Rudder Covering Completed!

We finished gluing & ironing all the perimeter tapes on the rudder, and used a soldering iron to burn a hole through the fabric on one side at a spot near the bottom for a drain hole (we had already glued in a plastic reinforcing ring there for that purpose).  Next up, we will begin work on covering the ailerons with fabric.  We rearranged the garage to give us a little more room for the ailerons, and cut a couple pieces of fabric that will be used to cover the two pieces.    Hours 3.0

Fabric covering completed on the rudder

Rudder Tapes Cont.

Contininuing to work on the rudder's perimeter tapes.  Three (chord-wise) perimeter tapes were glued in place and ironed smooth.  A little more adhesive was brushed on at the corners for the leading and trailing edge tapes, which will be glued down next.  Oh yeah, also had a nice accidental splash of glue on myself and the floor, so took a little time to clean that up, too.   Hours: 2.0

Rudder Perimeter Tapes

We are now working on the the perimeter tapes on the the rudder.  We marked the location and added three coats of U500 adhesive.  Once dried, we attached the chord-wise perimeter tapes.  Hours: 2

More rudder work

Over the past few days we've continued work on covering the rudder.  Fabric was glued and shrunk on the 2nd side, and we've been applying some of the finishing tapes and protective doilies to the surface.  Next we will start working on the perimeter tapes.  Hours: 5.0

Covering the rudder, cont

We finished gluing and shrinking fabric to one side of the rudder. We then continued covering the rudder by cutting a 2nd piece of fabric for the opposite side, and started gluing it to the perimeter tubes. Hours 3.0

One fabric sheet attached, 2nd sheet cut to shape for the rudder

Rudder Covering

We started gluing a sheet of fabric to the perimeter tubes on one side of the rudder.  Hours: 1.5

Gluing sheet of fabric to rudder

Elevators Covered, Starting Rudder

We can now say the elevators are covered.  Another tick mark on the todo list is done.  We've now covered 5 parts.  Next up is the rudder.  We put 3 coats of adhesive on the outer perimeter tubes and cut the fabric to rough shape.  Hours 2.5

Ed with his covered Elevator

Mike with his covered Elevator