Came home from 7 days on the road only to have almost 8" of snow and a power outage for almost 2 days. Finally got back in the shop and worked on the rudder. Started by riveting the trailing edge. Inserted rivets into the trailing edge, back riveted them halfway, flipped the rudder over and flush riveted them the remaining way. This left flush heads on both sides of the trailing edge and it turned out really well.
Next I took a piece of pipe, taped it to each leading edge skin and rolled them into a curl so that they overlapped. Then used blind (pop) rivets to join the 2 leading edge skins together. It turned out well also.
The elevator is next. I ordered the 6 replacement stiffeners before I left for work last week and they were waiting for me. I still don't understand the plan instructions for shortening the D, E,& F stiffeners to make the J, K, & L stiffners. Called Ken at Van's and still didn't understand so I just measured the distance required and cut them to the dimensions required.
