Tonight I clecoed together the rudder in preparation for final drilling the trailing edge and ribs (counterweight support and tip rib). It’s interesting how some parts are punched to final size, while others are not and require final drilling. At least all the stiffeners and corresponding skin holes are final size, that will save me drilling and debuting several hundred holes.
First I clecoed the ribs and stiffeners to the spar:
Then measured and cut the trailing edge wedge to length, and marked the skin where I’ll scuff with scotchbrite for extra adherence of the tape that will hold the wedge and the skin together while it’s riveted.
Then it was time to cleco the skins onto the frame. Here’s a picture of the whole structure clecoed together:
The next step will be to final drill the trailing edge holes in the skins and the trailing edge wedge. You can see the end of the wedge in the picture:
Drilling the trailing edge is tricky because the hole must be perpendicular to the chord line of the wedge, which means it intersects the skin at around 84 degrees instead of 90 degrees. Getting it wrong leads to a cascade of problems culminating in a wavy or curved trailing edge. I really want to get this step right the first time!