I did however get started on the rudder today. Vans suggests spending an hour or two often, instead of waiting a week and spending an entire day. Unfortunately my schedule doesn't always agree, so I hadn't gotten into the workshop since the previous Saturday, and spent the from 10:30 to 6 there today.
The rudder skin is in two separate pieces. Rather than have ribs down the entire length, it has ribs at the top and bottom, and then reinforcement along the inside of the skins. The skin is
really thin, meaning it wobbles and I had to be careful when deburring and dimpling.
Here is a picture of the reinforcements clecoed on to the skin. You'll notice they're square on each end still, and the plastic is still covering everything.
Here is a picture of the skin with the plastic removed where the reinforcement will go, and the reinforcements roughed out to the proper shape.
The reinforcement comes pre=bent and pre=drilled, but has two reinforcements per bar, and eight bars per bundle. I had to do a lot of trimming, and thus deburring on the pieces. Each piece also had to be cut down in length as the rudder is not one width the entire length.
Once everything was carefully deburred, I primed where the reinforcements would hit, and the reinforcements themselves, and prepped for some serious back riveting. Here is the primed skin with the rivets taped in for rapid attachment.
A lot of rivets were put in today. I find back-riveting to be very satisfying as it goes rapidly once you get them all taped in. Here the skins are all ready for the next step!
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