Rudder Rolling

Sunday 13th July (3 hr)

Rolled and riveted leading edge of rudder. Put in rivets at narrow end of elevator end ribs. Pop-riveted ribs at narrow end of rudder tip rib.

With a clean shop, I set about finishing off all the left-over jobs from the empennage before settling down to the wing construction phase of the project.

I decided to roll each section of the leading edge separately. These sections are defined by the hinge cut-outs that divide them. Before rolling, I put slight bend in the leading edge of the overlapping skin so that it would lie flat after riveting. Not everybody does this, especially because it is such an inconspicuous spot, but I wanted to get a feel for the process before I get to areas where it may be far more necessary. I used the Isham-supplied tool for the job and I was reasonably happy with the results. There is certainly little or no gap between the skins but the bend that I put in was a little too aggressive and is still visible. It is possible to adjust the gap between the rollers so I may try to have them a little less tight in future. Also, I will probably borrow the Avery's tool from my friend and fellow-builder Bryan Sheane and see how that compares.

For the roll itself, I used a metal tube of just under an inch in diameter. In fact, it is the bottom telecopic section of a lawn umbrella with the plastic fittings removed. This was taped on to the skin using 3M duct tape. I don't think the diameter is critical but a bigger tube will not allow you to over-bend the skin enough so that it springs back to the position you want.

I clamped a vice-grip onto the tube in the hinge openings and rolled the skin making sure that I was also exerting pressure downwards into the bend. This was to prevent any bending of the skin at the point where it crosses the forward edge of the rudder spar. The duct tape adhesive was so strong that removing it threatened to alter the bend just created but, with a little care, it eventually came off. Getting clecos in to the holes was easy at the top but a little harder near the bottom where some hand pressure was needed to get the holes to match up. From there it was a simple matter of drilling out the holes to size and putting in the correct pop-rivets.

Riveting on the skins to the narrow ends of the elevator and rudder ribs was something I had not been looking forward to and had not had any success with until now. My new masonry chisel (with the sharp edge ground off and polished) was a definite improvement. The flats on the handle made it easy to keep everything in position while the rivets were being set. I still had not located rubber grommets of the right size to put over the rivet tail so as to squeeze the skin and rivet flange together but I was able to get the corner of an edge clamp cleco onto the corner of the rib flange close to the rivet without interfering with the job.

Ultimately, however, there just is not enough space in there to set both rivets in the last position, so I had to content myself with pop-rivets on the underside of the elevators and on both sides of the rudder.

First day of 'real' building since the break - and very enjoyable it was too.

Thin-end rivets

Wednesday 30th April 2008 (1hr)

Set last rivets at narrow end of elevator root and tip ribs except for the very last ones. Experimented with techniques for these last rivets.

The long-nose no-hole yoke is the obvious tool for this job and does well up to a point (yes that was a pun) where there is just not enough room for the unsqueezed shop end of the rivet as well as the pointy end of the yoke within the flanges of the rib down near the trailing edge.


On most of them, I was able to get the yoke nose in as long as the rivet was not fully inserted. You are then depending on getting the moving rivet set to push the rivet home as it closes before finally setting the rivet at the end of its travel. To do this, you have to have pretty good trigger control skills to get the squeezer to close slowly. Even then, I found that the skin and rib were not tight to each other at the point where the rivet set enough to grab the inside of the holes. These all had to be drilled out, leaving me with only one of the eight where the results were okay. To make matters worse, if you do happen to get one of these set, the rivet head now restricts the space further for setting the rivet on the surface opposite.


I decided to try the 'lever' method so I put some tape around the end of a piece of flat steel bar that I had. However, this wasn't really stiff enough to set the rivet properly, leading to some more drilled out rivets. I will have to look at using a wide 'bolster' masonry chisel, which should be really hard while still being thin enough to get into the space available. Also, I need a rubber grommet with a thickness closely matching the projecting shop tail of the rivet. Placed over the rivet tail, this will push down on the rib flange making sure that the two materials are in close contact as the rivet 'bites'.

