I had intended to attach the fiberglass rudder bottom to the rudder with pop rivets as suggested on the plans. However, with the strobe installed in the rudder bottom, I would not have been able to remove the rudder for painting without drilling out many rivets, so I installed #8 nut plates instead. It was time consuming but I hope it will be worth it when painting time comes. I had some firewall blanket material from Flightline Interiors and while I was doing nut plates, Claude made a template and cut out the blanket to fit perfectly. We will not glue it in yet since we have many things to install on the firewall. I hope the blanket will dampen some of the engine noise and keep the cabin cooler in the summer.
