Any good pics of rudder fiberglass

[P Johnson]

IMG_0019.jpgIMG_0020.jpgIMG_0021.jpgJust been doing mine today, yes there are scribe lines but mine did not line up, as you can get to the inside I marked the position of the bearing connection brackets and cut small slots for the bearings to go through, I then opened these slots so as to get full rudder deflection travel, they are a 1/2 inch wide, I have not decided how to cut the vertical but I will make them only large enough to fit the bolts. The bottom slot I have opened a little different to the plans but it does expose the rudder deflection stops and I can get the bolt in.

[sshort21]

I'm late to the party here, but my fiberglass has the small outline as well. I trimmed the fiberglass to match that etching.

Related to that... dis/assembly now is pretty straightforward in that I can access fittings and bolts to add washers and nut. However, how the heck does one get this thing back together once these subassemblies are covered with fabric? That is, the covering instructions, have you remove the horizontal stabilizer and elevator, and the rudder for covering, and I'm already not looking forward to struggling with the bolts, washers and nuts for reassembly. Can anyone share secrets and tricks to help make that doable and easier?

[patrick.hvac]

I glued the washer to the nut and tied a string to the bolt before using medical tweezers to get in position.
That was after I spent a bunch of time fetching the washer I dropped inside the rudder.

[sshort21]

I glued the washer to the nut and tied a string to the bolt before using medical tweezers to get in position.
That was after I spent a bunch of time fetching the washer I dropped inside the rudder.

Thanks for that.

I guess one key piece of information is that the instructions say "cutout on one side as required for bolt access". I trimmed the rudder fairing per the etching, but I'll plan to make it a little bigger. As it is now, I can barely get my tools and/or fingers in that opening. Even with bigger cutouts, the resulting drag should still be virtually zero as most of the opening will be behind the vertical stabilizer trailing edge fairing.

I'm just trying to be super cautious because I can't uncut/un-trim that fiberglass. Like most people, I tend to overthink and overanalyze what I'm doing.

[Av8r_Sed]

Some of the RV folks swear by these tools to get washers in place. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catal...et12-04723.php

[Kitfox Pilot]

However, how the heck does one get this thing back together once these subassemblies are covered with fabric? That is, the covering instructions, have you remove the horizontal stabilizer and elevator, and the rudder for covering, and I'm already not looking forward to struggling with the bolts, washers and nuts for reassembly. Can anyone share secrets and tricks to help make that doable and easier?[/QUOTE]


Here is how I did it. Starts about 6:20 on this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEYoRrcpdrw&t=130s