Rudder Trailing Edge Work

So, I could procrastinate no longer, and started work on the rudder trailing edge. This operation was just the mess I thought it would be. Those of you who have built your tanks, or have used the firewall sealant, know what I'm talking about. Thanks to my Mom and my brother for their help, I couldn't have done it without them.

I ended up just drilling the trailing edge of the rudder directly to my work bench. I had bought a long steel angle that I was intent on using, but I couldn't get it even and level with the rest of the work bench.

I bought four, ten pound bags of shot at the local outdoors store. That stuff is surprisingly expensive. I used the shot to weight the rudder down, and hopefully hold everything nice and square while the trailing edge "glue" sets up.

Mixing the two part firewall sealant was easy, but tiring. At my work, we use a similar product and have the nice electric mixer for this chore. My hands were quite sore after the mixing. I think I did a pretty thorough job of it. Mom and brother held the AEX wedge while I slathered sealant on both sides. Then they helped hold the trailing edge apart as I slid the wedge into place.


My brother helped Cleco the trailing edge down to the bench, and I started to "cleanup" some of the oozing sealant. I quickly discovered that it would be far easier to allow the sealant to cure and then trim the oozing with a razor. So now, I'm just waited for the sealant to cure, and then I will begin the double flush riveting.