Rudder

The rudder is the part in orange below:

The RV7 rudder skin is extremely thin : it must be handled with care and also to pay attention to the preparation of aluminum.
The skin is reinforced with stiffeners need to cut through 1/3 of the length , round the edges , being careful to respect the distance edge with the holes.

Once the stiffeners cut & deburred they are adjust with clecos on the skin. Time to drill the holes size 40. The skin is then deburred.

The skin is dimpled.

Stiffeners are dimpled , they are then completely flattened.
The whole is then painted with anti-corrosion.

Same operations with the second part of the skin after a long period of building inactivity due to: – A moving, – Work (some still in progress …) – A major career change.

My son is motivated: the hole must be perpendicular to the skin so that it has the right size, isn’it Maxence!

After playing with primer on the skin and the stiffeners: back riveting! Great result! Be careful not to over crush the rivets so that they are not too tight. Even after a long inactivity period, no problem for the resumption provided that you have the right rivet gun pressure!

Assembling the skeleton of the rudder, no difficulty and even with a little help