2005-01-15
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It sure is nice to get back to working on the plane after being away from it for about two weeks. Just too many things going on. Sometimes you use up all of the hours in the day and there's no time for building. Now things seem to be getting back to "normal" and I can spend some time on the plane. I decided to work on installing the rudder tip. It's pretty much the same process as the elevators. You need to attach a strip of aluminum to the inside of the fiberglass flange to give it some strength to hold the rivets. I cut them out of the extra pieces of aluminum that were sent with the kit.

The edges need to be smooth so I clamp them to the table and run the file over them.

Then I round the corners like so.

Buff the thing with the scotchbrite wheel to rough up the surface. This makes the adhesive work better.

They need to be attached to the inside like this.

I use plain old silicon to stick them. It works better than anything else I've found. It takes a while to set up, however.

Clamp it and wait for it to harden. It takes at least 12 hours.