Rudder

Rudder control horn primed and ready for assembly.  Rudder interior parts are primed and the skin is primed where those interior parts touch.

Rudder complete!

Horizontal Stab and Elevators Complete

Here is the completed horizontal stabilizer and elevators.  Shortly after this pic I installed the elevator control horn and hung the whole assembly up on the wall in the garage making room for the next step.

Horizontal Stab and Elevators

It's been awhile since my last post.  The elevators are complete with hinges installed.  They went together very quick and easy with no hiccups.  I've been installing the Cherry rivets by hand without a pneumatic riveter.  It's a workout but manageable.  I'm impressed with these rivets.  They aren't flush but I still like the look of stainless steel.  Also I was shocked to find out they are TWICE as strong as the equivalent sized solid aluminum rivets.  The elevator control horn has also been riveted and set aside until the last step where it attaches both elevators while installed on the horizontal stab.

The horizontal stabilizer skeleton is complete and primed.  This took a while to line up, clamp, double check measurements, make sure it's right, triple check measurements and finally drill and cleco.  In the end I remade several ribs because the width of some of the preformed rib channels were slightly smaller than the preformed spar channels.  I didn't want any unsightly bumps in the polished skins so I took the time to fix it.

Here is a shot of the structure just before closing it up for good.  You can see the skins only got zinc phosphate where they touch the fully primed skeleton.

This is the current status.  Left HS complete and working on the skin on the right side.  All the holes are drilled, just have to debur, prime and rivet.  I may be taking a bit of a break after this step.  Our second baby is due in a week and I'm sure I'll be spending a lot of time away from the project with baby girl.