After a few days of letting the pro-seal set up I started unclamping everything to see how it turned out. So far so good…the trail edge looks straight. I spent a little time cleaning up the pro seal from the dimples. It didn’t stick to the clecos, but it did fill in the dimples, which I was able to pick out mostly with just my fingernails. I also went back through the holes with the #40 reamer. The spar slides in easily and I was able to pull the rivets for the ribs. The next step involves setting all the rivets between the skin and the spar flange. I was able to set 75% of the way down with the squeezer, but the remaining rivets at the bottom and a couple at the top were too far for my 3” yoke to reach. Back to bucking rivets. I was moving along pretty well until I let the gun walk a little and it came off the rivet…now I have a nice dent in the skin. Not sure what I’m going to do with that right now. I think I’ll just finish up the rudder and eventually order parts for a new one, then I’ll keep this as a spare. Chalk this up to experience and leaning, which is one of the objectives of building an experimental aircraft.
Trail edge looking nice and straight (21-032)
Securing rudder to set spar flange rivets (21-033)
