I arrived at the Zenith Aircraft company at 8:30am to allow me enough time to check in and pay for my rudder kit. The cost of the rudder kit was $375.00 and another $20.00 for dinner tonight at the Mexico Country Club for a first invoice of $395.00. The Rudder Workshop started at 9:00am and was introduced by Sebastien Heintz. With a quick review of tools and proper safety guideline. we were directed to our work areas to beging the process. The first thing that caught my attention was that I was the only builder working on the 650 rudder at this workshop so no other 650 builders to question.. I layed all my parts out on the worktable and did an inventory on what I had to work with. As I flipped through the workshop material I was very impressed with the detail it contained but also concerned whether or not I could do this I asked a couple of questions on how to read the supplied blueprints and photo assembly guide for the rudder, I was off on my build , I will not forget the smile on my face as I drilled that first hole and placed that first cleco. I am building airplane! This first day was spent constructing the rudder skeleton and getting the rudder skins process started. I wrapped the day up at 5:00pm and on page 7 of 13 of the Photo assembly guide. The day wrapped up with a steak dinner at the Mexico country club and some wonderful dinner conversation about airplanes. Our table had the benifit of dining with Sebastien, and getting to ask questions on a variety of topics.
