Today I put a few more rivets in the rudder spar. The support piece for the bottom rib is gonna be kinda tricky. The 3 rivets to the rib were easy, but I don't have the proper tools for the 4 rivets that attach it to the yoke. I figure I'll use the credit I have at Avery to buy a couple more squeezer yokes that I'll probably have plenty of uses for. First the 'longeron' yoke, as it should allow me to get in to this tight space and squeeze those final 4 AN470AD4 rivets. Supposedly this has multiple uses for other parts of the plane too, as they claim it is their most popular yoke.
I also clecoed on the counterbalance skin, but my yoke doesn't quite reach those rivets either. I was gonna hit those with the gun, but since I'm thinking about getting yokes I will probably wait to do those. The yoke I'll get for this job will be the '4" no-hole'. I haven't had any tight spaces to rivet yet, where the no-hole yoke is a necessity, but as soon as I start doing the skins I'll run into those quickly. The 4" is the part I need for the counterbalance skin, so we'll kill two birds with that one.
So I'm at an impass with the rudder right now. Time to start on the elevator skeletons. I clecoed the nutplate stiffeners and drilled those on the spar, and then did the counterbalance ribs and weight. This is where the instructions really mean it when they say "prepare the ribs" These two ribs have to be very flat and the corners where the flanges start have to be worked a little, too. The ribs back right up to each other and have prepunched holes that have to mate with the counterbalance skin. When I first put the skin on, the holes didn't want to line up and it was a major pain to try to get the clecoes in there. So I took the ribs out an flattened them more with the rubber mallet. After getting them good and flat, doing a little more fluting, and ensuring the flanges were nice and square I put it all back together. Much better that time. I drilled the lead weight, and was smart about it this time. Started with #40, went up to #30, then finally to #12. That lead really likes to suck the drill bit in there when it gets a good bite, so I had to back it out by hand a few times to get it able to spin again. And drilling lubricant is a 'must use' as well. The holes are quite perfect, if I must say so. :) I decided it was enough for today when the clock hit midnight... Here is the current status of the right rudder skeleton. The weight was taken out, as per the instructions, so I could continue the assembly and drilling of the rest of the skeleton.
