Almost done with the rudder! I’ve assembled and riveted the skins and the counterweight assembly on the top of the rudder:
The lower rib, horn, brace, and fairing attach strips are riveted together on the bottom of the rudder:
The rivets holes inside the brace (now held by clecos) are impossible to reach with my squeezer, bucking bar, or any other riveting tool I have. I’ve ordered a longeron-style yolk for my squeezer that has the needed offset to reach these rivets. I’ll finish that up later.
What remains is the riveting of the trailing edge, which is apparently tricky because the instruction manual devotes almost a half a page to the subject. I’ve sealed the trailing edge together using tank sealant and a very straight piece of aluminum angle I got from the local hardware store:
This will be left to cure for a couple of days. Then the rivets can be set for the trailing edge such that it will come out very straight.
After the trailing edge and the hard-to-reach rivets, the final task will be to close up the leading edge. Look for a post about this soon.
Ted's RV-7 Build 