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Kupe's Zodiac 650B
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Date:  1-22-2013
Number of Hours:  2.00
Manual Reference:  6-T-5
Brief Description:  Trimming Rudder Nose Skin

Trimmed the rudder nose skin which consists of two activities. First, the skin is shipped over-sized and must be trimmed to 10mm from the rivet hole centers along the two edges that rivet to the rudder spar. Second, the top of the rudder nose skin is trimmed to fit tightly against the plastic tip rib.

Trimming the edges was straightforward. I began by following the Photo Assembly Guide suggestion to use a sheet metal snip, but after a few inches of cutting, I could tell I was going to have to do a bunch of filing to smooth out the edge. Instead, I got out my trusty Olfa knife and a metal straight edge, duct taped the straight edge along the cut mark, and worked my way down the nose skin. The result was a laser-straight edge that only required a quick deburring. My Olfa skills are much better than my metal snip skills.

Cutting the curve to fit the tail tip was an arts & crafts effort. First, drawing the trim line on the tightly curved nose skin while the wing was assembled was a bit of a challenge. The leading edge portion of the line had a "somewhere around here" flavor to it when I finished. After disassembling the rudder I began by trimming well away from the line I drew (about 1/2") and was able to place the nose skin up to the tip rib to assess my progress. By nibbling away at the cut out area and eventually filing away, I was able to mold the curve into exactly the shape I needed for the fit. Took about 1 hour, but I wanted to get it right.

Finished up by cleaning off all the parts, checking one last time for burs, and applying anti-corrosion paint to the mated surfaces. I used Zinc Phosphate in a rattle can for the rudder, but I'm switching to brush on Cortec for the rest of the bird for the faster drying, reduced fumes, and supposedly friendlier treatment of the environment. Zenith is shipping me a can ... once the temperatures rise back above freezing!
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The Olfa knife made some clean, straight, nearly burrless cuts!

The Olfa knife made some clean, straight, nearly burrless cuts!

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The curved top of the rudder nose skin which mates to the plastic tip rib.

The curved top of the rudder nose skin which mates to the plastic tip rib.

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