That's it with the project for the moment. I really need to help Dorothy out with the remodelling job so I will have to stop work until that is done and the wings arrive. I still have these rivets to finish plus I haven't rolled the forward edge of the rudder skins. Still, building a plane doesn't mean you are no longer a member of the family and duty calls.

Rudder Trailing Edge Riveting

Sunday 20th April (4hr 45min)

Riveted rudder and left & right elevator trailing edges. Pop-riveted trim tab end tabs and trim tab horn. Match-drilled hinge to trim tab upper skin & spar and cut to length.

It is a week now since 'tank sealant day' so I went back to work and began by removing the clecos and cleaning the little stray bits of solidified tank sealant out of the dimples and holes. The edges are still laser-straight at this stage but it is the riveted end-product that counts. I did notice one place where the tank sealant was lifting the skin off the trailing edge wedge very slightly. Obviously, this was close to the end of the sealing job when the sealant was getting very stiff and lumpy and difficult to spread.

The idea here is to half set each rivet with a back-riveting set, flip it over and then finish by riveting on the manufactured head with a mushroom set. In the event, I was not very comfortable with the back-rivet set and decided to try the air squeezer with the gap set to squeeze each rivet just enough to fix it in place. I found this easier although I had to be careful to exert enough pressure on the manufactured head with the non-moving side of the squeezer to ensure it was fully seated in its dimple before it was fixed in place. I worked on every fifth rivet from the centre out and then went back to do the rest randomly.

I was very pleased with the results. I would call it perfect if it were not for that little bump caused by tank sealant and I think the edge material is microscopically dented by the action of the rivet set at each rivet site. It certainly no longer looks like pristine new aluminium sheet but I think paint will hide that completely.

Another anxiety-causing job off the list!

With time on my hands, I went on to pop rivet the control horn to the trim tab. If I had not forgotten this step before 'tank sealant day', I could have easily done these with solid rivets using the longeron yoke. In fact, I should also have solid riveted the bottom skin-spar join at that stage so that will also have to be pop-riveted. The manual quotes MK-319-BS pop rivets as an alternative here. However, I don't have enough of these rivets to cover all locations where they are called out or are an option. I will have to get 30 more from Vans.

I also put pop rivets into the ends of the trim tabs and match-drilled the hinge to the underside of the top flange of the spar. I got this dead wrong first time but fortunately caught my mistake before I had cut the hinge so I was able to re-position the hinge and match-drill again. The first set of holes won't do any harm and can be regarded as 'lightening' holes - if they are ever noticed in such a well-hidden location.

Trailing edges sealed

Saturday 12th April 2008 (5hr 40min)

Attached 2nd aluminium angle to edge of bench. Positioned HS and elevator assembly with counterbalance arms in line. drilled trailing edges to angle and clecoed. Cleared bench for rudder and rearranged shop. Cleaned AEX wedge of elevators. Cleaned skins inside trailing edge. Mixed tank sealant. Sealed in trailing edge in left and right elevators, sealed foam ribs into trim tab.
With the entire HS/elevator assembly in place on the worktables, I attached the remaining part of the aluminum angle I had bought (the first part was used on the rudder) under the trailing edge of the left elevator (now located on the right, as the assembly is upside down to allow the elevator control horns to stick up rather than down) One of the counterbalance arms had initially been about 1cm out of alignment but by the time everything was weighed down and the trailing edge clamped to the angles, it was all perfectly aligned again. I match-drilled through the trailing edge into the aluminium angle, putting a cleco in every hole. I worked from the centre outwards as I feel this is more likely to avoid any waves or curves in the trailing edges.

