Day 6

Today we worked on the vertical stabilizer and rudder.

For the vertical stabilizer there’s quite a few interconnecting channels that help make up the strength for the main ribs. There are about 20 rivet nuts that get installed as well. Each of these we drilled to size for the m4 rivet nuts. We then used red locktite on each of them to help give additional spin resistance when installing bolts. We also needed to clear drill out the other side of the holes that the bolts will go through. This is not something that is shown in the build manual, but we know needs done.

Once that was done we then Cleco’ed the remaining ribs and brackets and got them all riveted. We then installed a few rubber grommets to accommodate the VOR antenna coaxial cable and strobe light wire and got them ran.

That is as far as we can go on that assembly right now. We can’t put the skin on until after the VOR antenna is installed. So once that arrives we will finish it up.

So next we moved onto the rudder. The process for this is much like the vertical stabilizer. We Cleco’ed all the ribs, channels and brackets in accordance to the instructions in the build manual taking special care that everything lines up and has not twist in the framework. Once all that was satisfactory we then riveted the framework together.

Once completed with that portion we then Cleco’ed on the one side of the skin making sure everything lined up. We then flipped it over to cleco the other side. Again special care was taken to insure there was no twist in the Adam’s that everything aligned perfectly. Once that was accomplished we then riveted the skin to the framework.

After riveting the two sides we then Cleco’ed the leading edge together and riveted that portion.

We then moved on to the rudder tip. This process was very similar to the tips on the elevator we did previously. Aligning the composite we then clear drilled through the skin and tip. We then removed it and countersunk the first several holes. Then using 1/8 aluminum backup washers on the countersunk rivets we installed those on the leading edge. We then installed the tip portions back onto the rudder with cleco’s and then proceeded to rivet it together.

We also drilled a hole in the top of the rudder composite to accommodate the strobe light once it arrives. We won’t drill out the mounting holes for that until it arrives. So for now the rubber assembly is complete!