Rudder Tip Confusion

[Gsuit]

I decided years ago (4?) to hold off on finishing out the fiberglass tips until the end. Well, while I'm waiting on my prop I decided to do this step. All is going well on the HS and elev. tips. But on the rudder tip things don't seem to fit, mainly at the trailing edge - although the leading edge will need some serious sanding for it to fit inside the skin.

For information I have the 'new' rudder that uses the WEX piece and is double-flush riveted. I know that when I ordered my kit Van's was transitioning from the old style rudder to the new style. My buddy who ordered only 6 mos before me got the old style. Is there an 'old' and 'new' style rudder tip?

Here's two pics to illustrate:

 

[morlino]

My emp kit is from March 07. I have not started doing any of the fiberglass yet but when I hold the top rudder tip up to the rudder it looks a lot like yours.

If you extend the line of the trailing edge in your first picture, it looks like the tip of the fiberglass would line up pretty well with the rudder trailing edge if you could push it in. I guess we are supposed to notch out the fiberglass where the AEX wedge is?

 

[Mike F]

I just cut away the part that wouldn't fit into the rudder. Mine was also too short and I had to add some fiberglass/flox to the tail end to make it longer. All of the tips required a lot of rework to make them fit properly.

 

[Gsuit]

Thanks guys. I ended up doing exactly what you described, Mike, and I think it'll come out ok. I'll post some pics of the final product once it's done.

 

[Greg Arehart]

I just got a 9A recently and the instructions indicate to trim out a bit of the trailing edge where the AEX wedge is. Mine slipped in (almost) perfectly once that trim was done.

Greg

 

[Greg Arehart]

Just a clarification - trim out some of the fiberglass tip, about 5/8 inch long and the width of the overlap.

greg

 

[N941WR]

Check out my rudder page for details.

 

[flyboy96]

I'm getting ready to rivet my rudder skin and am wondering if the skin goes over the counterbalance skin or vise versa. When I lay my skin over the counterbalance skin it looks like it bulges out where they intersect, looks to me like the counterbalance skin should be over for the rudder skin to lay flat on the spar. I havn't looked at the drawings close enough to tell and I'm at work right now, I just noticed in the pics above that the rudder skin is over top though, what gives.

 

[G-force]

Yes, rudder skin goes on top. Bevel the edge and roll it slightly before riveting for a tight edge.

 

[lrfrey]

I decided years ago (4?) to hold off on finishing out the fiberglass tips until the end. Well, while I'm waiting on my prop I decided to do this step. All is going well on the HS and elev. tips. But on the rudder tip things don't seem to fit, mainly at the trailing edge - although the leading edge will need some serious sanding for it to fit inside the skin.

How much sanding did you end up having to do Clayton? Did you have to add glass to the inside of the tip?

Just yesterday I realized that my new style bottom tip (7A) rubs the tail cone skin before the rudder reaches the stops - both sides. I already have larger stops, and moving the rudder back further would require even larger stops.

Larry

 

[Gsuit]

How much sanding did you end up having to do Clayton? Did you have to add glass to the inside of the tip?

Just yesterday I realized that my new style bottom tip (7A) rubs the tail cone skin before the rudder reaches the stops - both sides. I already have larger stops, and moving the rudder back further would require even larger stops.

Larry

It ended up being pretty trivial, but I did have to glass a new end tip on the upper rudder fairing. I used some 8 oz BID - brushed resin on one side then laid it flat on some peel ply and did the other side. After that cured I filled it in with micro. I purposely made it too long, and then sanded it to shape. All in all about 1 hr worth of work - not counting the cure times. Here's a shot of the BID laid up on the work bench, and then one after curing. I'll get a shot of it after sanding... I haven't taken it past that yet.