1024- Rudder- p.7-11 step 1-6 & p.7-12 step 1-5

Rudder - 4 hrs 32 mins (Rudder 27:16, Empennage 54:49, Total 68:45)

Rivet count: 104 (Total 896)

Part 2 for the night. After dinner, I went on a rampage of work. I really didn't intend to work this long, but then again I did want to finish up. At 2:30 in the morning, I was all done, and am posting this a day later.

I started off by riveting the trailing edge of the rudder. Double flush rivets are definitely not my strong point. There are all kinds of dents and marks, but since I am not polishing the plane, they will all be filled and painted over, so I really don't mind. It will likely be the same for the elevators when I do them. Unfortunately, I bought aluminum angle instead of angle iron or steel, so it is all bent and deformed and can't be used again.

Then came the fun task of bending the leading edges. I really hated that, and I am not looking forward to doing the elevators. It took a few attempts to get the two skins to match up and making the bent edge smooth against the bottom edge. 

Last, was attaching the counterbalance weight and bending the metal at an angle to fit snug. At over an hour to get three holes to match up, it took entirely way too long. Twelve little rivets later, the rudder was complete! -M

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

1023- Rudder- p.7-10 step 1-7

Rudder - 2 hrs 2 mins (Rudder 22:44, Empennage 50:17, Total 64:13)

Rivet count: 163 (Total 792)

First day working on the plane in the last 6. Unfortunately, it's going to get worse before it gets better. This past weekend was event filled, to include turning my girlfriend into my fiancee! Needless to say, there was no work done. I spent the past two nights catching up on Master's degree work from the weekend, and starting tomorrow, I am out of town for Turkey day, and then out of town on business for two weeks. The next time I build will be 16 December at the earliest.

I got home from work early today and set my sights on getting the rudder done before this long hiatus. Not only is it a major milestone, but all the build is fresh in my mind, and it saves me from having to relearn some things. In part one of the night, I worked on the spar before hunger took control. I simply needed to blind rivet the spar to the clips. On the last rivet, it didn't seat all the way. I went to drill it out, but all it did was bend the shear clip. I had to drill out all of the blind rivets to fix the clip and then start over. Not very pleased about that. After getting the spar to the clips then came time to rivet the skins to the spar. the overhang for the leading edge was too much to use the squeezer so bucking time it was. last was squeezing the counterbalance rib to the skin. Easy work (albeit frustrating at times) for the before-dinner work. -M

1022.1- Rudder- p.7-9 step 2-8

Rudder - 1 hr 46 mins (Rudder 20:42, Empennage 48:15, Total 62:11)

Rivet count: 33 (Total 629)

-E came over tonight and helped to get the rudder trailing edge sealed, cleco'd, and blind-riveted. That was a tremendous help. You really do need two people to build this monster. No video unfortunately, but there is a picture. I figured out early that I ordered the 3.5 oz from Van's instead of the 1oz. Quick cost analysis was that it was easier to use the tube and waste some than to wait around for new one and far better than overnight shipping cost. Positive news despite the waste is that I learned to use the tube early for repeat use on elevators in a few months. 

I went to rivet the bottom spar and was perplexed about how to buck the narrow parts, only to discover I had a tool (squeezer set borrowed from -B) that I had been ignoring. The other night I "butchered" one side of the rudder, and today the other side went like cake. Go figure. At least that is one lesson learned early for later use. Squeezing rivets is far easier than bucking. 

Tomorrow I'll work ahead on the H.Stab since the rudder needs to sit until Saturday at least. I'm finally in town for a weekend, but with an excessive amount of chores mounting, I may not get a lot done even with the extra time. As much as I enjoy building, the outside of the house is starting to slum up, and that needs immediate attention. -L, hope you're ready for yardwork. Maybe a bonfire is in order with the cold weather too. -M

1022- Rudder- p.7-8 step 1-3 & p.7-9 step 1

Workshop - 30 mins (Workshop 13:56)

Rudder - 1 hr 24 mins (Rudder 18:56, Empennage 46:29, Total 60:25)
Rivet count: 48 (Total 596)

Steady progress on the rudder. Attached top and bottom ribs to the skins, and then the shear clips to the stiffeners. First blind rivets of the project today.

Also spent a little time getting the angle ready for the back riveting of the rudder this weekend. Tomorrow, I will hopefully dive into the proseal goo and get the trailing edge done. That will rest all day Friday to hopefully get the rudder done between Saturday and Sunday. -M

1021- Rudder- p.7-7 step 1-5

Rudder - 1 hr 28 mins (Rudder 17:32, Empennage 45:05, Total 58:31)
Rivet count: 157 (Total 548)

Very productive night! Started riveting of the rudder, first by putting together the lower rib and rudder horn, then putting together the rudder spar and reinforcement plates. All assemblies required a platenut to be attached and I think I checked and verified the orientation of them about 17 times each. I was really paranoid about making a mistake there. It all worked out.

Then I back riveted all the stiffeners to the skins. It turns out as I suspected, that back riveting is not only really easy, but also very fun. Not to mention it is about 3 times more time efficient than bucking. I did the second skin, 63 rivets, in about 20 minutes. Tomorrow night should be a relatively short night of normal bucking, and then Thursday night may be time to bust out the tank sealant for the trailing edge assembly. -M

1020- V.Stab- p.6-6 step 8-9

Vertical Stabilizer - 33 mins (V.S. 22:11, Empennage 43:37, Total 57:03)
Rivet count: 66 (Total 391)

Short video tonight, but the Vert Stab is complete!! Rudder riveting starts on Monday.... -M

1019- V.Stab- p.6-6 step 5-8

Vertical Stabilizer - 2 hr 3 mins (V.S. 21:38, Empennage 43:04, Total 56:30)
Rivet count: 154 (Total 325)

Holy rivets Batman. This is just the V.Stab... 300 down ~13,000+ to go... 

Nearly complete. So close. -M