Rudder Assembly

7/16/11 - Assembly day has arrived! I had originally planned to start construction on the plane in the garage but due to the insufferable heat wave (90's and above) I wisely choose the basement instead. After moving the tables, table tops and tools to the basement, I began to locate all the parts necessary for constructing the rudder assembly. Lo and behold I finally found all the pieces as called out in the drawings. (Some of them were at the bottom of one of the large boxes. Murphy's Law is alive and well!) I watched the instruction video but I quickly realized that the rudder being built in the video was for a Zodiac 601/650. Similar but different, so I had to take it with a grain of salt. I just looked at the assembly diagrams and drawings and finally figured it out. I drilled holes in the rudder spar and the various ribs and attached the temporary cleco fasteners. Total Time = 11 hrs.

Rudder Parts: Rudder Spar (75R2-3), Rudder Horn (75R2-4), Spar Doublers (75R1-8), Rudder Bottom Rib#1 (75R1-1), Rudder Rear Rib#2 (75R1-2), Rudder Rear Rib#3 (75R1-3), Rudder Rear Rib#4 (75R1-4), Rudder Nose Rib (75R1-6), Rudder Tip (75R1-5), Bent Strip (75R1-7), Rear Skin (75R2-6) and Nose Skin (75R2-7).

Rudder Skeleton

7/17/11 - So, I decided to clean up the mess from yesterday before continuing on with the build process. I viewed the instruction video once again but used the information for reference only. Looking at the assembly diagrams and drawings I removed all the clecos I had placed in the parts the day before. I deburred all the holes that I had drilled, coated the parts with Cortec primer to help prevent corrosion and removed all labels. Finally the time had arrived to put the first rivet in! I have to admit my hand was shaking with the first one but I managed to completely rivet all parts together (and I have pictures to prove it). Total Time = 6 hrs.

Rudder Skins

7/23/11 - Phase II begins - Installing the rudder skins. After watching the instruction video & reviewing the photo assembly guide I placed the Rear skin (75R2-6) onto the skeleton. I drilled the holes into the skin and clecoed in place. Next came the Nose Skin (75R2-7). This was a bit more tricky. I had to tape it in place with duct tape and check on the positioning of it in relation to the spar with a square. After verifying the location I used the large clamps to keep it in place. I then drilled and clecoed the nose skin in place. I drew a line around the excess material on the nose skin at the tip rib. Then came the process of removing all the clecos and deburring all holes and filing down all rough edges. After trimming all rudder pieces according to the directions I applied Cortec primer to protect the parts against corrosion. Total Time = 9 hrs.

Putting in the final rivet.

7/24/11 - Took time out to attend the Thunder Over Michigan Airshow at Willow Run Airport in the morning. (The Blue Angels are utterly amazing.) I didn't start on the construction until late afternoon. I reattached the rear skin and the nose skin to the skeleton and clecoed in place. I wasn't totally happy with the nose skin fit at the tip rib so I removed it again and retrimmed and filed it down smooth. Then I reattached once again and cleoced in place. Now it was finally time to rivet the nose skin and the rear skin to the skeleton. All riveting was completed with the exception of the spar flange below the nose rib. This area is just clecoed until the spar fairing is put into place at a later time. Total Time = 3 hrs.

Total Rudder Assembly Time = 29 Hours (I hope the Learning Curve is over)



The Finished Product. Yeah!