My drill press, bench grinder and band saw had to be cleared off the third worktable to create space for the rudder. These machines are attached to a second work surface which is cut into three sections, one for each machine. These usually just lie side by side on the worktable relying on the weight of the machines to keep them steady. I can clamp them to the work surface if I need to. Other than lifting the heavy drill press and band saw carefully for the sake of my back, it was easy to get them down off the worktable. I was pretty happy with the arrangement and pleased that I had gone to the trouble of installing them this way. BTW, the space under the table is taken up with my compressor. It is lined with two layers of scrap carpet and the front panel is removable. The compressor is an oiled belt-driven model and is fairly quiet anyway, but with this extra insulation, it makes only a little more noise than our kitchen fridge.

Before starting this morning, I went out to buy a length of wooden dowel. I used this to spread the skins slightly at the trailing edge (this is why the last three rivets at the narrow ends of the root and tip ribs are left open until now). I cleaned everything as well as I possibly could with methylated spirit, including the site of the foam ribs on the inside of the trim tab skin. Once the wedge with the sealant spread on them is in place, the dowel rod is drawn out sideways allowing the skins to close on the wedge.

Mixing the tank sealant in the cartridge took some figuring out but I got it done. I recorded the process on video with a view to posting it on Youtube after I edit it down to about 3-5 minutes. It takes quite a lot of strength to move the plunger up and down through the material in the cartridge. I wonder whether it was A) too cold (I stored it in a fridge) or B) too old. Also, once mixed, it was nowhere near as smooth as I had hoped and really quite difficult to spread on the AEX wedge surfaces. The trouble with this stuff is that once you start there is no turning back so I pressed on. I spread it as thinly as I could on the foam ribs and wedges, put them in place and clecoed and clamped them shut. By the time I got to the last trailing edge (the left elevator) the material was already clearly going off so I got the job finished just in time. I reckon it was useable for not much more than an hour after mixing. How you are supposed to carefully apply 3.5 oz of really thick muck within an hour, I really don't know. I suppose you could say that I am no longer a Proseal 'virgin' and the experience has left me feeling dirty (in fact, I am actually dirty). I will not be using the cartridge format again.

Anyway, that's it for a week until I am certain that the tank sealant has fully cured.

Elevators attached

Monday 7th April 2008 (2hr 20min)

levelled 2 benches, attached left and right elevators to HS. Checked for true.

There seem to be two risks in finishing the elevator trailing edges. the first is that you produce a hooked or wavy edge and the second is that you build in a twist so that one elevator counterbalance horn is out of trail with the HS (either high or low) when the other horn is perfectly aligned with its HS and the trailing edges are also perfectly aligned. This twist is locked in by riveting the tip ribs and trailing edges and the solution seems to be to drill out these rivets and allow the elevators to 'relax' into alignment. I planned to avoid this by having the HS and both elevators assembled and aligned while I riveted the trailing edge.

Today, I began to implement this plan. I reversed the heavy aluminium angle that I have set into the top and edge of one worktable so that the vertical flange was screwed to the side of the table and the horizontal flange was flush with the top and extending out from it. Then I attached both elevators to the HS (BTW, there seems to be plenty of space to get the bolts in if your fingers are in any way nimble). I propped up the front of the HS with some timber under its forward spar until everything was 'in trail'. With one counterbalance clamped to the HS, the other was initially just 1cm or so out of true

This was the first time I had seen these three parts assembled- the horizontal surface area of the thing is vast!

Movng towards the (trailing) edge

Sunday 6th April 2008 (7hr 15min)

Riveted rudder except skin-tip & root ribs - last 3 rivets top and bottom. Prepared alu angle and match drilled to rudder trailing edge. Riveted left and right elevator tip and root ribs top and bottom to skins. Cleaned trailing edge parts of rudder in preparation for tank sealant. Installed rudder counterweight.

I spent the day finishing all the remaining jobs on the rudder and both elevators to get them ready for prosealing the trailing edge. ,

Earlier, Vans had sent me the 3.5oz size in the cartridge instead of the 1 oz size that I had ordered. From all I had heard, this job is very messy so the cartridge format of the 3.5 oz seemed like a good idea and I decided to order the dispenser gun that goes with it. By the way, the only difference between the gun that Vans sells and the cheapest gun you can get at your local hardware store is in the diameter of the disk at the head of the plunger. If I had it to do again, I would find a way of reducing the diamater of this disk on a cheap gun until it fitted into the end of the proseal cartridge.

