Finished up the Rudder tip fairing seams. Unlike the top rudder fairing, which needed a lot of fill work, the bottom was pretty good. Not much filler needed on this one. Time to store the Rudder away. All that’s left is the Vertical Stabilizer tip fairing.
I fabricated a mounting plate for the tail-strobe. It matches the shape of the bottom rudder fairing. I used JB Weld to fix the nuts in position on the inside portion of the mounting plate. This will allow the tail-strobe to be removed for maintenance. The mounting plate was primered and mounted to the bottom [...]
Finished the rudder top fairing. Still need to do the bottom rudder fairing after I get the mounting hole for the tail-strobe light cut out. Also finished up the left elevator fairing and started the left tip fairing of the horizontal stabilizer. Wing kit is expected on May 9th, so I need to get these [...]
Received the Whelen tail light strobe in the mail the other day. This will allow me to complete the bottom rudder fairing along with the rest of them. I need to order some electrical tools (which I’ll need eventually anyway) to extend the wiring so I can have a disconnect near the front of the [...]
This morning I was able to complete the rudder. The other night I finished double-flush riveting the trailing edge and rolled the leading edges. I can say that I don’t like doing the double-flush and rolling the edges. Of all the things I’ve done so far, these two tasks were the least enjoyable. Both came [...]
Over the last couple of days I managed to get a few things done with the rudder. With the priming fiasco out of the way, the stiffeners were back-riveted to the skins. Back-riveting is the bomb compared to shooting the rivets. I’m going to try and do as much back-riveting as possible, as most builders [...]
Today I primed the rudder skeleton in preparation for final riveting. I finally got a chance to use my recently purchased mini-HVLP sprayer. All I can say is that I WILL NOT ever be using it again. It is a big mess. Cleanup afterwards is a royal pain in the #$?! I will be sticking [...]
Tonight I was counter-sinking the AEX training edge of the rudder and I ran across what I thought was an issue. Both sides of the trailing edge get counter-sunk to receive the dimples in the skins. When I started counter-sinking the 2nd side I noticed that it was opening up the hole because of the [...]
Today I took a personal day off work and was able to get the rudder skeleton done and get everything put together. Of course I jinxed myself on the previous post and messed up a rudder strike plate. I forgot to check my micro-stop countersink depth before I dug in. Yup, way too deep. Oh [...]
Progress on the rudder has now started. Spent my lunch hour today on the first few steps. The ribs were separated and deburred. The shear clips were also separated and deburred and likewise for the stiffeners. Everything went smoothly. No parts to re-order (knock on wood).
