Rudder-counterbalance skin

s10sakota · Post by **s10sakota** » Sat Oct 22, 2011 6:43 pm

All,

I'm having a great time so far building my rudder. I am at the point of clecoing on the counterbalance skin on the top of the rudder.

I currently have it clecoed on but before I drill all the holes to the proper size, I just wanted to ask about the fit of this skin.

I had to use a lot of 'persuasion' to get the skin on over the two top ribs. Yes, I have straightened both ribs with the fluting pliers. The holes are all in a straight row and line up, but it just seems like it took a lot of pulling and stretching to get the skin on.

I'm just wondering if this is normal?

Thank you!

Pics here...

http://www.aircraftstickers.com/RV7A/22oct11.htm

hydroguy2 · Post by **hydroguy2** » Sat Oct 22, 2011 10:25 pm

I recall fussing with that a little bit. Get a nice awl or scribe to use a a poker to help line stuff up.

Also have you built your VS yet? If not, I would recommend building it first. It goes easily and you'll pick up some technigues for the tougher stuff.

svanarts · Post by **svanarts** » Sun Oct 23, 2011 8:39 pm

I actually built an RV-7 emp and don't recall having any issues with it. I did as Brian said and built the HS first.

Post by **Spike** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 6:08 am

I remember fighting with mine. Its a tight fit. Fluting and seaming here is pretty important. After that a punch can help get it all lined up.

John

s10sakota · Post by **s10sakota** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 4:42 pm

I started with the rudder first because I bought the HomebuiltHelp DVD on the RV7 rudder. It is really nice to see someone do something, and then go do it on my own.

But I think that after I back rivet the stiffeners to the skins I will put the rudder away and build the VS (Scott-I think you meant VS in your post above) because it does look much easier than the rudder.

Back riveting is easy, but I'm on a learning curve with pounding solid rivets with the gun. In fact I better order more rivets because I've been using a lot of rivets from the rudder on scrap aluminum to practice

I don't want that gun anywhere near real airplane parts until I can consistantly make nice rivets.

cbkillion · Post by **cbkillion** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 5:15 pm

Masking tape helped my riveting. Put it on the face of flush set and it keeps it from sliding around so much. Put in on the tip of cupped set keeps it from gnarling up the rivet head and gives me better results.

The layer of tape on the flush set lasts about 50 rivets. On the cupped set, it only lasts for about 5.

It's so thin, you'd think it wouldn't make a difference but it really does!