Triple double dog DANG.
Little did I know that rolling the leading edge would be the most difficult part of building the rudder! That made riveting the trailing edge to be like child's play.
It turned out about 95% the way I wanted it, but there are a few places between the rivets where the outer skin is not pulled tight against the inner skin.
QUESTION -- did anyone add some rivets in these places to eliminate these small gaps? Is there another way to do this?
Notes to self and anyone else who has not done this:
1. When you roll each side, roll it fairly tight. I used a 1" aluminum tube which worked well, but maybe a 3/4" would have been better?
2. When you roll the first side, do all the rolling you are going to do BEFORE rolling the second side. Once you roll the second side, it's very tough getting the tube back in placed and taped up again if you need to roll the first side some more. I was able to do it, but not without a LOT of effort and trouble.
3. Just as Van's says, when you roll, keep the force DOWN on the tube as you roll. That will keep the side from bending at the spar. Mine did well except for the small section at the very top of the rudder. Since that section is short, it bends much easier than the other two, so without realizing it I didn't keep the force down on that end and the side bent somewhat at the spar. I was able to work it out well enough, but it didn't have to happen.
4. Duct tape on tube and skin worked very well, so do it just like they say.
5. I edge rolled the outer skin BEFORE rolling. Instructions didn't call for it, but I did it anyway. Hope that was the right thing to do, but it turned out okay.
6. Instructions say to debur the holes once they are drilled. RIGHT. The last thing I was going to do after busting my butt to get cleco's in place, and that took two people to do it on the bottom section, was take it all apart and spread the metal enough to get my hands behind the inside surfaces and rub with scotchbrite. I actually did that on the middle section and it was a mistake. I had to spread the metal so much that it made it that much more difficult to go back together. So, instead of using a drill bit, I opened the rest of the holes with a reamer which produced much less burring and only deburred the outer holes. I don't know what's right or wrong here, and I wonder if it would have been better to drill and debur both sides BEFORE rolling, then slightly ream again if needed for final alignment. For me this became a matter of "do your best and putty the rest."
Anyway, this turned out to be a four hour job for me. First time I've done this in the kit, and I learned a lot. Guess we'll see on the elevators!
Little did I know that rolling the leading edge would be the most difficult part of building the rudder! That made riveting the trailing edge to be like child's play.
It turned out about 95% the way I wanted it, but there are a few places between the rivets where the outer skin is not pulled tight against the inner skin.
QUESTION -- did anyone add some rivets in these places to eliminate these small gaps? Is there another way to do this?
Notes to self and anyone else who has not done this:
1. When you roll each side, roll it fairly tight. I used a 1" aluminum tube which worked well, but maybe a 3/4" would have been better?
2. When you roll the first side, do all the rolling you are going to do BEFORE rolling the second side. Once you roll the second side, it's very tough getting the tube back in placed and taped up again if you need to roll the first side some more. I was able to do it, but not without a LOT of effort and trouble.
3. Just as Van's says, when you roll, keep the force DOWN on the tube as you roll. That will keep the side from bending at the spar. Mine did well except for the small section at the very top of the rudder. Since that section is short, it bends much easier than the other two, so without realizing it I didn't keep the force down on that end and the side bent somewhat at the spar. I was able to work it out well enough, but it didn't have to happen.
4. Duct tape on tube and skin worked very well, so do it just like they say.
5. I edge rolled the outer skin BEFORE rolling. Instructions didn't call for it, but I did it anyway. Hope that was the right thing to do, but it turned out okay.
6. Instructions say to debur the holes once they are drilled. RIGHT. The last thing I was going to do after busting my butt to get cleco's in place, and that took two people to do it on the bottom section, was take it all apart and spread the metal enough to get my hands behind the inside surfaces and rub with scotchbrite. I actually did that on the middle section and it was a mistake. I had to spread the metal so much that it made it that much more difficult to go back together. So, instead of using a drill bit, I opened the rest of the holes with a reamer which produced much less burring and only deburred the outer holes. I don't know what's right or wrong here, and I wonder if it would have been better to drill and debur both sides BEFORE rolling, then slightly ream again if needed for final alignment. For me this became a matter of "do your best and putty the rest."
Anyway, this turned out to be a four hour job for me. First time I've done this in the kit, and I learned a lot. Guess we'll see on the elevators!