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.

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!

On to the Vertical Stabiliser!

Friday 28th March 2008 (1hr 45min)

Prepared & primed R710 rudder brace. Assembled VS skeleton & skin in blocks.

I seem to be jumping around quite a lot from one assembly to another. A prime example was this evening when I worked on one rudder piece before going on to the vertical stabiliser.

I avoided the previous mistake (not leaving enough edge distance on the R-710) and cut strictly along the line from one guide hole to the next. For sure, there are no edge distance issues this time! After prepping the edges and cleaning/etching, I applied two coats of primer. It was not worthwhile getting out the spray booth for just one part so I used a paint pad to apply the primer. My pal Byran is applying all his primer in this way and is very satisfied with the results. I could see brush marks in the brace after it dried so I think I will stick with spraying. In any case, part of the point in spraying the primer was to acquire good spray painting skills by the time I come to put final coat paint on visible bits such as the cockpit interior.

In assembling the VS skeleton, I departed slightly from the Vans manual (temporarily ignoring the big lesson from last weekend) and followed George Orndorff's method instead. George feels that leaving off the root ribs (both the VS-704 main rib and the VS-705 nose rib) to improve access for rivetting the VS702 main spar and VS-707 mid-span rib to the skins. This could be further improved by also leaving off the VS-706 tip rib except that solid rivets are called for to attach this to the tip of the VS-702 main spar. However, I was determined to stick to somebody's method if not Van's so I riveted the tip rib on as per George's video.

Counterbalance & corrections

Saturday 15th March 2008 (2hr 40min)

Dimpled holes in the end tabs of the trim tab. Riveted the counterbalance assembly for both elevators. Riveted rudder counterbalance assembly. Drilled out mashed rivets on rudder skins and elevator skins and re-riveted them.

I borrowed a long-nose no-hole yoke and a longeron yoke from my pal Bryan (QB7). I really did not fancy bucking inside a restricted space such as the rudder counterbalance arm. These yokes made the job easy. The only difficulty was in getting the longeron yoke over both flanges of the elevator counterbalance arm. The trick here was to remove one of the rivet sets. There is plenty of space to put it back in once the yoke is in place inside the flanges.

Rudder Assembly

Monday 19th Nov 2hr 10min

Assembled rudder and match-drilled skins to ribs, spar and trailing edge. Trimmed rudder brace Fitted and match-drilled rudder brace.

The manual suggests that you prime and rivet the stiffeners to the skins before assembling the rudder to match-drill the remaining parts. However, I am delaying priming so I clecoed back on the stiffners in order to prevent bowing of the skins. There sure are a lot of holes in this thing.

Trimming the rudder brace was easy and it fitted without any problem. The Orndorff video shows a trim line etched in to the sides of the brace but these have been replaced with twohalf-holes in the edges which you join up with a line, just like on the skin stiffeners. There are also a lot more pre-punched holes in this kit. For instance the R405PD rudder horn to R710 rudder brace holes are now pre-punched in the horn.

What goes together, must come apart

Wed 21st Nov 2hr 20

Completed R-918 attach strips, fitted and match-drilled them to R-901 skins and R904. Disassembled the rudder and began "DDEP" (Deburr, Dimple, Edge preparation)

Ken Scott replied to an email I had sent Yesterday to Vans support. He says I should replace the HS-902 spar on which some of the countersinks are too deep but the others three spar halves can be used. He also suggested two additional rivets through the skin and stiffeners either side of the double-holes created by mistake when dimpling the stiffeners. I don't like this as I believe the eye will be drawn to the anomaly in the rivet pattern. However the part is very cheap and as I am having a HS-902 shipped across anyway, there will be no additional postage or packing charge. Once they arrive, I can completely eliminate that ding. I also copied my examiner Mick Bevan on this correspondence and he concurs.

Yesterday evening was also the monthly meeting of the SAAC. I always bring a notebook along to record all the useful information and contacts that I get. Yesterday, I got a lead on a torque screwdriver that can handle the very low torque values necessary for the AN3 bolts in the central HS hinge brackets - 20-25 inch pounds. Charles O'Shea also took me through the builders manual that I will be completing with Mick Bevan.

I had already cut the bottom attach strips to length as they come from the same piece as the R-917 shim. As George Orndorff recommends, I cut the two R918 attach strips from the ends of this piece, leaving more than enough for the R917 in the middle. This evening, I cut off the angled ends that butt up to the rudder brace and filed and polished the edges.

They are held in place initially with side-jaw clecos (you need the longer 1" type to reach) and then clecoed as the holes are drilled. The lower holes are not drilled at this stage. The plans simply specify "2" approx spacing" - one of the few places I have seen the abreviation "approx" anywhere on these plans.

Taking the rudder apart took a while as there were so many clecos but that is because I had the stiffners clecoed in as well. I also deburred the skins very lightly.

No photos this evening - The camera is acting up and just could not be persuaded to perform.

Dimple Doh!

Sat 17th Nov 5hr 10min

Cut stiffners and match drilled to left rudder skin. Prepped stiffner edges and dimpled them. Fluted and prepped tip and counterbalance ribs.

I ordered a spray gun from a British firm on ebay. It looks to be very good value and comes with the correct 1.5mm nozzle to suit the primer I am using. However, it will take a while to arrive and I also need to construct a demountable spraybooth, so I moved on again and made a start on the rudder.

The first job is to cut out two stiffners from each length of angle. After trying the band saw, I decided I did not like the way it dealt with the very light material and began to use the snips instead. Initially, I was keeping well away from my lines but I gained in confidence and was soon cutting to the line itself. It was really quite slow and a bit repetitive and tedious to cut them all out and then trim them to length and polish all the edges.

The Orndorff videos suggest working from one end along each stiffner while match drilling them and cleco every hole as you go. This is to make sure they lie flat inside the skin with no excess skin material between stiffner holes. While I agree with this, I found it necessary to check the correct alignment of all the remaining holes on the stiffner and hold the free end of the stiffner in place while drilling each hole up to the mid point and maybe beyond. Otherwise, I felt that there would be a tendency for a right-left miss-alignment to become established and the holes might not match by the time you reach the far end of the stiffner.

I had another 'unforced error' when dimpling the stiffners. I don't find the trigger of the pneumatic squeezer easy to use and this caused me to fire the squeezer before I was in position. As a result, I got a brand new dimpled hole adjoining the pre-punched one. A few moments later my wife came into the shop abruptly and gave me a start, causing another missed hole. At least the skins are not affected. I reckon I can make small doublers from the same material and put them behind the affected holes or even spanning three holes. Anyway, I have emailed support at Vans for their opinion.

Despite careful fluting of the flanges and checking them for 90 degree alignment, I found the rudder counterbalance skin quite difficult to attach. It needs quite a bit of persuasion to match up with the holes in the two ribs. I eventually got it all together. I used a small awl to help align the holes. I put quite an amount of strain on the parts but not to the point of deforming the holes or the skin