Sometimes it feels like this project is just screaming along, and then sometimes... not.
In the later part of last week I finished fitting the skins including the forward skin and root rib, and making the counterweight. So now it is on to corrosion proofing.
The manual says to corrosion proof everything, and at a minimum Alodine all surfaces. After talking to some experienced builders, I decided to Alodine all surfaces - both inside and out, which means all the plastic had to come off the skins, which was a bit of a job in and of itself. But it only took an afternoon to Alodine the entire rudder, and prime everything.
So with everything Alodined and primed it time to start assembly. I ordered a Redbox 737 Rivet gun from Aircraft Spruce, but it isn't here yet. My rivet squeezer is backordered as well, so I borrowed a squeezer so I could at least start.
Root rib to the aft spar was the first order of business. Had to make some little gauges for determining appropriate rivet length, as well as the shop head dimensions post riveting.
If you have these, it makes choosing the right length of rivet a no brainer. The amount of tail sticking through the surfaces to be riveted needs to be at least 1.5 times the diameter of the shaft. I saw an article in sport aviation talking about making these little tools, and thought nothing of it. Now I get it! I really should stamp the numbers instead of sharpie as they will disappear in short order.
I then realized that I had countersunk the wrong side of the hinge bracket, so had to make a new one. Then Alodine and prime... so while I was waiting for that to dry I JB welded the trailing edge of the skins together.
Aft spar and root rib riveted together.
Once the primer is dry I can start riveting again. But I think I will run out of things I can rivet without the gun pretty quickly. We will see...
So far I haven't hit anything insurmountable. But this is only the rudder, which is the easiest of all the parts to assemble. The wings are on order (standard build kit) and will ship around April 4th. So my goal is to have the rudder, horizontal stabilizer, elevator, and trim tabs all done by then. That gives me 3 full months (minus spring break vacation with the kids). I think / hope that is doable!
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