Rudder II Log 
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 February 3, 2021

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Rudder II
Somewhere along the way Van did some spin testing on the RV-7 prototype. The spin recovery characteristics of the plane did not meet his expectations, and a larger rudder is the fix. The RV-7 kits started shipping with the RV-9 rudder, and he gave those of us that already have the other rudder kits for free. That's hard to beat. The new rudder is built the same way as the other except the trailing edge is riveted instead of bent and it is larger of course.
March 2, 2003 - 3 hours
Started on the new rudder today. I got as far as cutting the stiffeners out and back drilling half of them to the left rudder skin.

The stiffeners backdrilled to the left rudder skin.

March 3, 2003 - 2.5 hours
Finished back drilling all the rudder stiffeners, deburred all the stiffeners and both skins and started dimpling.

March 4, 2003 - 2 hours
Finished deburring / dimpling the stiffeners and skins. Primed the stiffeners

March 5, 2003 - 1.75 hours
Backriveted the stiffeners to the rudder skins and started fitting the rudder skeleton pieces together

The stiffeners back riveted to the rudder skin.

March 8, 2003 - 3.9 hours
Drilled all the rudder skeleton parts together and started deburring / dimpling the parts.

March 9, 2003 - 1.75 hours
Finished the deburring and dimpling of the rudder parts except for the trailing edge piece. I still need to countersink that thing

This is what the new rudder looks like with one skin removed.

March 10, 2003 - 1.9 hours
Finished all the dimpling and countersinking and primed the rest of the rudder parts.

March 11, 2003 - 2 hours
Started riveting the rudder parts together. I got as far as the reinforcement plates the bottom rib and the counterbalance skin.

The rudder skeleton is starting to go together.

This modification was the only way that I could get in and rivet a couple of the counterbalance skin rivets on the rudder.

March 13, 2003 - 0.5 hours
Did a little more riveting on the rudder.

March 15, 2003 - 4 hours
Finished the second rudder. I must say I liked the first one better. I did'nt care for the whole riveted trailing edge thing.

Disclaimer:
This web site and the infomation contained within it are for entertainment purposes only. The opinions expressed on construction techniques are my opinions only and should not be confused with proper construction techniques. There is undoubtedly more than one way to build an airplane and some methods that I use may or may not work in any given circumstance. If there is any question please call the kit manufacturer. I love to help but I am not responsible for the misuse of any information contained on this web site.

 February 3, 2021
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