The downside of the cartridge is that it is all mixed at the same time and goes off at the same time so you have to have everything that you want to use it for set up and ready at the same time. I have a heavy aluminium angle set into the edge of one of my worktables but this was not going to be enough to do both elevator trailing edges and the rudder trailing at the same time so I had bought an extra 8' length of 35mm x 35mm x4mm aluminium angle. I cut a piece off this to suit the length of the trailing edge of the rudder and match-drilled it to the existing holes in the skins and trailing edge web.

Elevators to rudder

Sunday 30th March 2008 (3hr 40min)


Pop-riveted right elevator bottom skin to spar. Riveted on right elevator counterbalance skin. Riveted both end ribs to top and bottom skin except last three rivets on each run. Drilled out and replaced faulty rivets in rudder skins. Assembled rudder skins on rudder skeleton. Installed R710 rudder brace. Riveted rudder skeleton to skin.



I borrowed my pal Bryan Sheane's 4" thin-nose-no-hole ("4TNNH"?) yoke and his longeron yoke for the jobs I had to do today. It is becoming clear that these tools are essential, whether you have a hand squeezer and (or) an air squeezer. So, I ordered my own from Avery's. They should be here within 2 weeks by Express parcel post.

The manual and lots of builders sites will give you the impression that pop-rivets are the only solution for at least some of these holes. However, the longeron yoke made short work of them all and every rivet is perfect - Don't hesitate, get yourself one of each of these great tools!

Easter bonnet

Sunday 23rd March 2008 - Easter Sunday (3hr 25 min)

Riveted right bottom HS skin. Riveted in aft spar and left HS 904 tip rib.


Easter fell very early this year - the weekend following St Patrick's day. I suppose we should have taken advantage of it and gone away for a break. However, Dorothy drives to see her mother most Sundays (leaving me to get a long spell of work on the plane) but every Easter her mother goes to visit other relatives and the break that Dorothy wants is NOT to go anywhere. Of course, I was happy to oblige and suggested that we spend an hour or so on the riveting job. Well, that's probably not how she saw her Easter Sunday working out but she was 'up for it' and played her part, if not happily then at least without verbal dissent.

There's been a lot of talk on forums recently about RV divorces. Apparently building an RV often contributes to marriage problems. In my view, no aircraft or any other hobby is worth that much pain and I have no intention of joining the ranks. So I'm trying to strike a balance and keep the project out of the way of family life as much as possible. One idea is to restrict weekend working to just one of the two days and being available either for DIY, shopping or whatever on Saturday, or else ocassionally visiting my mother-in-law with Dorothy on the Sunday - whichever she prefers. Another idea is to take long breaks between the kits. We have been planning a big re-modelling on our reception rooms - which is a project dear to Dorothy's heart. We normally do all of this kind of work ourselves so I intend to begin that when the emp is finished and complete it while the wing kit is on the high seas so that I am ready to start straight in when it arrives.

Anyway, back to today's action. I got the aft spar on and pop-riveted to the internal main ribs. I also put in the solid skin-spar rivets on the trailing edge and riveted in the left tip rib. All of these solid rivets are accessible to the air squeezer, making it easy, pleasant and fast work.

Right Elevator Counterbalance Assembly

Thurs 29th Nov 3hrs 20min

Adjusted counterbalance rib flanges to 90 degrees. Fluted ribs. Assembled counterbalance ribs and skins and matchdrilled ribs to ribs and ribs to skin.

I had a little difficulty 'stretching' the counterbalance skin over the ribs, probably because I left the vinyl on the inside. It is amazing the difference this can make. Perhaps if I took it off, I would be able to fit the skin with less difficulty and wouldn't need the protection against scratches that it provides.

No photos again this evening because of my camera problems. However, while messing with it later, I found that if I turn the flash intensity down the photos are fine so hopefully that will be the end of the problems.