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…

Elevator – Day 1 – 1.5 hours

I am still waiting for the trailing edge on the rudder to cure. I decided to get started on the elevator while I wait. There are long pieces of aluminum angle with holes marking the trim lengths for most of the pieces. On the left elevator, the outboard stiffeners are slightly closer to the outboard…

Rudder – Day 19 – 1 hour

Today, I sealed the trailing edge. Van’s has you do this to keep the trailing edge straight while riveting it. I think a bigger deal is made about this than should be. Put sealant on both sides of the AEX wedge and pop it in place and cleco it to a piece of aluminum angle.…

Rudder – Day 18 – 0.5 hours

No pics today because I made no real progress. I was going to pro-seal the trailing edge today. I ordered the small (1 oz) 30 minute kit from Van’s. It sucked. It was like trying to mix two flavors of bubble gum together. Also, there seemed to be just enough for the job. I threw…

Rudder – Day 16 – 1.5 hours

I found a good substitute for a close quarters bucking bar. I took a mason’s chisel smoothed the face of it. Worked like a charm. Still couldn’t get to the last rivets on both ribs. Had to use pop rivets for those. The chisel did kinda beat the hell out of my priming job. I…