Preliminary Rudder Setup

I still hadn’t attached the rudder to the vertical stabilizer, so it was time to see how it fit. This is a preliminary setup, to be followed by a thorough set up during final assembly of the airframe.

The rudder has three rod-end bearings that bolt to three brackets on the vertical stabilizer. The trick here is to adjust the depth of each bearing such that they form a straight line through the brackets and the rudder hangs properly with good clearance on the top where the counterbalance arm overhangs the top of the vertical stabilizer. It took a couple of passes to get things right. Here’s what it looks like connected together:

And here is what the top of the stabilizer and counterbalance arm look like:

The rudder swings smoothly left and right on its bearings. These components are complete except for the fiberglass tips and final fitting to the fuselage much later.