Stephen Larew

personal website — updated sporadically

Rudder Skeleton

  • Work entries: E41, E44-E57
  • Per­former: Steph­en Larew
  • Loc­a­tion: San Diego apart­ment gar­age
  • Meth­ods: Con­struc­tion Manu­al, Con­struc­tion Stand­ards, and Photo As­sembly Guides
Rudder skeleton parts laying out on the work surface.
Rud­der skel­et­on parts were first laid out to get a sense of how they fit to­geth­er.
Cut angles at ends of the rudder spar doublers.
Bot­tom corners of the 65-T-4-5 rud­der spar dou­blers were trimmed to form a 33˚ angle.
A cleco holds the 65-T-4-4 vertical tail spar and 65-T-4-5 rudder spar doublers together.
Holes were drilled and my first cleco set in the 65-T-4-4 ver­tic­al tail spar and 65-T-4-5 rud­der spar dou­blers.
Both rudder spar doublers are drilled and fastened to the vertical rudder spar with clecos.
Mov­ing along the spar, more holes were drilled along the ver­tic­al rud­der spar and dou­blers.
A burr emerges from a freshly drilled hole in the vertical rudder spar.
My first burr emer­gin in a spir­al form from a hole I drilled. I cleaned up the burr and re­fined my drilling tech­nique.
Ribs affixed to the rudder spar.
Next I moved on to drilling the rud­der ribs and fastened them onto the spar.
Cortec application on the doublers and spar.
Once all parts were fin­ished with fab­ric­a­tion, I stra­tegic­ally ap­plied cortec (for cor­ro­sion con­trol) where met­al will meet met­al.
Leading and trailing edge skins fastened to the skeleton with clecos.
Now it is start­ing to look like a rud­der. Both lead­ing and trail­ing skins are fit­ted to the skel­et­on with cle­cos.