Now that the rudders have been mounted, the stops need to be defined. This is what determines the “rest” position of the rudders. The stops are the outside trailing edge of the wing.

This is a picture of the pilot side wing at the bottom of the rudder cutout. The red circled area will be the stop. The other opening at the bottom has since been filled with foam and 1 layer of fine BID.

Normally, foam is inserted into the opening and a couple layers of BID are applied. but in my case, it was going to be a LOT more work. Seems the wing was cut back much too far. So here’s what we did.

First, the opening was trued up. The existing line was very ragged and uneven. Then we shaped foam for the opening and used micro to bond it in place. (In this picture, you can see where the opening on the bottom has already been filled.)

Then, the foam is trimmed back to be flush with the opening.

Two layers of thin duct tape are applied to the rudder where it will meet the wing and masking tape is applied to the surrounding area. Then the fiberglass starts getting applied. On the copilot side, we ended up with FIVE layers of triax and 2 layers of BID while on the pilot side we only needed 1 layer of tirax and 2 layers of BID.

Here’s the co-pliot side with the fiberglass in place and the rudder held in position.

Once the epoxy cured, the rudder is removed.

Then the glass was trimmed and sanded to create an extension of the wing.

These rudders aren’t really rudders in the traditional sense. They’re actually vertically oriented ailerons that can only be deflected in one direction. End result is that to get them back in the neutral position, a spring is used. The spring is embedded in the winglet. A one inch diameter hole is drilled into the back of the winglet five inches deep. To keep the hole from damaging the navigation antenna, it’s important to keep the drill laterally aligned. It’s also important to keep the drill aligned vertically so that it’s perpendicular to the leading edge of the rudder.

So a line is placed on the side of the winglet.

Closeup

Then a hole saw drill is chucked into the drill. Malcolm will make sure the drill is aligned laterally. I will watch from the side tell Malcolm whether he’s high or low. Once the hole is drilled, the spring sleeve is sanded, the hole is coated with an epoxy/cabo mix and the sleeve is inserted.

Here’s Malcolm drilling into the winglet. While he’s drilling, I’m saying “up” and “down” so he can keep the drill on line.

This is the rudder return spring epoxied in position.

Finally, the rudder bottom gets covered with a layer of lightweight fiberglass veil.

Now that the rudders are mounted, the control of the rudders is the next task. The rudders are activated by a “horn” (basically a bellcrank) that is attached to the bottom of the rudder. But there’s a slight problem. The book says “Place your rudder horn on the bottom of the rudder.” But there’s no part number. Which would indicate that this is not a supplied part. But there’s also no template that is typically used to make one. A phone call to other builders indicate that this is supposed to be included in the kit. I’m sure that I could get the two horns shipped out to me. But where’s the fun in that???

So the first thing I had to do is make a template.

This is the bottom of the left rudder. I’ve drawn a line to indicate how far the horn will extend.

Here’s the template held against the right rudder.

Since the rudders are a symmetrical, I only need one template. I’ll just need to flip it over to for the other rudder.

The rudder horn is mounted to the bottom of the rudder by means of a hardpoint embedded in the foam. But the hard point provided is a puny piece of 1/8″ aluminum about 1 inch x 2 inch square. I decided to upgrade to a 1/4″ hardpoint the covers the entire area under the rudder horn.

First I removed the foam where the rudder horn and hardpoint will go.

Then the web (fiberglass) is removed at the front of the rudder.

Here’s the hardpoint dryfitted.

And the rudder horn.

Then I filled the pocket with an epoxy/cabo mix, pushed the hardpoint in place and covered it with 3x BID.

After it cured, I trimmed away the excess and was left with this.

Then the rudder horns were sanded along the edges to remove any nicks from cutting and the fit was checked again.

Two holes were drilled for mounting

Then I put the horn in position, drilled into the hardpoints and tapped the holes.

After that I drilled a hole in the end and mounted the rudder cable attach pulley.

Here’s the finished product.

And this is a factory hardpoint.

Not very impressive, huh?

The procedure for mounting the rudders is similar to the ailerons… Just backwards. First the bottom of the rudders are squared up and the fit is verified. Then the hinges are mounted to the rudders with structural epoxy and countersunk rivets.

One of the hinge pads drilled and countersunk ready for the hinge.

Next two holes are drilled in the winglet.

Then Malcolm held the hinge in place and with a thin piece of steel, pressed hinge against the inside of the winglet. While he was doing that, I drilled through the hole in the winglet into the hinge. Once the hole was drilled, a cleco held it in position and a the second hole was drilled.

All three hinges drilled with two holes each.

Close up.

A third hole is then drilled in each hinge.

Now it’s time to mount the remaining control surfaces (rudders and ailerons).  The ailerons come first. They’re six feet long. I start by squaring the cutouts on the wings and the ailerons and making sure the spacing is equal on the ends and that the trailing edge of the aileron matches the wing.

To hold the aileron in place during all this, a 7-foot long aluminum angle stock is clamped to the bottom of the wing.

Here’s the right aileron in place.

Then the location of the three hinges (per aileron) are marked and the barrel area was cut out. While I was doing that, Malcolm was cutting the hinges.

This is the cut out for the inboard hinge on the left aileron.

I decided that it was important that the hinges be perfectly aligned. So I took the angle stock and clamped the hinges to it and clamped the angle stock to the wing.

Inboard hinge on the right aileron.

Then the (unclamped) part of the hinge is held in place and holes are drilled into the wing.

The next step is to cleco the hinges in position to the wing and verify that the fit is still correct.

Next foam is placed in front of the hinges to push them against the aileron (when it’s put it position). 5 minute epoxy is mixed and applied to the aileron-side of the hinge.

Here’s Malcolm putting the epoxy on the hinge.

Once the epoxy sets, the cleco’s are removed and then we drill into the aileron. After a hole is drilled, a cleco is used to hold the hinge in position just in case the hinge comes loose.

Here, after the first couple of holes are drilled into the middle hinge of the left aileron.

After all the holes are drilled, the hinge is popped off the aileron.

Then the hinge is disassembled. Structural adhesive is applied to the hinge. The hinge is put in position and rivets are used to permanently attach the hinge to the aileron.

Finished product:

After the structural adhesive cured, we put both ailerons on and sanded around the opening to insure that they moved without any binds.

The elevators have a counterweight at the outboard end to balance them. A pocket is cut into the canard to allow the elevator through it full movement. The weight on the outboard end isn’t enough to completely balance the elevators so additional weight is added to the center pivot. But to get the elevator perfectly balanced requires a LOT of weight at that center position. There were some reports of flutter developing with this setup so the factory has recommended adding the additional weight at the outboard position. This will require making the existing pocket larger. I thought about adding the weight outboard of the existing weight but that would have been a pain as my canard tips are hollow. So I decided to add the weight inboard of the existing weights. I checked with Scott at the factory and he said that would be fine.

Here’s the left side pocket with tape marking the cut.

After the cut is made and glassed in, I’ll have to make the fairing (the “bump” above the pocket) larger. Rather than make a new foam block and cover it with BID, Malcolm said that since it’s such a small amount that it would be good to just mold a addition out of thick micro. This is almost like sculpting. Which is one of the art things that I’m not good at.

So here’s Malcolm creating a new fairing addition.

And this is the final pocket and fairing.