Next on the agenda is to build the rudder stops. For any of you who may be using my build-log for a reference; a word of caution....DO NOT FOLLOW VAN'S DRAWINGS FOR THE RUDDER STOPS. The material they include in the package is too short to get two stops fabricated and the drawings are incorrect. A friend of mine warned me about the stops and I followed his instructions, but it still took me a couple attempts to make the stops correctly. The alignment on the Van's drawings show the stops fitting on the two rivets below the fuselage seam. This is not possible and would cause the rudder cables to bind on the stops during normal operation. The drawings make the stops too short to get proper rivet edge-clearance of 1/4 inch and the angle for the 35 degree rudder deflection are not correct. Finally, the right and left stops, even though in theory, should be mirror images of each other, they are not. The best way to fabricate these is to cut a piece of angle aluminum 3/8"-1/2" longer then the plans describe, then take a piece of cardboard and draw the necessary angles to make the stops fit. To get the proper 35 degree rudder deflection you need to place a ruler parallel to the rudder when it is deflected and measure 1 1/8" from the trailing edge of the elevator.
