Rudder (mostly) complete!

Finished riveting the rudder today.  Everything is done except the left skin to forward spar, and tip rib.  These will be riveted once the pre-close inspection is done by MD-RA at some point in the future.  The inspector needs to be able to see into any structure before close.  I am a little worried as between the aft spar and trailing edge are closed up, but all rivets for that section is viewable, and there is no structure between those components, so I **think** it should be fine.

To be honest, I was very apprehensive about riveting.  I would stare at what had to be done A LOT before actually starting.  Learned a lot of good tips along the way:

1.  I bought a rivet removal drill tool.  Makes it easy to get a bent rivet out.
2.  Don't rush.  Make sure you know what you need to do before starting.
3.  Drive some test rivets on scrap material before starting a riveting session.  Make sure the gun is setup right.  Put the gun on a block of wood and get a feel for the trigger (to make sure the air pressure is right) before you start.
4.  Don't be afraid to use blind rivets.  If I think I am going to bugger up some very expensive parts because of limited access, use a blind rivet.  I already had to make a couple small replacement parts because of mistakes.

Final product below... overall I am happy with the results.

Now I can dismantle the rudder jig, and start on the horizontal stabilizer.  The wing kit arrives in 79 days, and I want to get the horizontal stab, elevator and trim tab done (or ready for pre-close) before then.  Considering it took just shy of a month on the rudder (with learning curve), I think this is doable.  Fingers crossed!