I’m not regretting doing the rudder again. Things look a lot better this time around. I didn’t get any…

Rudder #2 – Day 1 – 3 Hours

Yesterday I received my new rudder and today I was eager to get started. I decided that the processes used to build the rudder and elevator are so similar that it makes sense to just work on them at the same time. (i.e., trimmed all stiffeners for both rudder and elevator, do all dimpling and match…

Rudder – Day 22 – 1 hour

Well today really sucked. Biggest disaster of the project so far but, a big learning experience. I drilled out the 10 bad rivets in the trailing edge. I had centered the bit on each rivet perfectly and got each rivet out without touching the hole. Some of my best drilling out to date. Except one…

Rudder – Day 21 – 2 hours

Today, I rolled and riveted the leading edge. This wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Just followed Van’s instructions exactly. Use a 1 inch (outer diameter) steel pipe (abt 5 ft length) and duct taped it to the edge. Locked a pair of vice grips to it and pushed down and pulled…

Rudder – Day 20 – 2 hours

Well today was the big day to finish up the rudder trailing edge. The sealant was finally dry. I started by cleaning out any sealant from the dimples and using a razor blade to slice off any that had seeped out of the trailing edge. Then I used a back rivet set to partially set…